In an era where medicine is rapidly becoming more personalized, why do pharmaceutical companies still struggle to effectively engage with the very individuals they aim to serve? The traditional model of drug development and healthcare delivery is undergoing a seismic shift, with patient engagement emerging as a critical factor in achieving better health outcomes and driving innovation.

Patient engagement in the pharmaceutical industry is quickly growing into a critical necessity for business continuity. From clinical trial design to post-market drug evaluation, patients are demanding a seat at the table. Their unique insights and experiences have the power to reshape medicines development pipelines, improve treatment adherence, and ultimately lead to more effective therapies.

What is Patient Engagement in the Pharmaceutical Industry?

Patient engagement in the pharmaceutical industry refers to the active involvement of patients in the development, delivery, and evaluation of healthcare products and services. This concept has gained traction as pharmaceutical companies recognize the importance of understanding patients’ experiences, needs, and preferences to improve health outcomes and enhance the overall quality of care.

Why is Patient Engagement Important for Pharma?

As we mentioned, patient engagement in pharma has transformed from a desirable addition to an absolute necessity. Leading companies are now investing heavily in patient engagement training, signaling a big shift in industry priorities. This change is further driven by major regulatory bodies emphasizing Patient-Focused Drug Development (PFDD). 

For instance, the FDA’s requirement for Patient Perspectives in drug reviews has made patient engagement crucial for approvals and reimbursements. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has intensified public scrutiny of pharmaceutical companies, creating a unique opportunity to build trust with patients. These developments collectively underscore a clear message: patient engagement is now fundamental to success, shaping everything from drug development processes to corporate reputation and market performance.

However, pharma is one of the few industries that have not fully embraced their end users in product development. This is unfortunate as patient engagement can hugely benefit all parties in multiple ways. Let’s break them down below.

Improving the drug development process

One of the most compelling arguments for patient engagement lies in its potential to dramatically improve the drug development process. According to Economist Intelligence Unit, drugs developed using patient-centric designs were 19 percentage points more likely to be launched, with an impressive 87% launch rate compared to 68% for drugs developed without such designs. This stark difference emphasizes the value of incorporating patient perspectives from the earliest stages of drug development.

The impact of patient engagement extends beyond mere launch rates. Trials with patient centricity have demonstrated a remarkable ability to accelerate the recruitment process, a critical factor in bringing new therapies to market. On average, patient-centric trials took just 4 months to recruit 100 participants, compared to the industry average of 7 months. This efficiency gain is even more pronounced in specific therapeutic areas:

• In neurology and oncology trials, patient-centric approaches halved recruitment time.
• For rare diseases, the impact was even more dramatic, with patient-centric trials taking only a fifth of the time required by traditional approaches.

Enhancing patient outcomes

Beyond the development phase, patient engagement plays a crucial role in ensuring the effectiveness of treatments in real-world settings. When patients are actively involved in their treatment decisions, they are more likely to adhere to prescribed medicines and regimens, leading to improved health outcomes. This increased adherence not only benefits patients directly but also provides pharmaceutical companies with more robust real-world efficacy data, creating a cycle of improvement and innovation.

Building trust and loyalty

By prioritizing patient engagement, pharmaceutical companies can improve their public perception and build trust with patients and healthcare providers. Engaged patients are more likely to remain loyal to brands that demonstrate a commitment to their well-being.

Driving patient-centric innovation

Patient insights are invaluable in driving innovation beyond the drug itself. Engagement can lead to improvements in drug delivery methods, packaging designs, and support services that enhance the overall patient experience. This holistic approach to innovation and research can provide pharmaceutical companies with a significant competitive advantage in an increasingly patient-centric healthcare ecosystem.

Top Ways Pharma Companies Can Drive Patient Engagement

Today, pharma companies are striving to shift their approach and create engagement strategies with an end consumer in mind. According to a study, surveying almost 6,000 healthcare consumers, pharma does a good job of providing patients with certain aspects, however, some areas still require attention. Let’s discuss how patients want to be engaged by pharma companies.

Prioritize customer support

Customer support has emerged as a critical factor in patient engagement. It was found that 71% of consumers consider good customer support from pharmaceutical companies very important. To meet these expectations, pharma companies are expanding their patient support channels to include phone, SMS/text, web chat, email, and social media. Hence, to deliver personalized, relevant service, and foster ongoing relationships, make sure to implement a unified customer view across all channels.

