Paolo Mariani

ASSET (Age/Sex Standardised Estimates of Treatment): A Research Model to Improve the Governance of Prescribing Funds in Italy

Background The primary objective of this study was to make the first step in the modelling of pharmaceutical demand in Italy, by deriving a weighted capitation model to account for demographic differences among general practices. The experimental model was called ASSET (Age/Sex Standardised Estimates of Treatment). Methods and Major Findings Individual prescription costs and demographic data referred to 3,175,691 Italian subjects and were collected directly from three Regional Health Authorities over the 12-month period between October 2004 and September 2005. The mean annual prescription cost per individual was similar for males (196.13 euro) and females (195.12 euro). After 65 years of age, the mean prescribing costs for males were significantly higher than females. On average, costs for a 75-year-old subject would be 12 times the costs for a 25–34 year-old subject if male, 8 times if female. Subjects over 65 years of age (22% of total population) accounted for 56% of total prescribing costs. The weightings explained approximately 90% of the evolution of total prescribing costs, in spite of the pricing and reimbursement turbulences affecting Italy in the 2000–2005 period. The ASSET weightings were able to explain only about 25% of the variation in prescribing costs among individuals. Conclusions If mainly idiosyncratic prescribing by general practitioners causes the unexplained variations, the introduction of capitation-based budgets would gradually move practices with high prescribing costs towards the national average. It is also possible, though, that the unexplained individual variation in prescribing costs is the result of differences in the clinical characteristics or socio-economic conditions of practice populations. If this is the case, capitation-based budgets may lead to unfair distribution of resources. The ASSET age/sex weightings should be used as a guide, not as the ultimate determinant, for an equitable allocation of prescribing resources to regional authorities and general practices.

Banking customer satisfaction evaluation: a three-way factor perspective

As management of a national bank wanted to analyze its retail service competition loss probably due to low customer satisfaction, we carried out an empirical study based on a sample of 27,000 retail customers. The survey aimed to analyze retail service weaknesses and to individuate possible recovery actions measuring their effectiveness across different waves (three time lags). We studied a definition of a new dissimilarity measure exploiting a dimension reduction obtained by a three-way factor analysis (TFA). We had previously focused our attention on the limits of this approach related to the geometrical properties of the TFA applied. We introduced a reassessment of the points to adjust the three-way solution according to the quality of representation of the points. This transformation only rescaled the factor scores producing a local adjustment of the point configuration. We then performed a trajectory analysis of the different waves. The results showed the effectiveness of our approach. Therefore, further study of the derivation of a synthetic measure of cluster routes seems appropriate.

The Measure of Economic Re-Evaluation: a Coefficient Based on Conjoint Analysis

During the last 40 years conjoint analysis has been used to solve a wide variety of concerns in market research. Recently, a number of studies have begun to use conjoint analysis for the economic valuation of non-market goods. This paper discusses how to extend the conjoint analysis area of application by introducing a coefficient to measure economic re-evaluation on the basis of utility scores and the relative importances of attributes provided by conjoint analysis. We utilise the suggested coefficient for the economic valuation of a typical non-market good, such as a worldwide cultural event, to reveal the trade offs between its attributes in terms of revenue variation. Our findings indicate the most valuable change to be made to the existing status quo to generate economic surplus.

A Multivariate Approach to Facebook Data for Marketing Communication

The aim of this paper is to propose a method to explore and synthesize social media data in order to aid businesses to make their communication decisions. The research was conducted at the end of 2014 on 5607 Italian Facebook subjects interested in drugs and health. In this study, we refer to the pharmaceutical market that is characterized by strict legal constraints, which prevent any promotional activities (such as advertising) of companies on prescription drugs. Thus, pharmaceutical businesses tend to promote their corporate brand instead of a single product brand. In such context, social media offer the opportunity to gather customers’ information about their attitudes and preferences, helpful to address marketing activities. Through a multivariate statistical approach on Facebook data, we have highlighted the associations existing between TV channels and users’ profiles. Therefore, depending on the value proposition to promote, every business could choose, first, the target group to reach and, then, the nearest suitable channel where to develop the corporate brand communication.

