The American Medical Association launched a new company with data-integration firm Axciom to sell information from AMA's
870,000-file database of physicians. The Chicago-based 50/50 joint venture, HealthCarePro Connect, will use AMA's files to
create a customized database that it claims will benefit both marketers and doctors.
The service's advantages to marketers are obvious-they will be able to access the member data of one of the largest and most
respected healthcare organizations, providing a one-stop source of potential promotional targets. But HealthCarePro Connect
claims it will also make the service attractive to the physicians on its call list. According to the company, Axciom's proprietary
software AbiliTec will manage the data while guarding its privacy.
The company's contact preference service-available in 12–18 months-will enable doctors to specify the types of sales calls
they wish to receive as well as when, how, and where they want to receive them. For example, if a doctor prefers not to be
called during office hours, sales teams using HealthCarePro Connect's database will be informed of that preference. Doctors
will also have the option to remove their names from the active sales list.
Nonetheless, AMA has received flak in the press for its new venture. An article in the New York Times in November questioned
the propriety of giving pharmaceutical companies more access to physician records. In addition to sales call preferences,
HealthCarePro Connect plans to sell healthcare providers' names, addresses, specialties, credentials and board certifications,
practice or hospital affiliations, and demographics. AMA is quick to point out that it has licensed such information for more
than 50 years, and that two-thirds of the $32 million in royalties it reported in fiscal 1999 came from information licensing
agreements. AMA's 50 percent stake in HealthCarePro could be considered the next logical step. Ruske likens AMA members' communication dilemma to a lightswitch. "Physicians were either flipped to an on position and they
got everything, or they'd turn off, which is not really an option today," she explains. "AMA has struggled to find a way to
provide more value to physicians, and Axciom had the technology to enable more proactive communications and relationship management.
When we put those two together, HealthCarePro Connect is taking the standard of the industry out of the lightswitch position
and adding a dimmer switch."
The company says it will not maintain any prescription profiles or patient data, but privacy is still an issue. According
to Ruske, it will share physician information only through a secure Web site, and all licensing agreements will include specific
privacy compliance stipulations.
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