In practice, it may look like an email system that sends out reminders about medication refills based on a patient’s prescription history and past adherence patterns, or a mobile app that provides personalized tips and information based on a patient’s specific medical condition and treatment plan.

Provide comprehensive medical education and patient support

Healthcare consumers have clear expectations when it comes to medication information:

• 62% expect pharmaceutical companies to provide medication education
• 57% emphasize the need for ongoing support in managing medications and ensuring the correct dosage

Pharmaceutical companies should offer resources that empower patients with knowledge about their medical condition, including disease management tips, treatment options, medication usage instructions, and potential side effects. This education can be delivered through various formats, such as webinars, videos, and written materials.

Personalize communication

Despite efforts for better communication and engagement, current communication strategies are falling short:

• Only 14% of healthcare consumers completely understand communications from pharmaceutical companies
• A mere 6% strongly feel that all communications are relevant

Tailoring communication to meet the individual needs of patients is crucial. This includes using targeted messaging that resonates with specific demographics and conditions. Personalized educational materials, medication reminders, and patient support programs can significantly enhance patient understanding and adherence to treatment plans. To create impactful customized content fast, consider leveraging content experience platforms, like eWizard.

Leverage offers and rebates

Financial considerations play a significant role in patient engagement, with 51% of healthcare consumers stating it’s very important to receive offers and rebates. Pharmaceutical companies can develop strategic offer and rebate programs, integrating them into broader patient support initiatives.

Utilize digital tools

Digital engagement tools, such as patient portals and mobile applications, can facilitate direct communication between patients and healthcare providers. These tools can provide access to health information, appointment scheduling, and medication management features, improving overall patient experience and adherence. Here are some examples of the digital tools you can implement into your strategy:

• Patient portals: Secure online platforms where patients can access their health records, communicate with providers, and manage appointments and medications.
• Mobile applications: User-friendly apps providing patients with disease education, medication management, appointment scheduling, and support features directly on patients’ smartphones.
• Wearable devices: Connected devices that track health metrics, such as activity levels, sleep quality, and medication adherence, providing valuable data to patients and their care teams.
• Virtual assistants: AI-powered chatbots that offer 24/7 support, answering questions, providing medication reminders, and connecting patients with relevant resources.

Build patient communities

Online patient communities are becoming increasingly important for patient engagement. They are cited as the top channel for customer retention and advocacy by healthcare marketers. The interest in such communities varies by generation: 43% of silents/baby boomers think they’re important, and this rises to 61% for millennials.

Creating online patient communities fosters a sense of belonging and support among individuals facing similar health challenges. These communities can serve as vital platforms for sharing experiences, providing feedback, and offering peer support. Pharmaceutical companies can develop and nurture these communities, tailoring engagement strategies to different generational preferences.

Collaborate with patient advocacy groups

Partnering with these patient organizations can enhance engagement strategies by leveraging their insights and networks. These collaborations can help pharmaceutical companies better understand patient needs and develop services that align with those needs, ultimately enhancing patient experiences.

Possible Barriers that Can Occur

While pharma companies and other stakeholders increasingly recognize the value of patient engagement, several significant barriers continue to impede progress in this crucial area. Being aware of these challenges is the first step toward developing effective strategies to overcome them.

Regulatory constraints: Pharma companies often cite regulatory requirements as a significant barrier to patient engagement. The complex legal landscape can create uncertainty about what is permissible, leading to overly cautious approaches that limit meaningful interactions with patients. This regulatory environment can discourage companies from actively seeking patient input or from implementing engagement initiatives effectively.

Complexity of patient needs and preferences: The diverse needs of patient populations present another layer of complexity. What works for one patient group may not be effective for another, making it difficult to create universally accessible engagement tools and programs. This challenge is further compounded by varying levels of health literacy among patients, requiring pharma companies to communicate complex medical information in ways that are understandable to a broad audience.

On top of that, when patients lack sufficient knowledge about their conditions, treatment options, and the importance of engagement, it can hinder their willingness to participate. If patients do not understand the benefits of engaging with pharma companies, they are less likely to take part in programs designed to support them.