Outsourcing Services in the Italian National Health Service: The Evaluation of Private and Public Operators

Abstract Outsourcing has shown itself worldwide to be a useful tool for improving partnership between private and public companies. The budgetary constraints imposed by the Italian government on health industry are enhancing the urgency to outsource to face costs. Our study deals with the relationship between ASLs (Aziende Sanitarie Locali, the Italian local health authority) and private operators outsourcing in Italy. We studied 44 pharmaceutical companies (with a yearly turnover of about €6 billion) and 34 ASLs (with about 12 million users) to find out the areas in which they used outsourcing, the amount and the frequency of such investment, their satisfaction and, therefore, their future intentions. We analysed the answers in search for possible relationships between size, frequency of use and other features to uncover a possible convergence between public and private interest in outsourcing. To better evaluate the convergence we analyse and compare satisfaction of both the operators involved in outsourcing (ASL and private operators). We aim to offer a representation of the current state of outsourcing in the Italian Healthcare System and a first indication of possible contrasts in the relationship between public and private partners. The results suggest that public and private operator have a different satisfaction level and in particular their expectations are in contrast whit their satisfaction: ASLs are generally more satisfied than pharmaceutical companies, but expect a considerable reduction of outsourced activities; private companies are less satisfied and provide an increase in these activities.

Dynamic Principal Component Analysis: A Banking Customer Satisfaction Evaluation

An empirical study, based on a sample of 27.000 retail customers, has been curried out: the management of a national bank with a spread network across Italian regions wanted to analyze the loss in competition of its retail services, probably due to a loss in customer satisfaction. The survey has the aim to analyze weaknesses of retail services, individuate possible recovery actions and evaluate their effectiveness across different waves (3 time lags). Such issues head our study towards a definition of a new path measure which exploits a dimension reduction obtained with Dynamic Principal Component Analysis (DPCA). Results which shown customer satisfaction configurations are discussed in the light of the possible marketing actions.

Satisfaction, Loyalty and WOM in Dental Care Sector

We propose two different measures of the dental care industry: (a) BALG matrix, a new instrument to measure patient loyalty and its extent; (b) SERVQUAL based approach to measure patient satisfaction. Further investigation concerns the link between patient satisfaction and loyalty. The results prove that patient loyalty in the dental care industry is similar to consumer behaviour in all the other B2B and B2C services and furthermore, the results highlight low dependency of patient satisfaction on loyalty.

Customer Communication Management

The study of the purchase/adoption behaviours on the products/services has seen the overcoming of the operating structure of the Customer Relationship Management (CRM). For the companies/agencies/institutions this study means a renewed attention to search new occasions to improve the economic performances. This paper proposes to use some methodologies of data analysis in order to make the three driver of the Customer Communication Management (CCM) measurable. We will refer especially to the customer communication management in pharmaceutical industry proposing techniques as the factorial analysis, the textual analysis and the shift-share analysis.

Big data meet pharmaceutical industry: an application on social media data

Big Data are hard to capture, store, search, share, analyze, and visualize. Without any doubts, Big Data represent the new frontier of data analysis, although their manipulation is far to be realized by standard computing machines. In this paper, we present a strategy to process and extract knowledge from Facebook data, in order to address marketing actions of a pharmaceutical company. The case study relies on a large Italians sample, interested in wellness and health care. The results of the study are very sturdy and can be easily replicated in different contexts.

A Latent Growth Curve Analysis in Banking Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction for banking services is, arguably, a construct that develops and changes over time for a number of different endogenous and exogenous factors (modification of customers contract terms, transparency of banking transactions and financial services, bank charges, customer relationships, changes of market conditions an so on). Measuring change requires a longitudinal perspective, with repeated measurements on the same individuals across multiple time points. Investigating individual differences in change may be of great practical interest for the strategic decisions of the general management of banking companies. Using a Latent Growth Curve Model, the aim of this paper is to analyze the dynamic process in satisfaction of meaningful sub groups of customers of an Italian bank company.