Jump-start your conference experience by attending these interactive and practical workshops. These information-packed sessions are a great opportunity to network with fellow attendees while taking a hands-on, common-sense approach to mastering patient engagement that will enhance your understanding of the informative, case study presentations throughout the entire conference.

*** Choose ALL FOUR for Maximum Value and Learning ***

How to Engage And Recruit Patients Using The Internet And Digital Marketing: Practical Steps To Improve Outcomes

Increasingly, the Internet is a key source of health information for patients. According to Pew Internet, 72% of adult Internet users reported that they looked online for health information in the last year.

This trend is what has given rise to the term “epatient.” Strictly speaking, epatients are patients who use the Internet and digital tools to access and interact with health information. But the term epatient is about much more than tools. It is about a movement, which is creating a fundamental shift in the way medicine is practiced.

As epatients get increasing access to health information through digital tools, they are becoming newly empowered, engaged, and educated. Though physicians and providers remain an important source of health information, they are no longer the only source. And patients are no longer passive participants in their care. In many cases, they direct it.

Some healthcare professionals view this shift in the balance of power as a threat. Savvy clinical researchers view it as an opportunity. Through the Internet and digital media, we now have virtually unfettered access to potential clinical trial participants. In this session, we’ll explore how to open up this access.

You’ll leave this workshop with a clear understanding of:

• Developing a strong digital patient recruitment strategy by matching the appropriate digital components to your needs
• Honing your targeting and message by using digital tools for efficient market research
• Meeting patients where they are by increasing your online visibility among the right patients at the right time
• Engaging patients with your message and converting them into clinical trial participants by optimizing your digital presence

We will address hot topics in patient engagement (social media). But we’ll also discuss some often-neglected topics that can have profound results for patient recruitment. The latest is not always greatest for your particular needs. For this reason, our focus is on practical steps to improve outcomes, rather than any one particular tool. Be prepared to take home strategies and tactics that you can begin implementing immediately.

WORKSHOP LEADER: Rahlyn Gossen, Principal, Rebar Interactive
Rahlyn Gossen is the founder of Rebar Interactive, a digital marketing and patient recruitment company serving the clinical trial industry. She manages the development and implementation of digital strategies designed to meet patient enrollment, as well as other goals. Prior to her current role, Rahlyn was a clinical research coordinator for five years.

10:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.

Morning Refreshment & Networking Break

10:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.

PRE-CONFERENCE MORNING WORKSHOP B

Refreshments will be provided during this session.

How To Use Smartphones And Tablets To
Ease The Pain Of Patient Reported Outcomes

The importance of patient reported outcomes has increased, driven by regulators and the need to support reimbursement  for marketed therapies.  Getting  timely, accurate information directly from patients has been a challenge, hampered by the unreliability of data recorded on paper and the expense and/or hassle of using single-purpose electronic devices that must be custom programmed.

The increased use of smartphones and tablets, and the apps they enable, offers an opportunity to connect directly with patients about their experiences with therapies being studied in clinical trials and those that are already approved.  
This workshop will give you the opportunity to experience and understand what a patient might experience when participating in a study using an iPad and an app.

Through this simulated activity/group session, “Patients” will be assigned to “Investigator Sites” where they will be registered to participate in a study and then provided access to an app via an iPad.  Mimicking a visit to the investigator, the “Patient” will set up a unique user account in the app and then respond to questions defined in the study protocol.  In Internet time, that data will become part of the study data, available for review, reporting, export and analysis.  Data from all workshop “Patients” will be reviewed and action plans defined as necessary.

Also, you will hear and discuss the advantages and challenges presented by this new paradigm, including:

• The concept of BYOD (bring your own device)
• Issues of data security and patient privacy
• Multi-language support
• Use of validated psychometric instruments.
• The user experience, the opportunities and challenges posed in collecting data directly from patients using apps on smartphone and tablets.

WORKSHOP LEADER: Anne Zielinski, is The Global Lead, Patient Cloud at Medidata Solutions. For over fifteen years Anne has led efforts to streamline clinical trials using technology. Her current focus is enabling patients' voices to be more easily heard in clinical research. A regular speaker at industry events, Anne holds an undergraduate degree in biology and medical technology, and an MBA from Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania.

1:15 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Lunch On Your Own -- But Not Alone!

Join a group of your colleagues for lunch with an informal discussion based on a patient engagement hot topic. Take this opportunity to join others in a small, interactive group setting to network and brainstorm solutions to your most pressing patient engagement concerns.

2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
PRE-CONFERENCE AFTERNOON WORKSHOP C

Refreshments will be provided during this session.

How To Integrate The Right Mix Of New
Media Tools To Maximize Study Participation,
Ensure Compliance & Mitigate Risk

We all know that patient recruitment isn’t just about “recruiting a study participant” but it’s also inclusive of ensuring compliance and high retention rates that optimize data for the Sponsor. 

Our industry has evolved over the past decade to introduce and accept many new ways of thinking for both engaging study participants in the beginning and managing them more successfully through the study.  These include, but are not limited to: social media, community outreach and public relations, use of site networks, clinical call centers, debit card payment systems, text-based correspondence and even e-consents.  This workshop will take a look at these various tools and discuss how utilizing the right mix of these can mitigate risk for the Sponsor, maximize data and control study budgets.  While these are the benefits for the Sponsor, these technologies also drive value of convenience, education, simplicity and engagement for the study participant as well.

In this interactive session, you will learn how to:

• Embrace innovation, engage various providers
• Utilize various new media/technologies
• Properly assess the study population
• Implement an effective blend of these systems; there is no one size fits all

WORKSHOP LEADER: Garrett Smith, Vice President of Business Development & Marketing at Accelovance. Mr. Smith has been in the clinical research space for nearly a decade, starting his career in patient recruitment and clinical site support solutions.  During this time, he has had direct involvement in patient recruitment strategy and implementation, clinical site operations and CRO/study management experience.  Mr. Smith has led the business development and corporate marketing initiatives for Accelovance, a mid-sized CRO, that he helped establish in 2005.  Accelovance is a forward-thinking CRO that has a comprehensive clinical offering inclusive of study management/conduct solutions and patient recruitment strategies.  He has previously participated in panel discussions and moderated conference discussions around innovation in clinical research, patient recruitment and strategic partnerships.

“The greatest mistake in the treatment of diseases is that there are physicians for the body and physicians for the soul, although the two cannot be separated.”
Plato, - 400BC