Historical disregard for patient perspectives: Another hurdle is the cultural and organizational resistance within pharma companies themselves. Many organizations have typically focused on doctors as their primary customers, with patients seen as end-users rather than active participants in the healthcare process. In addition, pharma companies have traditionally put clinical outcomes first, without adequately considering patient experiences and preferences.

This disregard of historical problems can lead to a paternalistic approach to patient care, where patients are not seen as partners in their treatment journey, thus limiting their engagement.

Shifting to a truly patient-centric model requires a fundamental change in mindset and operations — a transformation that can be slow and challenging for large, established companies.

Engaging patients demands resources: The resource-intensive nature of comprehensive patient engagement programs cannot be overlooked. Meaningful engagement requires significant investments of time, money, and expertise. In an industry often focused on short-term results, justifying these investments can be challenging, particularly when the return on investment is not immediately quantifiable.

Moreover, pharma companies can struggle to fully understand patient needs, therefore, not knowing how to engage them. Sales teams may not be adequately trained to communicate the value of patient engagement programs, resulting in low participation rates. Without proper education and resources, these teams may fail to promote engagement initiatives effectively.

Distrust in pharma motives: Some patients and patient organizations may harbor distrust towards pharma companies, fearing that engagement efforts are more about marketing than genuine care. This skepticism can prevent patients from participating in engagement programs. Overcoming this barrier requires sustained efforts to demonstrate a genuine commitment to patient welfare.

Summing Up

The future of pharmaceuticals is undeniably patient-centric. Despite the challenges, the benefits of meaningful patient engagement — from improved health outcomes to more efficient drug development — are too significant to ignore. 

As the industry evolves, digital tools have become essential in bridging the gap between pharma companies and patients. And if you’re ready to elevate your patient engagement strategies and want to develop a truly patient-centric and user-friendly solution, consider writing us a message. We have over 14 years of experience in pharma and release more than 35 solutions yearly, so you can count on our expertise and efficiency.

The time for patient-centric approaches is now. By embracing patient engagement and leveraging innovative technological solutions, pharmaceutical companies can not only improve patient outcomes but also secure their position at the forefront of a rapidly transforming industry. The path may be challenging, but with the right strategies and partners, a truly patient-first healthcare landscape is within reach.

In the past, patients relied solely on healthcare providers (HCPs) for their care. Providers typically suggested a treatment plan, and patients were expected to adhere to it religiously. 

This dynamic has changed in recent years, with patients embracing a more active role in their personal well-being. Statistics show that 80% of patients now research their diagnoses online. Patients want to make their choices from the moment they notice symptoms to follow-up care. Modern patients can decide when to seek help, choose therapy approaches, or compare drug effectiveness. With such a level of patient autonomy, how can HCPs ensure positive patient experience while maintaining a reasonable degree of control over the treatment plan?

Pharmaceutical companies must shift their focus from selling their products to satisfying patients’ needs if they strive to stay competitive. They have to explain why a particular drug is a fitting solution for the patient’s problems. In this article, the Viseven team will walk you through key strategies on how to improve patient experience.  

Six Ways to Boost Pharma Patient Experience 

A healthcare organization that prioritizes patient experience builds a strong brand reputation, improves clinical outcomes, and fosters adherence rates. Here are some key strategies to deliver a positive patient experience. 

Grasp what patients are going through 

Improving patient experience becomes problematic when you are not fully aware of what they are going through. Artificial intelligence (AI) tools will help you make sense of your customer experience data and highlight the areas where their needs remain unmet. 

These solutions may also help you identify the most common drop-off points on patients’ medication journeys. You will learn why exactly patients are reluctant to continue their therapies or seek care in the first place.  

Based on these findings, you can modify treatment regimens or product designs to align with patients’ preferences and comfort levels. Additionally, AI algorithms let you spot segments at higher risk for non-compliance so you can provide targeted information or refill reminders. 

 Provide education and support 

A patient’s experience is often far more intricate than a diagnosis, treatment, and recovery cycle. Nearly a quarter of patients in the United States are taking two prescription drugs, yet an average patient visit lasts just 18 minutes. When pharmaceutical companies support their customers throughout the journey, they increase the chances of positive patient outcomes.

Patients with complex conditions need more comprehensive, high-quality support beyond brief interactions with their HCPs. So, it is not surprising that 76% expect pharmaceutical companies to deliver complementary information about their products. 

