Quality Information Resources to Boost Healthcare Sector

Q: What makes you the go-to resource platform for healthcare practices?

A: Our services in healthcare are focused on three segments. The first is clinical efficacy, which works as a support tool for doctors during the diagnosis stage. Next is clinical solutions, which focuses on the patient’s clinical stay and lastly, is health learning, research and practice, which focuses on providing information related to health sciences, research and medical practices. Wolters Kluwer commercializes more than 8,000 books, over 3,000 journals and has 200 databases that include visual and dynamic content like videos or images related to anatomy that are very helpful, especially for medical students.

We also have a five-minute consultation service that includes information and material to facilitate a doctor’s diagnosis when a patient is in urgent need of a prescription. These materials are a support resource for the doctor that include translated records of the most common ailments. As a result, doctors can access basic information to support their diagnosis. The main reason why we included translations was that the nursing staff in Mexico normally do not fully understand technical material in English, and even doctors could struggle. To provide a quick and easy to access service, it is best for the medical staff to have translated materials.

Q: What is the goal of the health learning, research and practice division?

A: This division works with Ovid, which is a platform that provides doctors with reliable, unique and easy-to-access information. We have developed our own editorial imprint for Ovid, called Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, that includes around 300 journals from sources like The American Society of Cardiology. These societies trust us to edit, publish and commercialize their information. Although they remain the owners of the data, we help with distribution. We do own part of the content but it is mainly given to us by medical societies.

We have agreements with many institutions that subscribe to our Ovid platform to access up-to-date information. The platform is directed to students and medical staff due to the level of technical terminology used, but we also have a special database for patients that is basically a translation of medical records and recommendations for the patient. That being said, our main targets are doctors, medical students, interns, residents and medical directors.

In Mexico, our main clients are universities. Even though we work with many hospitals, there is a lack of awareness of the importance of having access to exclusive information. Many hospital managers still trust that Google will give them every fact they need when, in many cases, their interns and residents have access to journals and information we offer, which is quality material for medical formation and constant education.

Wolters Kluwer has partnerships with the best universities in the US, which is why our participation in this market is much wider. In Latin America, private and public hospitals do not even have a budget assigned to these kinds of services. We have been physically present in Mexico for five years, after realizing the need to work locally to be able to achieve better positioning and growth like that in the US or European countries. At the moment, we work with UNAM, UDG, CINVESTAV, IPN, Tecnológico de Monterrey, UDEM, BUAP, UV and with CONACYT through CONRICYT, which works as an intermediary for other institutions that cannot afford our services and for universities that are CONACYT´s beneficiaries.

At the moment, Latin America represents 3 percent of our operations and the biggest contributor is Brazil. Wolters Kluwer publishes daily reports and monthly journals. Our journal is also available digitally. Our community can access the digital version before the printed edition becomes available. In addition, our content has no embargo period, which is also beneficial for researchers and users who need the content.

Q: What are Wolters Kluwer’s major achievements in Latin America?

A: For budget reasons, 2019 was difficult for Wolters Kluwer in Latin America. Yet, we entered the pharmaceutical industry, which opened the door for doctors to access expensive resources that institutions sometimes struggle to afford. We work with companies like Pfizer and Sanofi and we are developing a project with GSK in Latin America to access some of their resources.

Q: What are Wolter Kluwer’s priorities for 2020?

A: I would like this platform to grow in number of subscriptions from public and private hospitals here in Mexico. We need to make people aware of the importance of having access to these kinds of platforms. We have faced a very poor educational culture and a low valuation of the services we offer here in Latin America but if you recognize its importance and how to take advantage of it, what we offer is a great opportunity to access valuable material that could greatly benefit medical practices.

Wolters Kluwer is a global information services company. It is an international leader in editorial, information, knowledge, education and software services. It provides integral solutions on health learning, research and practice