Physicians Continue to Limit Sales Rep Access

More Than 38 Percent of Doctors Require Appointments, According to SK&A's Survey of U.S. Medical Practices

IRVINE, CA--(HSMN NewsFeed)--Feb 10, 2009 -- SK&A, a leading provider of healthcare information solutions and research, today announced the latest results of its ongoing survey of U.S. medical practices to determine their policies for allowing healthcare industry sales representatives access to physicians and other prescribers. In another setback to field sales groups, SK&A identified a clear trend that more physicians are requiring appointments from reps or limiting their access altogether.

Between June and December 2008, the percentage of physicians who require appointments advanced from 31.4 percent to 38.5 percent. Also, the percentage of physicians who forbid sales rep access altogether rose from 22.3 percent to 23.6 percent. These findings are based on telephone interviews with 227,000 medical practices representing 640,400 doctors. SK&A surveys its Office-Based Physicians database every six months from its Research Center in Irvine, Calif.

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