Kit for promoting a product and related methods

Abstract

A kit, system and method for promoting a product to healthcare professionals which contains healthcare professional-oriented information on a health condition experienced by some patients; a tool to assist the healthcare professional in performing a task, the task selected from the group consisting of diagnosis of the health condition, monitoring the health condition, counseling the patient with the health condition, and combinations thereof, and a product sample, which is useable by the patients to ameliorate the health condition. The product may be a nutritional solution for the condition, such products include functional foods or ingredients, medical foods or ingredients, or supplements for preventing, treating, or maintaining health conditions.

1 . A kit for promoting a product to healthcare professional, the kit comprising: 
 healthcare professional-oriented information on a health condition experienced by some patients;    a tool to assist the healthcare professional in performing a task, the task selected from the group consisting of diagnosis the health condition, monitoring the health condition, counseling the patient with the health condition, and combinations thereof, and    a product sample, which is useable by the patients to ameliorate the health condition.    
   
   
       2 . The kit of  claim 1 , wherein the product sample is provided in a single use package.  
   
   
       3 . The kit of  claim 2 , wherein the kit further comprises a container for holding a plurality of single use packages.  
   
   
       4 . The kit of  claim 2 , wherein the kit comprises patient-oriented information on the health condition.  
   
   
       5 . The kit of  claim 4 , wherein the patient-oriented information is provided to the patient in the form of a brochure, a single sheet, a portable digital storage device, and combinations thereof.  
   
   
       6 . The kit of  claim 4 , wherein the patient-oriented information further includes a coupon for applying a discount to a future purchase of the product.  
   
   
       7 . The kit of  claim 1 , wherein tool comprises a counseling tip card providing advisory information for use by the healthcare professional in discussing the health condition with patients.  
   
   
       8 . The kit of  claim 1 , wherein the kit further comprises a postage-paid return card for use by the healthcare professional to request additional product samples, patient-oriented information, or a combination thereof.  
   
   
       9 . The kit of  claim 8 , wherein the postage-paid return card further comprises a set of survey questions for completion by the healthcare professional.  
   
   
       10 . The kit of  claim 1 , wherein the product comprises a product available for sale to patients without a prescription.  
   
   
       11 . The kit of  claim 1 , wherein the product comprises a nutritional product.  
   
   
       12 . The kit of  claim 1 , wherein the health condition comprises obesity and the one or more samples comprises a sugar substitute.  
   
   
       13 . The kit of  claim 12 , wherein the tool comprises a Body Mass. Index (BMI) measurement tool.  
   
   
       14 . The kit of  claim 12 , wherein the tool further comprises instructions for measuring waist circumference and guidelines for determining if a patient has excess abdominal fat based upon the waist circumference measurement.  
   
   
       15 . A kit for promoting a sugar substitute to healthcare professionals, the kit comprising: 
 healthcare professional-oriented information on obesity;    a tool to assist the healthcare professional in performing a task, the task selected from the group consisting of diagnosis the health condition, monitoring the health condition, counseling the patient with the health condition, and combinations thereof, the tool comprising a Body Mass Index (BMI) chart and instructions for measuring waist circumference along with guidelines for determining whether a patient has excess abdominal fat based upon the waist circumference measurement;    a container of a plurality of loose single-serving packages of the sugar substitute,    a display stand and patient-oriented brochures for display in the display stand, each patient-oriented brochure comprising information on weight control, one or more single-serving packages of the sugar substitute, and a coupon for applying a discount to a future purchase of the sugar substitute;    a counseling tip card providing advisory information for use by the healthcare professional in discussing weight control with patients; and    a postage-paid return card a for use by the healthcare professional to request additional samples of the sugar substitute, patient-oriented brochures, or a combination thereof, the return card comprising a set of survey questions for completion by the healthcare professional.    
   
   
       16 . A method for marketing a product having benefits for ameliorating a health condition, the method comprising: 
 providing to one or more healthcare professionals healthcare professional-oriented information on the health condition, a tool to assist the healthcare professional in performing a task, the task selected from the group consisting of diagnosing the health condition, monitoring the health condition, counseling the patient with the health condition, and combinations thereof, and a sample of the product.    
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising providing information to the healthcare professional on counseling patients about the health condition.  
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising: 
 providing to the healthcare professional with patient-oriented information about the health condition contained in the form of a brochure, a single sheet, a portable electronic file storage device, and combinations thereof for distribution to the patient, a sample of the product, and a coupon for a discount on a future purchase of the product.    
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 17 , further comprising: 
 providing to the healthcare professional a means for requesting additional samples of the product.    
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the health condition comprises obesity, the product comprises a sugar substitute, the tool is in the form of a measuring device or calculator for determining obesity and the sample of the product is in the form of single-serving packets of the sugar substitute.  
   
   
       21 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein using the tool provides immediate results.  
   
   
       22 . The method of  claim 16  further comprising directly mailing the healthcare professional-oriented information, the tool, and the sample of the product to the healthcare professional in a kit.  
   
   
       23 . The kit of claims  1 , wherein the tool is adapted to allow immediate diagnosis of the condition by the healthcare professional without requiring additional testing.  
   
   
       24 . The kit of  claim 15 , wherein the patient-oriented information includes a BMI chart and guidance similar to information provided on the counseling tip card.  
   
   
       25 . The kit of claims  15 , wherein the tool to assist the healthcare is adapted to allow immediate results.