This means patients require more than just details on drug dosage, potential side effects, or contraindications. They also want access to evidence-based insights related to their condition and may find content on mental health helpful during challenging times.

Meanwhile, be careful of the language you use. Words like ‘victim’ or ‘sufferer’ may negatively affect patients’ well-being and even treatment choices. 

Use data to engage with an audience 

There is a reason customer data is called the new gold. It helps businesses more effectively engage with their target audience.

Research shows that 71% prefer personalized experiences, while 76% want brand communications tailored to them. A staggering 76% show patient loyalty to brands that prioritize personalization. 

Data insights give you a finer understanding of what content hits home and show how your customers prefer to consume it. Do your patients favor Facebook over X? Do they scroll social media first thing in the morning or late at night? Are they video watchers or lengthy article readers? Channel, timing, and format all matter a lot when connecting with your audience on a deeper level. 

Viseven’s omnichannel marketing services help life sciences brands reach customers across different channels. With our Einstein Send Time Optimization algorithms, marketers can deliver content when patients are most open to receiving it. Our team stays plugged into industry trends and relies on AI analytics and a modular approach to evaluate content effectiveness and develop compelling campaigns.  

Cooperate with HCPs 

Patients’ self-education is vital, but there is no substitute for healthcare specialists’ assistance. They help to make sense of complex medical information, establish accurate diagnoses, or create tailored treatment plans.  

Pharmaceutical companies must effectively engage with HCPs to ensure safe, top-notch patient care. This means keeping professionals in the loop about the latest research and medications so they can help patients make more informed treatment decisions.  

eDetailers are an effective way for pharma to connect with HCPs. They require healthcare specialists to interact with the content, whether by clicking on a link, taking a quiz, or filtering data on a graph. Unlike leaflets or sales pitches where HCPs are passive recipients of information, eDetailers encourage them to become equal participants in the discussion. 

Viseven has been providing eDetailing services for over a decade. Our team of experts assists clients with both self-detailing and remote detailing. Pharmaceutical companies can easily create engaging eDetailers using our ready-made templates or template builder, which does not require coding skills. We also offer analytics services for tracking each HCP interaction and creating personalized messaging.

Set renewal reminders 

Let’s address the elephant in the room. People do not always stick to treatment regimens because they lack education or motivation. One common reason for non-compliance is simple forgetfulness. 

The World Health Organization reports that nearly 50% of patients do not follow prescribed regimens. When patients forget to take their medications, they are more likely to have a flare-up of their condition. The latest research shows this chance increases by 30-40%. 

Pharmaceutical brands can use automated drug renewal reminders to help patients adhere to their medication schedules. By sending SMS or online messages, they can connect with their audience and improve compliance rates. With patient experience analytics tools, they can customize these messages to target different patient groups more effectively. 

Gamify patient experience 

Who says treatment cannot be fun? Gamified patient applications entertain patients while encouraging them to adopt new behaviors and become more invested in their care.  

By adding elements of competition and achievement, gamification boosts patients’ motivation to follow their treatment plans. Users learn about their conditions through these apps and discover effective management strategies and ways to integrate treatment into their daily routines. 

For example, Pfizer, a global pharmaceutical giant, has released a gamified app called Hemocraft. While its name is reminiscent of a popular video game, Minecraft, its primary goal is to help children between 8 and 16 years old manage hemophilia. Since children at this age may struggle with motivation, the app features an engaging village doctor character who encourages them to monitor their health, explains disease pathology, and reminds them to take their medications.

At Viseven, we have been developing patient apps from scratch for more than 14 years now. Our team assists healthcare brands in improving patient satisfaction by automating health data collection, delivering personalized care, and implementing telemedicine solutions. 

Elevate Patient Experience with Viseven 

Despite the growing level of autonomy, patients need guidance from the health care system rather than just a list of instructions. Our outlined strategies help pharmaceutical companies facilitate the customer journey with a rock-solid focus on patient centered care. A key takeaway is that healthcare organizations should look for innovative, technology-driven ways to boost patient adherence, address therapy barriers, and deliver comprehensive education tailored to patients’ needs. 

