Mobile Intelligence for Better Health Decisions

Q: What can you tell me about your new app?

A: One of the key products IMS integrated to its portfolio through the Cegedim acquisition was MI (Mobile Intelligence) our customer relationship management platform, a fundamental piece to multiply our client’s competitiveness in the health market. In today´s business environment immediate communication and decisions are critical to compete, which is why IMS recently launched REPWear & MGRWear apps for the AppleWatch as a convenient MI functionality, allowing immediate attention to issues that impact business. All our platforms and apps are interoperable, not just in a technical sense but also in the analysis of the data we produce and include. We process more than 5 million daily medicine sales in Mexico. We can include analytics of our own sources and/or many data sources in each device to allow our clients immediate access, such as you can do with a wearable device. All our developments have a series of applications with the ability of being connected.

Q: What information have you gained on the health situation of Mexico?

A: We are seeing a period of innovation in terms of integrating the health system. The directors of IMSS and ISSSTE are looking to optimize the use of existing facilities. This is a good idea, but implementation will be complex. We aim to know the cost of treatment in different institutions so patients have the possibility to move between them, but it will take time. We work in three areas of business: information, technology and consulting. We gather information on public and private consumption of medicine and on the treatment of illnesses. As for technology services, we provide much support and integrate hospital information, production and efficiency indicators. Finally, in our consultancy practices we can help define the basic measures of medicines and which are the most used types of medicines.

Q: What are the main partnerships you want to create in those areas? Are they public or private?

A: We are looking for both as the Mexican pharma market was worth around MX$209 billion (US$11.2 billion) in 2015. Of this, 26 percent represents institutional purchasing of medicine and 74 percent is due to pharmacy sales. We are interested in being present in both sectors to have a complete vision of the pharma market. We have a panel of over 2,000 doctors we interview regularly, from which we obtain information on the principal diagnostics, what treatments are being applied and which products are being prescribed. This provides us with a national picture of how illnesses are evolving, what medicine is being consumed and the treatment being applied. In the future we would like to have a more precise vision of the management process of high-cost illnesses such as oncology. Public institutions certainly are developing digital systems at varying levels of implementation. Private hospitals are also developing this, but there are smaller institutions with more limited resources that are not at the same level.

Q: What is IMS Health working on to ensure the safety of sensitive data?

A: We have a code and a series of algorithms that anonymize the information. A user would only be able to trace what treatment has been given and what the results were. This is important information for health providers to figure out which treatment works and what side effects occurred. There is much value in this and we do this on a global level. It would be ideal to bring this to Mexico. For this to happen, we need to be able to enter clinical files and databases. Larger institutions are implementing digital systems but smaller clinics may not be up to speed. There will be a moment when this matures and companies such as IMS Health will be able to enter the market. Some institutions are already working on a database of oncological patients through the INCan. Some states, such as Colima and Jalisco, have begun to digitalize.

Q: What will we see from IMS Health going forward?

A: We are in the midst of a merger with Quintiles. They bring services such as clinical research and sales force services. From this merger you will see a company with a much greater capacity to give integral services to labs and hospitals alike. The merger may conclude by the end of the year.