Initial Situation
A globally-leading company, active in the research and development of technologies for the treatment of structural heart ailments, has developed an innovative procedure for the implantation of aortic valves directly via a heart catheter. Through this TAVI-based procedure, an aortic stenosis can also be treated with an operation for high-risk patients. The awareness level of the procedure is still low particularly among the resident general medical physicians, practitioners and internists who, besides the cardiologists, represent the essential referrer group for this operation.

Solution

In order to increase the number of referrals to the heart centers working with this TAVI-based procedure, the Sales Unit develops a campaign for referrer controlling. In this regard, the resident general practitioners as well as cardiologists are contacted by telephone in order to inform them of the new operational procedure and/or in order to expand existing know-how. During the personal telephone call with the physicians, information is conveyed regarding the differences between TAVI and other treatment procedures and thus the advantages of the operation are conveyed–particularly with regards to multi-morbid high-risk patients. By discussing the typical symptoms of aortic stenosis as well as their diagnosis, the awareness is also increased with regards to the clinical profile. As follow-up to the telephone call, interested physicians are sent an information package with current studies on TAVI as well as additionally-compiled information materials for the medical practice and the patients which once again comprehensively address the theme.

Several weeks after this information package is sent, all the medical practices are once again called who have received this information package. The goal of this telephone call is to answer any more in-depth questions with regards to the information materials that have been provided, to once again emphasis the important advantages and thus to anchor TAVI sustainably as an important new therapeutic option for high-risk patients. In addition, the physicians now receive information on heart centers using the TAVI-based procedure in order to quickly and easily find the right contact persons for their referrals.

In this way, without having to deploy a budget-intensive Field Staff for the resident physician segment, a higher level of awareness regarding aortic stenosis has been created and the number of referrals to TAVI heart centers is substantially and sustainably increased.