Viseven bridges the communication gap between pharma and patients. We are a global MarTech leader empowering life sciences brands to deliver high-quality, personalized content at scale across all channels. We are not just another tech company boasting about our skills. We firmly believe that our clients’ 95% satisfaction rate is not merely a courtesy gesture. Today, 80% of our clients are referrals, a testament to our top-notch solutions and reliability. 

Are you looking for ways to improve patient satisfaction? Contact the Viseven team, and we will do the heavy lifting for you. 

Measuring health outcomes has always been about what healthcare professionals (HCPs) do to their patients and why. “How do you feel today?” Probably, you heard this question at least several times as a patient. After arriving at a health facility, most patients want to feel comfortable and feel their opinions count.  

Today, with health services becoming market-driven, the patient’s perspective about their conditions plays a crucial part in delivering better medical services, creating more effective patient engagement strategies, increasing patient satisfaction, and winning the competition. 

This tutorial will examine in detail why patient-reported outcomes are important for healthcare, how to collect them, and what role they play in the future of clinical care. 

What is a Patient-Reported Outcome? 

A patient-reported outcome (PRO) is an assessment of the status of a patient’s health condition that comes straight from a patient without third-party adjustments or interpretation. PROs can have different forms, such as surveys, diaries, and interviews. 

Why PRO is Important for Healthcare 

With patient-reported outcome measures, scientists can obtain the necessary data to complete clinical trials and produce better medication. As for providers, they receive an opportunity to use advanced treatment methods and build more trustful relationships with patients in the long run. 

More Effective Drugs 

Clinical trials were one of the primary reasons why PROs appeared in healthcare as a measurement instrument and became a standard in the late 20th century. Nowadays, PROs remain integral to clinical research and medical product development. 

One patient-centered outcomes research that covers 15 years of clinical trials leading to genitourinary cancer drug approvals from 2007 to 2022 demonstrated that 27 out of 40 trial protocols included patient-reported outcomes. Interestingly, 85% of these 27 trials focused solely on PRO data. 

Another study of 17,000 industry-sponsored clinical trials in oncology from 2013 to 2022 showed that 3,000 included PRO data. Despite the number of PRO-based trials standing around 16%, at least a third of phase three trials and nearly half of phase two trials included PROs. 

In addition to assessing the effectiveness of clinical studies, PROs can be beneficial in evaluating medical services’ effectiveness. 

More Detailed Patient Feedback 

A patient-reported outcome measurement gives providers a deeper understanding of multiple factors that affect patients during different stages of interaction and can tell more about: 

• how they feel about their symptoms
• how symptoms impact their health-related quality of life 
• what side effects a treatment or drug have on patients 

More detailed feedback from patients leads to more effective decisions made by HCPs. 

Data-Directed Decision-Making 

Patients are a valuable data source that can help providers generate unique insights and increase awareness of patients’ conditions, create personalized treatment plans, efficiently monitor treatment response, and beyond. 

Also, patients want HCPs to be open and hear them. When providers consider the patients’ perspective in their decision-making, it improves patient adherence, increases satisfaction, and personalizes patient experience. 

Enhanced Patient Experience 

The industry is more consumer-oriented than ever. Patients, especially those with a more severe diagnosis, want to get the best treatment possible and feel the utmost dedication from medical personnel providing personalized service. 

PROs are a perfect method for providers to discover everything they ever wanted about their patients, including their quality of life, interests, preferences, habits, health behaviors, and goals. Patients’ personal information enables providers to enhance experience and, in this way, stand out against competitors and facilitate the evolution of the industry. 

How to Collect Patient-Reported Outcomes 

The Construction of Surveys for Patients 

Here are a few things to consider before constructing patient surveys: 

1. Define Survey Goal 

Ensure they align with your overall research question or clinical objectives. 

2. Develop Survey Content 

Use clear, simple language to create questions or items that address the defined goals. Consider including a mix of question types like multiple-choice and open-ended questions to capture a comprehensive range of patient experiences. 

3. Incorporate Validated Measurement 

When possible, include validated and reliable patient-reported outcomes measures developed specifically for the concept or outcome of interest. 

4. Optimize Survey Length 

Find the golden middle between the need for comprehensive data collection and the need to minimize respondent burden. Aim for a survey length that can be completed in a reasonable amount of time, typically no more than 15-20 minutes. 

