Patient Support Programs Foment Positive Treatment Outcomes

Q: The company’s medicine supply division helped Grupo Consulmed generate growth. How is this division progressing?

A: Healing materials and medical equipment are still very much in demand in facing the pandemic. Our occupational health division was highly impacted by the pandemic, which cut into the company’s revenues. However, we expect it to recover as vaccination programs continue. It is worth highlighting that Grupo Consulmed did not face any disruption of its supply chain, which made us a trusted provider. Our strong national network enabled us to supply our clients with the necessary materials. Our client base is comprised of mostly large corporates and production plants and our effective work with them attracted more clients. We were also a preferential provider for generics and OTCs.

Q: How is Grupo Consulmed embracing the digital transformation to improve internal performance?

A: We are migrating to a new operational system. We want to integrate technology into our patient support programs from our pharma division, which acts as a third party between pharmaceutical companies and patients and through which companies provide treatments for candidate patients and follow up on their progress. We had a success case in a cardiovascular study carried out at different public hospitals. The results demonstrated the trends and reasons related to cardiovascular ailments. These results are not for pharmaceutical companies but for medical professionals who are looking for support in decision-making when providing treatment.

In the past, all patient support programs were presential. Now, these processes have migrated online. With this new system, medical professionals learn how to take care of the patient remotely.

Q: What potential does Grupo Consulmed sees in the home-care trend?

A: Home care has significant potential. To respond to this growing trend, Grupo Consulmed has integrated telemedicine consultations for psychological, nutritional and thanatological support. These services have had a positive response. I am in charge of the pharmaceutical division and I see telemedicine as a need in the sector. Without it, patients do not receive a follow-up. Telemedicine will never substitute physical contact or presential doctor visits. However, we are betting on it and making sure we comply with all data protection measures and patient consent requirements to access their data.

Before telemedicine tools, Grupo Consulmed, through its pharma division, promoted temporary mobile clinics to provide an alternative consultation station for patients who feared going to a hospital due to COVID-19. This was not very popular so we migrated to digital solutions.

Q: How have your expansion plans changed following the pandemic?

A: The expansion of our infusion clinic is temporarily on hold. However, our subsidiary expansion in Chihuahua is going forward and so is the strengthening of our Monterrey, Guadalajara and Mexico City operations.

For 2021, we are focusing on digital content creation to spread the word on our patient support programs. Moreover, we want to create a solid online platform for all our divisions and programs.  Lastly, we have an incoming patient support program for venous doppler, which is a vein test to treat varicose veins. Our pharma division and occupation health programs are recovering favorably and we have big hopes for their expansion as health has gained more relevance and companies are prioritizing it.

Grupo Consulmed is an administrator of health services serving more than 1 million users. It has four business units: occupational medicine, membership for minor medical expenses, patient care programs for the pharmaceutical industry and health supplies, medicines, healing materials and medical equipment.