Opinion Health acquires Pearl Medical

More than 400 GPs provided with a BlackBerry mobile device by Pearl Medical have been told their contract will be cancelled or offered different terms following an acquisition of the company by another firm.

Pearl Medical has been acquired by Opinion Health, a market research company targeting the healthcare and pharmaceutical sector and with a panel of 20,000 people with various medical conditions. Opinion Health says the acquisition will enable it to offer healthcare professionals in primary and secondary care for market research purposes.

Each panel member earns points for every survey completed, which can either be exchanged for money or donated directly to charity.

Over the last few weeks GPs have reported being contacted by Pearl Medical and told their contracts will be terminated with 14 days notice of membership cancellation. In many cases the contracts were taken out when Pearl Medical was first launched more than two years ago and at that time GPs were offered a BlackBerry for £5 a month in return for completing market research questionnaires.

Some GPs have complained that they were only given 14 days notice of the end of their contract and have to change their phone, email and diary in that period. Alternative contracts offered were in some cases for £29 a month with the opportunity to earn some money back by completing market research questionnaires.

A statement issued to EHI Primary Care by Opinion Health states that the company decided to reduce the number of members on its primary healthcare professional panel by 442.

The statement adds: “These members were made up of those who had come to the end of their free two year contract and those that no longer used the services. Some members were offered alternative terms and conditions and have remained part of the Pearl Medical panel. The remaining panel now stands at around 2000 GPs.”

Andrew Wigmore, managing director of Opinion Health, said: “As we expand into secondary care we felt that those GPs who were coming to the end of their free two year contract or who no longer used the service should be offered an alternative service or have their contracts cancelled. I am glad to report that over half of the 442 members contacted have agreed to continue being part of Pearl Medical and its services under different terms and conditions. We have no plans to reduce the membership further and look forward to working with the new panel and continuing to gain their important professional insight.”

Wigmore said the acquisition marked the first step in the company’s strategy of expanding the products offered to clients.

He added: “With Pearl Medical, we will be able to provide omnibus and ad-hoc research with primary care professionals, and we have plans in place to extend this to secondary care as well as other specialist healthcare professional panels such as nurses and pharmacists. ”

Chris Tobin, managing director of Pearl Medical, said: “This deal is good for Pearl Medical. It means we join a strong research brand with solid credentials within both the consumer and healthcare market place. Pearl Medical will retain our long-standing relationship with member GPs who will also benefit from the enhanced capabilities, resources and opportunities that Opinion Health will bring. We are very much looking forward to taking this service to the next level.”