5. Organize and Format the Survey 

Arrange survey items in a logical order and use clear formatting to enhance readability and user-friendliness. Consider grouping similar items into sections and using clear instructions and response options. 

6. Pilot Test the Survey 

Conduct a small-scale pilot study with a representative sample of the target audience to evaluate the survey’s clarity, relevance, and usability. Use feedback from pilot participants to refine and optimize the survey as needed. 

The Distribution of Patient Surveys 

When distributing surveys, a provider needs to: 

1. Identify Distribution Channels 

Determine the preferred channels for disseminating the survey to reach your target patient population. It may include facilities, patient portals, community organizations, social media platforms, email lists, or postal mail. 

2. Use Personalization 

Tailor dissemination strategies to the characteristics and preferences of your target audience’s each segment. Consider factors such as age, language, cultural background, health literacy, and access to health information technology when selecting dissemination channels and methods. 

3. Provide Dedicated Support 

Offer professional assistance to patients who may need help completing the survey, especially those with limited literacy or technological skills. Provide contact information or assistance resources for patients to reach out if they have questions or encounter difficulties. 

4. Monitor Response Rates 

Track the surveying process and adjust dissemination strategies as needed to increase participation. Send reminders, extend deadlines, or follow up with non-respondents to encourage survey completion. 

5. Thank Participants 

Show gratitude to patients who participate in your surveys by acknowledging their contribution and explaining how you will use their feedback to inform decision-making or improve services. 

The Evaluation of Data from Patient Outcomes 

Here are three simple steps to evaluate PROs: 

1. Prepare Your Data  

Ensure the PRO data you collected is complete, accurate, and free of errors or inconsistencies. 

2. Conduct Different Types of Analysis 

Summarize PRO results with descriptive, responsiveness, and other analytical techniques to understand the impact of your surveys and content. 

3. Interpret Results 

Consider the clinical and practical significance of the findings. Compare the results to existing benchmarks to provide a broader context for interpretation. 

Patient-Reported Data Distribution 

Here are five crucial steps in distributing PRO data: 

1. Identify Key Stakeholders 

Determine the individuals or groups who will benefit from the patient-reported data, such as patients, providers, researchers, policymakers, and payers. 

2. Tailor Communication Strategies 

Customize the presentation of findings to meet the needs and interests of different stakeholder groups. This may involve creating different reports, presentations, or publications for various audiences. 

3. Choose Distribution Channels 

Select appropriate channels for distributing the findings, such as journals, conferences, workshops, webinars, or social media platforms. Consider the preferred communication channels of each stakeholder group. 

4. Share Findings 

Distribute the findings through the chosen channels, highlighting key results, implications, and potential applications. Encourage dialogue and engagement with stakeholders to promote knowledge sharing and collaboration. 

5. Facilitate Knowledge Transformation 

Develop tools, resources, and guidelines to support the practical application of PRO data in clinical practice, policymaking, or research. 

Patient-Reported Data Application 

Here are four practices to effectively apply PRO data: 

1. Improve Service Delivery 

Apply PRO data to identify gaps in medical care, develop quality improvement initiatives, and enhance patient-centered care. 

2. Improve Quality of Services 

Utilize PRO data to enhance policies, optimize resource allocation, and empower the development of patient-centered programs or services. 

3. Advance Research 

Apply PRO data to inform research priorities, study design, and the development of new interventions or treatments. 

4. Improve Patient Engagement 

Use PRO data to engage patients in shared decision-making, self-management, and the co-creation of care solutions. 

How to Improve Patient Engagement: Tips & Tricks 

Patient engagement is necessary for quality care. When your organization uses an effective patient engagement strategy, it will know what exactly patients want and provide patients with the services they need faster and at a reduced cost. Here are a few useful recommendations that will help your organization enhance patient engagement in the digital age: 

Design a Patient-Centered System: Today, your organization needs a single platform to engage with patients. Modern tools and features can provide a holistic view of each patient, streamline workflows between multiple care teams, and implement automation for better productivity. 

Provide the Necessary Knowledge: Most patients want to know what to expect during their customer journeys. They should have access to materials and resources to learn more about their conditions, understand the pros and cons of their treatment options, and feel safer. 

Collect Feedback from Each Patient: Patients have different perspectives, goals, revenues, and other characteristics, each affecting treatment in its own way. Collect feedback from each patient to have a range of perspectives and generate relevant insights about the level of patient engagement within your organization. 

