1.  Purpose, Background, and Experience

TCAP’s purpose is to help convert caregiver needs, opinions and attitudes into insight that Help create sustainable competitive advantage for it clients, and ultimately improves the lives of caregivers.

The Caregivers Advisory Panel, Inc. (TCAP) provides research on caregivers to health care manufacturers, caregiver support organizations, financial services providers, and other organizations interested in learning from caregivers.  Today, TCAP has a database of 25,000 family caregivers and a research panel of thousands of family caregivers nationwide, with whom it conducts strategically focused, results-driven market research.

Panel members are individuals from across the country who provide care or assistance to someone who needs help as a result of an illness, a disability, or the aging process.  They reflect varied demographic characteristics and caregiving situations.  The panel was established to provide a resource for companies and individuals trying to develop and deliver products and services that meet the needs of caregivers and care recipients, as well as to serve as a resource to organizations advocating for caregivers. 

2.  Capabilities

Caregivers join the panel in order to take part in research studies that will ultimately serve the broad caregiving community.  TCAP conducts its own caregiver research as well as proprietary research for its clients.  We offer full service research, including both quantitative and qualitative studies.  Our experience and capabilities include:

·         Focus groups and in-person interviews with family caregivers and clinical professionals

·         Mail studies including at home testing/evaluation of new products/packaging

·         Computer Aided Telephone Interviewing

·         On-site/in-use observational research

·         Telephone interviews with supply chain/channel “key informants” and family caregivers

·         Internet surveys

Topic areas of some of our past studies include:

·         Caregiver Habits and Practices related to Health Care Product Purchase Decisions including Media Habits, Drivers of Trial and Brand Loyalty Behavior.

·         Adult Incontinence

·         Nutrition and Nutritional Supplements

·         Supply Chain and Distribution Model Dynamics – Long term care, home health care, DME/HME, med-surg and food.

·         Bathing and Skin Care

·         Wound Care and Prevention

·         Caregiving Support and Advocacy

·         Caregiver Interest in Financial Services

·         Caregiver Self Identification

·         Perceptions of Caregiver Portrayal in TV and Film

·         Caregiver Interest in Group Purchasing Programs

TCAP’s breakthrough study, Caregiving in the US – Needs, Issues and Insights is the first of its kind to investigate the buying habits, needs, wants, and issues of family caregivers with regard to home care products & equipment and an array of professional services. The Study and Data Digest are available for purchase and customized cross tabulation. A Selected Findings Preview is also available for purchase.

3.  Advisory Board of Family Caregiving Thought Leaders

Our advisory board guides us on policy and guidelines with regard to our research and panel methodology and practices.  Board members also contribute to proprietary client projects as appropriate.  The board includes: 

• ·         Gail Hunt
       Executive Director, National Alliance for Caregiving
      (301) 718-8444

• ·         Donna Wagner  
      Gerontology Chair, Towson University
      (410) 704-4643

• ·         Carolyn Markey
      President and CEO, Visiting Nurse Associations of America (VNAA)
      (888) 866-8773

PAUL ALPER

Paul is President and CEO of Alper Associates, Inc., specializing in strategic and financial planning/business development; integrated strategic marketing communications and platform development; market research, product/service portfolio development and management; new product introductions and executive search (for marketing and sales leadership). He has led businesses from start up through commercialization and profitable growth in the institutional and home care (via medical surgical and specialty distribution channels) and consumer markets (mass, food and drug channels). His expertise spans many markets, product categories and channels of distribution and is recognized for his learning agility and ability to adapt sound strategic process to new categories and markets.

He is experienced in all aspects of business development; has a passion for innovation and category creation/re-creation and is an experienced market researcher. He has led national advertising, social marketing and public relations campaigns in both the consumer and institutional sectors.

Prior to starting Alper Associates, Inc., Paul spent over 25 years in business development and marketing leadership with health industry manufacturers and distributors.  He was Vice President and General Manager of PROVON® Medical Group (division of GOJO® Industries, Inc.) from 1988 – 1997 (which earned RedLine Health Care’s Vendor of the Year Award four times), and simultaneously Vice President and General Manager of the PURELL® Consumer Products Division of GOJO from 1995 – 1997.  He helped create the PROVON Skin Care Line as well as the Instant Hand Sanitizer category with the launch of PURELL in 1997. Under his leadership, GOJO won chain drug industry awards such as the Market Maker Product of the Year Award from Drug Store News.

Paul, along with his partner, Tom Doyle, also operate a stand alone market research practice (TCAP®) and Promotion Marketing Service for health care manufacturers (The Caregivers Marketplace™) 

Paul has a B.A. in Biology from Boston University where he also did graduate work in health care administration at the BU School of Management. He is a regular speaker on the topic of strategic marketing and the needs of the “at home” family caregiver.

THOMAS G. DOYLE

Tom is a principle and COO of Alper Associates, Inc., specializing in business operations, IT applications and financial systems.  He has served as Chief Operating Officer and member of the Board of Directors of The Caregivers Advisory Panel (TCAP) since 2001.  He is also co-founder, COO and a member of the Board of The Caregivers Group, Inc., d/b/a The Caregivers Marketplace.  He is experienced in all aspects of business operations as well as having a very high level of computer and web expertise.

Tom has over 30 years experience in administration and senior management in the health care industry.  Prior to joining TCAP, he spent 12 years with Harvard Pilgrim Health Care (HPHC) and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care of New England HPHC-NE), the last three of which he was Chief Operating Officer with operational responsibility for all of the medical practices that served over 100,000 patients from 6 locations and employed 150 physicians.  He joined HPHC, a HMO, in 1987 when MultiGroup Health Plan, a firm that he co-founded in 1980, merged with the larger provider.  While at HPHC, he was responsible for operational and contractual relationships with the large medical group practices that contracted with HPHC.  In addition, he founded Physicians First Management Services, Inc. that provided management services to the contracted medical practices, headed the physician practice purchase group and formed a 50/50 joint venture with a large medical practice of which HPHC was a 50% owner.

Tom began his career as an administrator with the Southboro Medical Group, a 28-physician, a multi-specialty, medical group practice, where also served as CEO.  While at Southboro Medical he participated in the beta test of new practice management software systems and was president of the Massachusetts Medical Group Management Association.  He holds a B.S. in Management Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and has done graduate work in business administration.  He also holds a CMPE from the American College of Medical Practice Executives and is a member of the American Society on the Aging.