Physicians' Offices

The physician office is the source of healthcare services and the beginning of most healthcare trends. Most studies correlate physician office visits to overall health and disease prevention; when physician office visits decline, the overall health of a given population declines. The reverse is also true; a way to improve the health of population according to empirical studies, is to increase physician office visits.

The physician office is still the gatekeeper of healthcare in the U.S. and other countries. Areas for further business planning would be physician office testing, physician office computer systems or electronic medical records (EMR), physician practice management, salaries made by physicians. Demand for western-style health services by the growing middle class in emerging markets such as China, India and Latin America create some growth potential for healthcare services. India alone produces 2.5 million university graduates each year. Physician offices in emerging economies in China, Latin America, India and Eastern Europe may respond to the demand for more efficient healthcare, but the contribution to the market as a whole is still very small.

Pharmaceutical marketers are skilled in developing a strategy for the physician office. This is also true of testing companies. The market for testing conducted in the physician office lab continues to grow. Some of the total market growth derives from increased test usage in developed countries, especially in the areas of chronic disease monitoring and infectious disease testing in Africa, Asia and L. America.