For years, HCP marketers have focused the majority of their budgets on physicians, particularly specialists. While this approach still matters, today’s care delivery landscape has changed dramatically. APPs (Advanced Practice Provider): Nurse Practitioners and Physicians Assistants now manage a growing percentage of patient encounters, influence diagnosis and treatment pathways, and often take the lead in patient education. There are approximately 560,000 prescribing APPs that write over 1.2 billion scripts per year. APPs are also writing 24% of new scripts in the U.S. 

Yet many HCP media plans still under-allocate media spend to APPs who are the critical prescribers and clinical decision-makers. 

Integrating APP targeting into your HCP marketing strategy isn’t just about expanding your audience; it’s about unlocking measurable gains in reach, frequency, and CTR across your full provider ecosystem.  

Let’s dive into why shifting even a portion of your media budget toward APPs can deliver immediate and long-term value. 

Expanded Healthcare Audience Reach Across Channels 

When marketers limit their buys to just physicians (MDs and DOs), they miss a sizable and influential segment of frontline care. APPs often: 

• See higher volumes of patients 

• Handle routine prescribing 

• Manage disease follow-up 

• Serve as the primary touchpoint in the care journey 

By introducing tailored APP marketing into your mix, brands typically see significant increases in total HCP reach often without dramatically increasing budget. 

APPs are distributed across diverse clinical settings. Targeting them enhances your ability to scale exposure on platforms where physicians are harder to saturate, including endemic display, social, programmatic, and EHR surfaces. 

Better Frequency Optimization Without Driving Up CPMs 

One challenge in HCP media planning is balancing frequency: too low and messages are forgotten; too high and you burn budget with diminishing returns. 

APP audiences offer a smart solution. When you shift 20% of spend into targeting APPs, frequency naturally improves across the entire provider ecosystem because you reduce over-exposure to a narrow group of specialists. Instead of hitting the same physician 12–15 times per month, you distribute impressions more efficiently across prescribers who collectively shape treatment decisions. 

This approach helps brands: 

• Maintain optimal frequency for physicians 

• Add sustainable frequency layers for mid-level providers 

• Improve cost efficiency by reducing oversaturation 

In other words: better coverage, smarter distribution, stronger message retention. 

APP media is more cost-efficient

Higher CTRs Driven by Tailored Creative and Messaging 

One of the most overlooked advantages of APP integration is the ability to improve click-through performance. Mid-level providers often respond differently to digital messaging than physicians, especially when creative directly acknowledges their clinical role. 

Campaigns that use differentiated messaging for the APP audiences routinely see HCP CTR improvement, due to: 

• More relevant language around patient management 

• Content tailored for point-of-care workflow 

• Reduced competition in APP ad environments 

• Stronger alignment with their education and decision-support needs 

This is where multichannel HCP marketing and omnichannel HCP engagement become especially powerful. When you deploy variations of banners, native units, email, and social creative built specifically for APP needs, CTR consistently rises across channels often outperforming physician focused placements. 

Stronger Segmentation → Stronger Performance 

Adding APPs isn’t just a targeting tweak; it’s an upgrade to your HCP audience segmentation strategy. 

By diversifying the audience, you create: 

• A more balanced mix of high-value prescribers 

• Better alignment between message and clinical role 

• Opportunities for testing and learning across personas 

• More efficient scaling of brand reach without disproportionate cost 

Segmentation allows each provider type to receive content that resonates with their practice realities. That personalization is what ultimately elevates campaign performance. 

Sample Media Plan 

Why Now? The Market Trends Are Clear 

Across therapeutic areas from primary care to specialty, APP involvement is expanding. They write a larger share of prescriptions each year, shape patient journey decisions, and close critical gaps in access. 

At the same time, healthcare professional advertising costs for physician-focused inventory continue to rise due to competition. Rebalancing spend toward APPs creates a meaningful performance advantage. 

NP/PA Targeting Isn’t Optional Anymore; It’s a Competitive Advantage 

HCP brands that adjust their media mix to include NP and PA audiences consistently see: 

• Higher total reach 

• More efficient frequency distribution 

• Noticeable improvements in CTR 

• More cost-effective scaling across channels 

• Stronger engagement rooted in relevant creative 

As care teams evolve, HCP marketers must evolve with them. Allocating a portion of your budget to APP segments isn’t just smart; it’s essential to maximizing the impact of your campaigns. 

Want to learn more? Download The APP Imperative eBook here.

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Reach out to the author, Tricia Kashima, Media Director, LiveWorld at tkashima@liveworld.com