NEW YORK, Feb. 16, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kantar Health, a leading global healthcare consulting and market research firm, has partnered with Lumi Technologies to create a mobile survey application that leverages the ubiquity of smartphones and growth and innovations in mobile health (mHealth) technology to gain greater insights into the patient experience.
The Kantar Health mobile app can be used to conduct short surveys, collect picture and video content, and passively collect biometric and activity data from a wide range of mHealth and wearable devices. Other features of the app include barcode scanning, voice-to-text audio capture, and GPS/location capture.
"Mobile-enabled, mHealth-connected market research enables Kantar Health to capture patient insights around events as close to the 'moment of experience' as possible, whether that experience is a bout of nausea, pain attack or doctor/patient consultation," said Brian Mondry, Global Head of Digital Innovation at Kantar Health. "Mobile also enables Kantar Health to gather rich, emotional data in the form of pictures and video by leveraging smartphone camera features, allowing for a more resonant view into patient experience."
The Kantar Health mobile survey app will allow clients to address key business questions and issues, such as:
- Patient journey
- Medication adherence and compliance
- Product usage experience
- Health outcomes
"This app will be a major tool in Kantar Health's ongoing efforts to strengthen our Empowered Patient offer," said Werner Guminski, CEO of Commercial Strategy and Development at Kantar Health. "As consumers and patients are becoming more active in managing their health, the pharmaceutical industry is working to become more patient-centric. Kantar Health is well positioned to help them meet that goal."
In addition, the app will facilitate key research objectives, such as in-the-moment feedback on specific patient or caregiver events, as well as longitudinal engagements and the ability to engage the same respondents multiple times during the course of a year. While the app will leverage physical activity, sleep and gait data from wearable fitness trackers, Kantar Health also will be able to collect and analyze biometric data such as blood glucose, BMI, blood pressure, heart rate, stress levels and more as mHealth technology continues to evolve in terms of functionality that helps patients manage chronic health conditions.
"The growth and advances in mHealth technology create an opportunity to passively collect accurate biometric data from mHealth devices and applications," Mondry said. "The activity and biometric data alone get us to the 'what': What is going on inside a person's body? What is their sleep pattern? But we need to also ask questions to get to the 'why' if we are to identify the levers that influence attitudes, behaviors and outcomes. Our app allows us to combine biometric data with data collected actively through surveys and pictures to get a more holistic view of the healthcare consumer to identify the 'why.'"
Mobile devices today have many advanced sensors built in, and by utilizing these as well as third-party APIs, such as Fitbit, we can accurately capture respondents' movements and habits.
"Utilizing Apple Research Kit on iOS devices opens up the ecosystem of services that Apple has developed for healthcare research," said Marcus Wikars, CTO of Lumi Technologies. "In many cases it can completely replace third-party integrations and gives us access to a huge pool of data from respondents."
About Kantar Health
Kantar Health is a leading global healthcare consulting firm and trusted advisor to many pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device and diagnostic companies worldwide. It combines evidence-based research capabilities with deep scientific, therapeutic and clinical knowledge, commercial development know-how, and brand and marketing expertise to help clients evaluate opportunities, launch products and maintain brand and market leadership.
Kantar Health deeply understands the influence of patients, payers and physicians, especially as they relate to the performance and payment of medicines and the delivery of healthcare services. Its 600+ healthcare industry specialists work across the product lifecycle, from preclinical development to launch, acting as catalysts to successful decision-making in life sciences and helping clients prioritize their product development and portfolio activities, differentiate their brands and drive product success post-launch. Kantar Health is part of Kantar, the data investment management division of WPP. For more information, please visit www.kantarhealth.com.
About Lumi
Lumi is a global market leader in real-time audience insight technology for research, live events, meetings and corporate communication. Operating from offices in twelve countries, Lumi's core technologies and engaging mobile apps are used by hundreds of multinational corporations and their advisers to provide an unparalleled understanding of attitudes, opinion and behaviour in a dynamic and innovative way. www.lumiinsight.com