HawkPartners/ ICARE Global Patient Pulse Reveals Health Warnings for Some Institutions

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, HawkPartners, LLC and ICARE released results from their Global Patient Pulse.  The study asked thousands of patients around the world about their perceptions of various healthcare providers and institutions, their most pressing healthcare needs, the quality of their country's healthcare system, and how they feel about its healthcare future.

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U.S. insurance companies performed lowest in overall satisfaction – with 57% of patients saying they are somewhat or very satisfied, compared with an average of 77% across all groups – in addition to receiving lower ratings than all other healthcare constituents on most individual attributes.

The study's proprietary Healthcare Temperature scored doctors, nurses, pharmacists, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, insurers/payers and government across a broad range of health attributes, including whether the entity was:

• Trusted
• Investing in the future of healthcare
• Innovative
• Prepared to care for future generations
• Concerned with the patient's health
• Understanding of the patient's healthcare needs
• Informed about current healthcare trends, news and developments
• Genuinely caring about the patient's health, not just cutting costs

Healthcare Temperature results show that U.S. patients gave much higher marks to hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and even the government than their insurers.

"While one might expect institutions in general to be rated below healthcare providers with whom patients have a personal relationship, such as doctors and nurses, the fact that insurers were rated lower than pharmaceutical companies and only on par with government reveals some serious weaknesses," said Tony Gallo, partner, of HawkPartners and leader of the firm's Insurance practice.  "There is ample room for insurance companies to improve perceptions of their customer care and leadership in healthcare."

U.S. consumers say lower prices for medications and treatments (71% list it in their top three desired improvements) and for doctor visits (60%) are the most important improvements they would like to see.  Next most important enhancements, including improvement in care and wait times, are cited by far fewer patients – 25% or less.

Gallo continued, "In our current economic situation, the cost of healthcare is of great importance for a significant portion of the population: 64% of U.S. patients in the Global Patient Pulse – young and old alike – tell us healthcare expenses are a major burden for them.  Emotional reactions to the cost of care are likely at the root of perceptions of the insurance industry."

To learn more about the Global Patient Pulse, please see recent writings on the HawkPartners website. Custom presentations of the study are also available.

About HawkPartners, LLC
HawkPartners is a marketing consulting firm that works at the intersection of market research and marketing strategy to help industry-leading, Fortune 500 clients make fact-based business decisions.  HawkPartners works with leading health care and insurance companies to develop game-changing marketing strategies and help them better understand their customers and competitors.  For more information about HawkPartners, visit http://www.HawkPartners.com.

About ICARE
ICARE is an independent fieldwork marketing research agency specialized in International Healthcare Marketing Research and based in Europe.  Each year the company conducts more than two hundred research studies, the vast majority being in the pharmaceutical area.  Specializing in both qualitative and quantitative research techniques, ICARE is renowned for its customer service and extensive multi-country knowledge.  ICARE has a long term partnership with HawkPartners.  For more information about ICARE, visit http://www.ICARE-mr.com.

Media Contact:
Pattie Mercier
Carlton PR & Marketing
978-807-2972
[email protected]

SOURCE HawkPartners, LLC