Future of Patient-Reported Outcomes in Healthcare 

The data-driven approach is the future of care. According to one global survey of specialists who work in a healthcare-related industry and are aware of how their organizations use health information technology for research, diagnosis, and treatment decisions: 

• 74% claim their organization has made more effort on its approach to data integration and interoperability; 
• 72% claim their organization has made more effort on its data strategy approach; 
• 94% understand that data-driven care offers new opportunities that can help patients and doctors benefit from personalized approaches. 

In data-driven care, the role of PROs will only increase. 

A Standard for the Entire Industry 

Due to massive personalization and consumer-centricity, patient-reported outcomes will become a standard of care for most providers who will use it before and after intervention to meet patients’ expectations, improve engagement, and gain trust. 

Overall Digitalization 

With more providers focusing on exploring big data, artificial intelligence, and VR/AR technologies, PRO health care will undergo a digital renaissance. 

Thanks to data-centered and data-driven approaches, the level of care will increase multiple times and become more convenient, customized, and connected. Providers will pay more attention to PRO data and analyze it more intensely to fill the gaps in treatment, improve health status monitoring, and generate actionable insights. 

Final Thoughts 

By integrating PRO for better medical outcomes, providers can tailor interventions to align closely with patient preferences, needs, and experiences. Patient-reported outcomes not only enhance the quality of life and medical services by offering a comprehensive understanding of treatment effectiveness and patient well-being, but also enable the co-creation of treatment plans through collaborative decision-making between patients and providers. Patient-reported outcomes measures stand as a cornerstone in modern care. This powerful tool will keep revolutionizing the delivery of medical services and approaches to patient engagement. 

The rigid restrictions laid out in Direct-to-Consumer Advertising (DTCA) Rules or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) say nothing about the general ethics of treating a patient with care and compassion. Yet, being mindful of patients’ needs holds the most value long-term, combining financial expedience, legal compliance, and genuine commitment to their well-being.

This article will cover the importance of putting patients at the center to foster stronger connections with the target audience, gain a competitive edge, and, more importantly, make a real difference in patients’ lives.

What is Patient-Centric Marketing?

Patient-centric marketing is what many health organizations and institutions are currently striving to achieve. Despite its importance, patient-centricity has only recently become a big trend in the healthcare industry. When it comes to marketing, it is still an unexplored area that many healthcare organizations are just beginning to discover.

Patient-centric marketing focuses on the needs, goals, and interests of a patient. In the past, healthcare marketing was largely concentrated on promoting services and treatments rather than prioritizing the people they served.

Patient-centricity turned things around, making the patient the main hero. As a result, patients now trust healthcare services and organizations more than ever before. From improved patient adherence to better healthcare decisions, the patient-centric approach has many benefits, which we will discuss next.

Role of Patient-Centric Marketing in Healthcare

The rise of patient-centric marketing can be attributed to several major reasons. First, patients now have more access to information than ever, thanks to social media and the World Wide Web. Most people start their treatment journey by conducting online research. According to statistics, 80% of patients across all age groups learn about their diagnosis online. The vast amount of information makes them more aware of their health conditions and allows them to compare available treatment options and even pharma brands. As a result, life sciences organizations must search for more effective ways to cut through the noise and better help patients receive proper care.

The second reason naturally follows the first one. With so many customers seeking health-related information online and generating a massive amount of personal data, it has become easier for pharmaceutical companies to craft marketing strategies that revolve around a patient’s preferences. LS businesses no longer must ask themselves, “Do we need to target HCPs or market directly to patients?” Technological advancement enables them to reconcile HCP engagement with any patient needs, drastically improving patient outcomes and overall marketing efficacy.

Another reason to adopt patient-focused marketing is the increasing patient involvement in their own care. One of the recent studies shows that 93% of patients are ready to share their personal data to receive personalized health-related information. These findings give pharmaceutical companies the green light to start producing customized, compelling, and relevant content for patients.

How to Deliver Patient-Centric Marketing: Tips & Strategies

As a rule of thumb, pharma brands should follow three key steps to promote patient centricity: get to know their audience inside out, provide real value to them, and connect through the channels where their customers need them to be.

