Blue Chip Marketing Worldwide Announces Results From New Mobile Healthcare Technology Survey at DIA 2012

NORTHBROOK, IL--(Marketwire - Jun 26, 2012) -  Blue Chip Patient Recruitment (BCPR), a division of Blue Chip Marketing Worldwide, today announced the results of its mHealth (mobile healthcare technology) Survey. Survey results identify opportunities for the use of mHealth technology in clinical trial recruitment practices and are being presented today at the 2012 Drug Information Association (DIA) Conference during the forum "The Next Patient Recruitment Frontier: Leveraging Mobile Health Care Technology (mHealth) to Recruit Patients for Clinical Trials." Neil Weisman, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Blue Chip Patient Recruitment, is serving as moderator and presenter.

"mHealth is in its early adoption phase, but there are some exciting opportunities that clinical trial sponsors can leverage now," said Weisman. "Our findings show that 92 percent of site coordinators are eager for tools to help them do their jobs more efficiently and are open to receiving mobile devices from trial sponsors, so there is great opportunity to engage with trial participants early."

BCPR fielded the mHealth Survey in three parts over the course of three months (March - May, 2012), directly targeting three core constituencies -- patients, physicians and trial site coordinators. All participants had to own a smartphone and/or tablet. Participating physicians and site coordinators had to be involved in clinical trials.

"By identifying new opportunities for engagement with clinical trial participants, we can develop innovative ways to use mobile technology when developing our patient recruitment programs," said Stanton Kawer, Chairman and CEO of Blue Chip Marketing Worldwide. "Although less than 30 percent of patients are using their mobile devices for healthcare purposes, there is a core group of early mHealth adopters who are much more active in using mobile for healthcare. By focusing on this group, we are able to identify trends that will help us engage larger patient pools as more patients start to use their mobile devices for healthcare management."

Additional key learnings from the BCPR mHealth Survey include:

• More than 75 percent of surveyed patients prefer to use their smartphones and tablets for communication (i.e., phone, text, email) as opposed to less than 50 percent who use their phones for computing (i.e., accessing the internet or apps). As patients' comfort levels with computing functions grow, so will the opportunities to deliver clinical trial messaging.
• Among the most active mobile users surveyed, 67 percent are receptive to receiving clinical trial information via email, with 44 percent of those users seeking information via internet search engines. Sponsors should consider implementing mobile search engine optimization and marketing (SEO/SEM) strategies to reach this active audience.
• The waiting room is an ideal opportunity to engage patients with clinical trial messaging. On average, more than 50 percent of patients surveyed use mobile devices in physician waiting rooms for:
  • Email (61 percent)
  • Texting (49 percent)
  • Accessing the internet (47 percent)

By providing waiting room Wi-Fi access that includes information about clinical trials, physicians can encourage dialogue with patients about clinical trial opportunities.

A full summary of the survey data can be found in the BCPR white paper, "Leveraging Mobile Health Technology for Patient Recruitment: An Emerging Opportunity," which can be accessed via the BCPR site at: www.bcpatientrecruitment.com.

About Blue Chip Patient Recruitment
Blue Chip Patient Recruitment, a division of Blue Chip Marketing Worldwide, is a global, full-service patient recruitment and retention agency dedicated to accelerating clinical trial enrollment. They have proudly delivered success to the world's top healthcare corporations since 1993, across more than 600 clinical studies. They are recognized for their scientific approach to clinical trial marketing, their insights and strategies, their innovative recruitment tactics and their best in class creative. Blue Chip Patient Recruitment has also become a leader in the mobile health (mHealth) space, identifying opportunities for adopting mHealth technology in clinical trials. Most importantly, they are known for the intelligence and passionate service that they bring to every study. For more information, visit www.bcpatientrecruitment.com.

About Blue Chip Marketing Worldwide
Blue Chip Marketing Worldwide (BCMW, www.bluechipmarketingworldwide.com), this year celebrating its 30^th anniversary, is an independent, full-service global marketing agency that delivers results by uniting brands to sales for clients in the retail, healthcare and branding sectors. As a leader in shopper marketing and patient recruitment, the agency has succeeded in helping high-profile clients such as Procter & Gamble, Gorton's, Weight Watchers, Blue Bunny, Fisher, On-Cor, Biosante Pharmaceuticals, Orexigen Therapeutics and Alva Amco reach their target consumers through the creation and execution of innovative, multi-platform marketing campaigns. BCMW is based in Northbrook, IL.