Connect with Physicians More Effectively
Sources & Interactions + Digital Insights
Ready to optimize your strategy and connect with physicians more effectively?
The Sources & Interactions + Digital Insights Study is the market’s most comprehensive assessment of how physicians engage with both digital and offline information sources. It delivers in-depth insights into their behaviors, preferences, and the channels that influence their decisions — empowering you to build more impactful marketing and communications campaigns.
What You’ll Gain from the Study
A complete view of physicians’ information habits
- Explore how doctors use and value more than 35 information sources — from sales reps and company websites, to colleagues, conferences, journals, online portals, EHRs, social media, email and more.
- Gain a clear picture of physicians' attitudes toward online and social media, videos, and podcasts, their perceptions and actions tied to advertising and sponsorship, and how they're using AI in their practice.
- Learn which communication channels they prefer, the type of content they seek, the time they spend with medical content, and their internet and mobile activity.
- Independent, third-party data you can trust— while information about marketing channels and physician engagement is widely available from media platforms, marketing service providers or self-proclaimed experts, it is often presented through their own lens. Our data reflects the physician’s perspective, with no agenda other than delivering accurate, objective insights to inform your strategy.
A Robust Sample for Actionable Insights
Responses from 3,400+ U.S. physicians across 25 medical specialties
- Data is collected via an annual online survey of active physicians and weighted to represent the universe of each specialty and in aggregate.
- Enriched with dozens of profiling variables such as prescribing and diagnosis data, KOL status, sales rep access, treatment decision drivers, practice type, gender, age and more — our data enables you to fine-tune your analysis to your specific target audiences.
- Historical data available to track shifts in usage and preferences among sources.
Study Content Overview
Physician & Practice Profiling
Demographics
- Gender
- Age
- Ethnicity, Hispanic/Latino/Spanish
- Language(s) spoken at home or with patients
- # of people in household
- Urban/Suburban/Rural residence
Physician Specialty & Professional Profile
- Specialty, sub-specialty, hospitalist
- Association membership details, formulary committee membership
- Key Opinion Leaders
- Purchase influence
- Professional activities
Practice Management
- Type and location of practice
- Year of practice
- Patients seen in average week
- Length of average patient visit
Colleagues & Career
- Frequency consulted by other physicians about treatment options
- Specific physician review sites used & activities performed on them
- How medical news/developments are shared with colleagues
- Attitudes about their career & practice
Prescribing & Treatment
Prescribing & Treatment Profile
- # of prescriptions written in average week
- New drug/device adoption
- % of patients recommended OTC products/treatments
- Attitudes about drugs & treatments (e.g., GLP-1s)
Treatment Behavior
- Influence of factors on prescribing/treatment decisions
- Preferred initial treatment type (invasiveness vs. efficacy) & treatment selection (rely more on personal experience vs. clinical studies/guidelines)
- Prescribing behaviors (branded vs. generic propensity, patient out-of-pocket cost consideration)
- Frequency encounter barriers to preferred treatment (e.g., coverage, availability, cost)
Prescribing, Diagnosis & Procedure Data
- Prescribing data: drug categories
- ICD-10 diagnosis
- CPT procedures & services
Information Sources, Channel Preference & Professional Email/Newsletters
Information Sources
- Importance & exposure for 40+ sources: Conferences, CME, online (websites, mobile apps, portals, social media), publications, sales reps, etc.
Preferred Information by Channel
- Types of information like to acquire (e.g., learning about new products, procedures, or innovations, deeper understanding of conditions, CME, etc.)
- Preferred channels for acquiring information (e.g., sales reps, online videos, email newsletters)
Email newsletters & promotional / marketing emails
- # received and read in average week/day
- Separate email for promotional/marketing emails & who monitors the account
Medical Content/Publications & Digital Advertising
Medical Content & Publications
- Time spent reading in a typical week
- % that is peer-reviewed
- Format and frequency of medical info accessed
- Importance for staying informed about medical developments & frequency of use for: print medical journals, medical journal websites and reference publications (print edition or website)
Digital Advertising
- Where noticed & actions taken after viewing
- Targeted content vs. targeted ads on professional websites/apps
- Targeted ads/content on non-professional websites
Internet, Mobile & Social Media
Mobile Usage & Online Attitudes
- Use of mobile device for personal and/or professional use
- Mobile app types (e.g., Drug reference, EMR/EHR access) installed, frequency of use & importance in their practice
- Attitudes about search & online resources
Social Media
- Use of professional and consumer social networks & specific social networks used most for breaking medical news
- Reasons for staying active on social media
- Considers themselves a healthcare social media influencer
- Factors found on social media that influence prescribing/treatment decisions (e.g., news and content sponsored by pharmaceutical companies)
- Actions taken after reading medical-related posts
- Attitudes about medical content shared on social
Online Video & Podcasts
Online Video
- Types watched & video creators that most impact prescribing/treatment decisions
- Opinion on looking for video vs. article to learn a new topic
Podcasts
- Frequency of listening for professional purposes
- Medical-themed podcasts: types & number listened to in typical week
- When listen to podcasts, for either professional or personal purposes (e.g., at the end of your workday)
- Platforms used
Health Technology, EMR/EHR & Telemedicine
Health Technology & AI
- Current or future planned usage of: Online test kits, digital tools for condition management, wearables for patient self-monitoring, remote monitoring of vitals, VR/AR for physician training
- AI-powered activities (e.g., writing letters for patients, transcribing clinical notes)
- Attitudes about the use of AI in their practice
EMR/EHR & Telemedicine
- % of current patients diagnosed or treated via telemedicine
- Actions taken while using EMR/EHR or telemedicine platforms
- Whether practice is primarily remote/telemedicine
Patient Interaction & Education
Patient Interaction & Drug Discount Programs
- Patients seen in average week
- Length of average patient visit
- % of patients recommended OTC products
- Whether drug discount information is provided to patients & types of programs offered
Patient Education/Disease Maintenance Information
- Usefulness of each type in their practice
- % of patients to whom they provide
- How information is typically provided (e.g, printed materials, post to patient portal)
- When information is typically provided & the party responsible for delivering to patients (e.g., front desk)
- Attitudes about pharma’s role in patient education & supply of materials
Education & Sales Reps
Meetings / Conferences & Physician Education
- # attended by type (e.g., “Lunch & Learn” webinars) & actions taken after
- Activities like to attend/take part in when attending conferences or conventions
- Attitudes about continuing education
- Preferred format for industry meeting coverage
- Digital CME formats used
Sales Reps & Product Education Tools
- Whether see sales reps & limit on number of meetings allowed
- Virtual vs. in-person sales meetings
- Attitudes about sales reps
- Exposure to & effectiveness of product education tools/techniques
Global perspective and other healthcare professionals
- In addition to the core U.S. study, international editions are available for Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK) and APAC (China and Japan).
- Additional Sources & Interactions studies cover other key healthcare professional audiences including NPs/PAs, pharmacists, managed care professionals, oncology nurses and more.
More than 300 health marketing and media professionals rely on M3 MI’s Sources & Interactions data to guide their strategy and planning. Explore how our data can guide your next move.