Day Two of this event focused first on how physicians are using the web. CEO Daniel Palestrant from Sermo gave a compelling overview of how his company is becoming the dominant player in the physician online space. In contrast to the consumer-focused search and portal sites that I commented about in my previous post who are still competing to earn the trust of Internet health seekers, Sermo appears to have won the trust game with US physicians.

Sermo announced a new partnership with Bloomberg the day before at Health 2.0, and that they expect to break the 100,000 mark of physician registrations by the time the rest of us eat our holiday turkey dinner next month. What’s exciting to see about Sermo, among other things, is the deep level of engagement from their physician user base. Physicians are finding value in connecting with other colleagues around the country, engaging in the community, providing second opinions and collaborating on various issues.

Palestrant continues to challenge the status quo, announcing a new pricing model that will go into effect in the weeks ahead for Sermo’s CME offering that should threaten traditional approaches by other companies in that arena. The smart money from pharma should continue to flow in their direction.

RJ Lewis of e-Healthcare Solutions did a nice job moderating the discussion in the afternoon, addressing online spending and leveraging social networks for consumers. His comments about pharma’s uncertain – and perhaps underwhelming – approach to online marketing raised the prickly issue of proving ROI. Several pharma managers expressed frustration about this issue, noting the perceived lack of a clear ROI remains the key reason that limits their spend from senior management.

RJ noted an AdAge study that revealed how pharma over-indexes in both TV and print (as compared to the CPG industry), with more than 90 percent of media dollars going to those two channels. However, pharma spends less than half of what other industries do in the online space. The irony here is that the web is arguably more measurable.

The topic of how to measure ROI is certainly not new. It’s a reasonable question, of course, and one that must be asked. But is it also safe to say that this question may often be a diversion based on an underlying issue of risk avoidance in our highly-conservative industry?

What if the year-end bonus for the brand manager – or even for the entire senior leadership team, for that matter – was tied to “testing new ideas” and sharing what was learned as a result inside the organization? Should it be? What affect might that have on innovation in pharma? I’d love to see that model embraced, and I’ll bet that many brand managers would welcome it, too.

We’ll probably hear more about this issue next week at the DTC Perspectives annual fall meeting in New Jersey.

Photo by bensheldon

This is the 2nd year of the event, and there are close to 1,000 people here, with representation from pharma, biotech, VC firms and investors, agencies, and reporters.

The purpose of the conference is to showcase the evolution of the healthcare space in general, thanks to the proliferation of various web 2.0 tools available.

There were plenty of demos from big players and small ones, and everyone in general is quite bullish on where things are headed. There seems to be a general consensus, however, that these are still early days, with much innovation and greater adoption ahead.

Clay Shirky gave a great keynote address, helping us all see the power that can come from individuals and their web-based tools of empowerment. His book “Here Comes Everybody” looks like it is worth the read.

Google Health is clearly on a path towards success. They outshined Microsoft, Aetna, Yahoo, and WebMD with what they are building, and the smart money remains with the big G. Look to them to make the personal health record a reality – and soon – and it will be a tool that finally makes sense for the consumer to use with ease. Of course, this will also make sense for Google, as they will figure out the right way to monetize this with the series of other free tools that they offer. Which is why they are Google. And which is why they will win. They have the creative license to succeed where the other guys will fall short.

Sermo and PatientsLikeMe stood out as leaders in the pack of Health 2.0-companies, both are now a couple of years into their business model, and both doing well. They are challenging the status quo, and should be applauded for their good work thus far.

Much discussion centered around patient communities, The Long Tail, and search. Organized Wisdom proved that they are on to something, and I suspect they will remain a strong player in vertical search in the coming years.

Edelman released a new report today that explores consumer attitudes towards healthcare and information. You can access the full report here. Of note, friends and family rank as the #1 source for health information, more than a physician (69 percent vs. 65 percent). Amazing…

Stay tuned for more highlights from Day 2, coming tomorrow.