IntraMedical Health Services, a leading continuing health education (CHE) provider, has been operating in the United States for some 35 years.

When it looked to open in Canada, Sheila Rivest was tapped in 1995 to become managing director based on her extensive experience in multiple aspects of medical marketing, product management and sales.

IntraMed is owned by Young & Rubicam Inc., which itself comprises international partner companies Young & Rubicam Advertising, Cohn & Wolfe public relations, Wunderman Cato Johnson (a direct marketing and sales promotion business), Sudler & Hennessey/Gall healthcare communications and Burson-Marsteller public relations.

Clients include Astra Pharma, Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada, Merck Frosst Canada, Wyeth-Ayerst Canada and Zeneca Pharma.

For nearly 15 years, Rivest has concentrated her efforts on a variety of increasingly sophisticated CHE projects ranging from multimedia publishing to local small-group learning workshops, to teleconferences and satellite-linked international symposia.

Rivest’s leadership position in the CHE field in Canada began in 1981 when, as a product manager for a pharmaceutical manufacturer, she turned to using education as a marketing tool.

As a key player in the first CHE agency in Canada, Rivest was instrumental in the launch of several programs and events for professional organizations such as the Canadian Cardiovascular Society, the Canadian Psychiatric Association, and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

Under Rivest’s leadership, IntraMedical Health Services delivers medical information to physicians and other healthcare professionals, as well as the general public.

She has assembled a strong marketing team, most of whom come from pharmaceutical companies, and a strong scientific group to accomplish this two-pronged approach.

‘We’re a company with the scientific and marketing credentials to create CHE programs that answer the existing and emerging needs of the medical community,’ Rivest says. ‘Our editorial department is made up of skilled technical and scientific writers, medical doctors and Ph.D. researchers.’

The broad range of educational formats this department produces – proceedings, abstracts, newsletters, video and audio productions, slide lecture kits, patient education, monographs, CD-ROM and CD-I – can all be integrated with the client’s advertising and marketing plans.

As IntraMed’s medical director, Dr. Marcel Dorž, former chief of the Department of Family Practice at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Guelph, Ontario, is involved in coordinating the design, implementation and evaluation of education programs and assuring their solid medical content, as well as overseeing the creation of CHE programs for medical professionals in therapeutic areas such as AIDS, obstetrics and gynecology, cardiology, and geriatrics. He also speaks to both physician and general audiences on a wide variety of medical topics.

Rivest is proud of her company’s accomplishments and says the work itself best illustrates the company’s range of activities and the kind of creative thinking and implementation that sets it apart from its competition.

For Bristol-Myers Squibb’s International Division, IntraMed is currently producing interactive programs on CD-ROM about heart disease for use by physicians in Canada, Latin America and Asia.

‘The doctors can teach themselves by building a patient profile any way they want,’ Rivest explains. ‘This offers a continuous learning experience in handling various combinations of health issues in addition to heart disease. Sales representatives demonstrate the program to the physicians and leave it for them to use at their convenience.’

Another client, Addiction Management Services (AMS) of Toronto, turned to IntraMed to reach human resource professionals and third-party healthcare payers with its behavioural modification product for smoking cessation.

‘AMS asked us to put together an education program aimed at employers and insurance companies to demonstrate the financial benefits of having their employees quit smoking,’ Rivest says.

‘We organized a large conference for human-resource and insurance-industry professionals from across southwestern Ontario, and obtained Health Canada’s sponsorship and endorsement.

AMS followed up with attendees and subsequently formed a partnership with some insurance companies and nicotine-patch manufacturers.

In an attempt to improve patient care, many medical organizations, such as the Canadian Cardiovascular Society, develop guidelines that take physicians through the treatment of a disease step by step. IntraMed can also help its clients in this changing environment.

‘As the guidelines come out, a pharmaceutical manufacturer’s drug may or may not be included,’ Rivest explains. ‘One reason for exclusion could be that the drug is so new it has missed the deadline for publication. However, if an established product is excluded, its absence from the guidelines raises the question of why.’

Consequently, Rivest says, the manufacturer could suffer credibility problems and the drug’s effectiveness may be questioned.

‘To help avoid the exclusion of our clients’ products, we will work on their behalf to get the guidelines published through cosponsorship. By providing funding for their publication, we have the right to look at the guidelines. If we see an exclusion we feel is inappropriate, we can challenge it.’

Everyone recognizes the importance of education for healthcare professionals, especially since medicine is changing so rapidly, Rivest says.

‘IntraMed will continue to provide credible, innovative educational programs based on the latest theories of adult learning, using the newest communication technologies when appropriate.

‘These programs meet the educational needs of the learners as well as the marketing needs of our clients.’

Also in this sponsored supplement:

– Overview p. PH1

– DKY, Montreal: Integration and creativity in healthcare advertising p.PH2

– Lally, McFarland & Pantello/Euro RSCG Advertising: Retooling for the future p.PH3

– NATIONAL PharmCom: Beyond public relations p.PH5

– Lacroix PNMD p.PH6

– Torre Lazur- McCann: Torre Lazur comes to Canada p.PH7

– Remtulla + Associates p.PH8

– Schwab & Piquette: An agency that believes the work should speak for itself p.PH10

– Anderson Toronto p.PH11

– pdg strategie concept inc. p.PH12

– Publicite Anderson p.PH13

– Healthcare Marketing Resources p.PH14