"They want to know what the technology does and how their hospital could benefit from using it.”

Poeny Derom receives many press releases a day and actively searches for additional press information. “IHE’s readers are hospital professionals from Europe, the Middle East and South-East Asia”, explains Poeny Derom. “The main criterion for publishing is thus simply that the press release must be of interest to our readers in that geographical area. Press releases dealing with issues specific to only one country, e.g. details of national re-imbursement policies will not be published.” IHE reports on new developments in medical technology. “If the technology already exists but there’s a new application, that’s also newsworthy for us. We are always interested in case studies as they show how the technology actually works in a certain hospital”, says Poeny Derom. The editor does not distinguish between press releases from bigger vendors and small companies. “Every press release is granted least a first glance. If the headline grabs my attention, I will read it more carefully.” If a press release is very commercial and repeats the name of the product or the company several times, the editor is put off from publishing. “Some press releases will talk about the hundredth machine being sold but our readers do not care a lot about sales figures. They want to know what the technology does and how their hospital could benefit from using it.”

Poeny Derom looks at several press releases recently published on HealthTech Wire and immediately picks a press release from iSOFT on their launch of real-time speech recognition for radiology information systems. “The headline already says that it’s a new application and the first three paragraphs show clearly how this application makes the clinician’s work more efficient”, says the journalist. The press release mentions that “early adopters” of the technology already see some concrete results. “If we had an editorial on this topic coming up we would probably contact the company and ask to speak to some of those first customers”, explains the editor.

Many press releases quote a company representative but Poeny Derom prefers quotes from clinicians on their results. A recent press release from GE on molecular imaging includes statements from GE managers and from two clinicians. “If I was searching news on this topic I would most likely contact the two physicians mentioned”, says Poeny Derom. “One of them could maybe even write a bylined article on their results.”

While interesting and newsworthy content are the most important criteria for a successful press release, Poeny Derom has an additional recommendation for companies looking to promote their technology. “Add a picture”, says the editor. “A press release in digital format with a high-resolution image attached shows us that we do not have to spend time on getting a suitable image. Press releases with an image attached will often be read first.”

Contact Poeny Derom at p.derom@panglobal.com.

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