We just had our first interview over twitter with Spanish medical magazine Diario Medico which was a lot of fun. Here is the recap of the interview :
diariomedico: @alensa Welcome to our Twitterview. Today we meet Alex Savic, CEO at Alensa. I hope you are there, Mr. Savic. Good afternoon. #DM2
alensa: @diariomedico Yes i am, thank you for having me on your twitterview #dm2
diariomedico: @alensa Thank YOU for being here. First an introduction: MaketIntellNow labeled Alensa a top eHealth innovator of 2008. http://tinyurl.com/3wqcxf. #DM2
alensa: @diariomedico yes, we were lucky to have been chosen as such by MarketIntellNow, we were very happy about that #dm2
diariomedico: @alensa Before we begin, some suggestions I hope you’ll agree with - the same we did with our preview twitterview with berci, 1 tweet per question/answer (max. 2), not too many abbreviations. Readers may drop a question, we’ll decide if it’s included.Ok?#DM2
diariomedico: @alensa Let’s go! Drug e-commerce is illegal and mistrusted in many countries (i.e.Spain). Can it be a secure way for safe drug trade?#DM2
alensa: @diariomedico yes, for sure- there is a clear difference between legal e-commerce and rogue players, generally if you see a site that is willing to dispense meds without a prescription, stay away #dm2
diariomedico: @alensa But do you think it would be safe, or even feasible, to sell prescription drugs on the Net to all European Union countries?#DM2
alensa: @diariomedico perhaps not all drug classes are suited to mail order delivery, but certainly most. cross-border sale of medicines was already found legal by EU in 2001 for OTC medicines #dm2
diariomedico: @alensa Yes but for non-OTC… How do you check online if the patient has got a doctor’s prescription for that particular drug? #DM2
alensa: @diariomedico there are three ways that i am aware of - 1) physically sending in the prescription first by post to the pharmacy 2) using electronic prescribing where the scrip goes directly from physician to pharmacy and thirdly the new systems being developed related to internet prescribing which are approved by health authorities. there is some more info about internet prescribing here http://snipurl.com/8zwku
diariomedico: @alensa You said rogue players are visible… How would you change public perception about drug e-commerce as unsafe and full of fakes?#DM2
alensa: @diariomedico there needs to be more ways to certify ones site as a ’safe’ site, especially in Europe. a global approach would be best #dm2
diariomedico: @alensa There’s a new EU directive on drug commerce coming next January. Will it be of any help for drug e-commerce?#DM2
alensa: @diariomedico i believe the issue lies in how individual member states approach the issue of prescription mail order. clearly the key for all online pharmacies is to have a clear courts ruling that allows cross-border mail order #dm2
diariomedico: @alensa Great. Now… You’re working hard in building a community. Was it a choice for Alensa or a necessity?#DM2
alensa: @diariomedico online pharmacies have a duty to engage with the patients beyond just selling so we see community outreach as a necessity.#dm2
diariomedico: @alensa You’re now acting as a blogging network - just like we do for Spanish medical blogs. What’s your goal with that? #DM2
alensa: @diariomedico we want to get more docs involved with blogging as we think it’s an important communication/education tool for patients. with our network we’re also trying to find ways to compensate docs for the time they invest in medical blogging. #dm2
diariomedico: @alensa Now you say it, how’s monetization working on your network? Can a doctor really expect to get more revenue from having a blog? #DM2
alensa: @diariomedico we allow readers to pay for docs ‘premium’ posts through mobile phone SMS payment system. it’s revenue which should allow the doc to receive at least some compensation for their work/time, hopefully better than google ads. #dm2
diariomedico: @alensa Is it realistic to create some sort of “quality seal” for social media content, like with that kind of blogging network? #DM2
alensa: @diariomedico i think there is a real need to distinguish between the types of medical bloggers, be they docs, NP’s, RN’s etc. and the reader should have an easy way to see this information. that’s one of our goals for 2009, to introduce certification. #dm2
diariomedico: @alensa I’ll ask you the same question I asked berci: What’s the definite key to a medical blog success, in your opinion? #DM2
alensa: @diariomedico the key to the success of medical blogs overall is adoption rates, which will only increase once compensation is built into the system. we have spoken to so many docs have all told us this is important for them to start blogging seriously. #dm2
diariomedico: @alensa You use several social media systems. If you should stick to only one of them, which one would it be? And why? #DM2
alensa: @diariomedico it would be twitter. no other medium lets you find & connect with people of similar interests as easily and i don’t believe any other system allows for mass conversation to be tracked that easily. #dm2
diariomedico: @alensa What do you get using Twitter you couldn’t have any other way? Does it really beat Skype, MSN, forums?… #DM2
alensa: @diariomedico using search.twitter.com you can go and find exactly the people who are talking about issues you are interested in and easily connect to them. i don’t think any of these other systems can allow you to do that easily. #dm2
diariomedico: @alensa Now another subject. What’s the limit for the ‘Ask a doctor’ service? #DM2
alensa: @diariomedico do you mean limit in terms of how many questions we can take or what types of questions we can help the patients with ? #dm2
diariomedico: @alensa The second point: what kind of problems are going to be always beyond this service limits? #DM2
alensa: @diariomedico excellent question and one that’s been raging even more now that telemedicine services like Myca and American Well are popping up. i think my conclusion is that telemedicine is limited at the moment,but it’s still better than nothing at all and surely better than self-diagnosing using sites like WebMD that lead to “cyberchondria“. #dm2
diariomedico: @alensa I think we should be finishing but before that… In a few tweets, could you summarize Alensa’s goals for the near future? #DM2
alensa: @diariomedico our goals are to bridge the gaps between patients, physicians and pharmacies in a unified way and to create real monetization systems for pharmacies and health content producers such as web sites and blogs. #dm2
diariomedico: @alensa I think this will be all, or we’ll make it too long again. Thank you very much, Mr.Savic/alensa, it’s been a pleasure! I hope you enjoyed it too and that this won’t be our last interview/twitterview! #DM2
alensa: @diariomedico it’s been a real pleasure for me too. thank you very much and wish you success with your network. #dm2
