When marketing a healthcare brand to a professional audience typically the physician is considered to be the only intended audience. But there are many non-physician healthcare professionals that also make independent prescribing decisions, and are often overlooked. Identifying those targets can be confusing and the laws that regulate their prescribing behaviors differ from state to state. But there are many similarities once the different roles are understood.

Types of prescribers.

Non-physician prescribers include:

• Nurse Practitioners (NP)
• Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS)
• Advance Practice Nurses (APN)
• Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists(CRNA)
• Certified Nurse Midwives (CNM)
• Physicians Assistants(PA)

NPs typically specialize in an area like primary care, pediatrics, women’s health, cardiac, oncology, etc. Depending on the state they practice in, they can either be independent providers of care or are in a practice arrangement with an attending physician.

Clinical Nurse Specialists are masters prepared nurses that in some states (not all) have prescriptive privileges. Typically they work in hospital and/or inpatient medical care organizations, but when they are in private practice it is most commonly in the area of mental health.  APN is an umbrella term that describes nurses that have gone into advanced practice. Not every state uses this term but when it is used it can include NPs, CNS, CRNAs and CNMs in their category. Physician’s assistants also have prescriptive authority. They are licensed to practice medicine only with physician supervision.  The level of supervision required varies from state to state.

How to connect with them.

When considering marketing to these non physician prescribers what should be different about the way you convey your message? The level of sophistication of evidence needs to be the same as it would be for a physician. Making separate marketing messages about the clinical features of a drug or device for this audience would be a mistake. However, providing collateral materials that help them to function in their role would be valued. For example; patient education materials that would support their role in counseling, or assessment tools that would help them to identify problem/needs more readily. These materials cannot be created for the express purpose of selling the product, or educating the patient about a condition that can only be treated by your solution. It must be as unbiased as possible and the intent must be about supporting their role as a non-physician prescriber and to improve patient care.

Non physician prescribers can also be reached through professional organizations, at national and regional meetings, through journals and webinars. They also have the need to obtain continuing education hours to maintain licensure, so pharmaceutical and/or medical device companies can support this effort through unrestricted educational grants, just like they do with continuing medical education.