Understand Your Patient

LS businesses need to understand their patients as humans, acknowledging their fears, struggles, motivations, sentiments, and cognitive biases. One way to do that is patient journey mapping. But there is a catch: they must be written from the patient’s point of view. While most journeys typically start with the patient’s first interaction with the pharmaceutical company, a far more efficient approach is to begin when the patient notices something wrong, responds to the new reality, and seeks relief by turning to resources.

Ignoring these important steps will lead to a shallow perception of the patient and a lack of understanding of their problem. It is equally important to understand patients’ actions while waiting for results or after receiving a diagnosis, such as exploring alternative treatment options or seeking information online. Such patients would appreciate useful information about available therapies or any different perspectives.

In the post-diagnosis stage, pharma companies should identify the barriers that cause patients to drop off treatment. Sentiment analysis, behavioral targeting, patient surveys, segmentation, and other methods can contribute to finding the cause for dropping off. Once they are aware of specific reasons, they can develop effective marketing strategies to improve patient compliance. One example is when a pharma company uses artificial intelligence (AI) to understand the causes of parents’ reluctance to vaccinate their children. Some parents may exhibit optimism bias, believing there is no chance their child will contract the disease, while others are heavily influenced by how their close environment behaves. Understanding fears and needs enables pharmaceutical companies to effectively engage with them, sending the right message backed up with an abundance of compelling evidence.

Utilize Patient Data to Provide Value

Even if pharma brands in most countries cannot sell directly to patients, they can become trusted experts by providing valuable health-related information. The call to action may remain to consult an HCP, but still, there is a lot they can do to generate interest in their pharmaceutical products and improve patient education. With the help of the right technology and data, LS businesses can produce relevant and useful content to help patients in their journey to recovery.

However, when focusing solely on their treatment, companies risk appearing overly “promotional,” which can repel potential customers. It is important to provide information about the entire spectrum of what patients are up against with their conditions. For example, people recently diagnosed with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) may appreciate content related to social stigma and strategies to overcome it. Patients with Multiple Sclerosis are likely to benefit from helpful resources on managing side effects from their medicine. Such content would make their therapy more tolerable, significantly increasing patient compliance rates. The key lies in ensuring the right messaging goes to the right patient.

Having survived cancer, I realized the crucial importance of having timely access to reliable information. Right at the time when doctors shared the news about my diagnosis, my team and I were developing a mobile oncology assistant that could provide clinicians with real-world evidence and valuable data up to date. My awareness of the disease, its symptoms, consequences, and treatment options helped me quickly respond with the most effective strategy tailored to the specific needs of my body. This proactive approach significantly increased the chances of optimal patient outcomes, reduced possible side effects, and sped up the recovery process.

Nataliya Andreychuk, co-founder and CEO of Viseven

One more thing to remember is that the target audience is patients, not HCPs. As such, it is critical to communicate at an appropriate health literacy level. Using medical jargon, complex multisyllabic words, and lengthy sentences can deter pharma companies from achieving their main goal, which is to educate most of the population.

Interact with Patients in Their Preferred Channels

To put patients’ needs first, engaging with them through the channels where they spend their time while also staying relevant is crucial. For instance, if patients spend most of their time on social media, companies should join online discussions rather than interrupt and try to dominate them. Focusing exclusively on one’s brand is like snatching the microphone from the current speaker only to talk about oneself.

LS brands must remember that social media is about building social connections rather than bombarding users with in-your-face advertisements. Pharmaceutical companies must offer information that helps patients accept and manage their conditions. Even if the topics aren’t closely related to the brand, providing value to patients without expecting anything in exchange is important.

By choosing the right channels and providing relevant content, companies can build a patient community from which they can learn. How do patients’ needs vary across different segments? What do they react to? Engaging patients through digital channels not only makes them more educated care partners but also sheds some light on their dreams, hopes, complaints, expectations, biases, and fears.

And if you would like to provide your patients with a seamless experience, integrate omnichannel marketing into your approach. Omnichannel marketing allows your audience to interact with the brand whenever they would like, while always receiving consistent messaging and support.

Examples of Patient-Centered Marketing

Patient-centered marketing can take various forms, and businesses that want to find the best approach for their patients should try out at least a few methods to discover what resonates. Let’s take a look at some examples of patient-centric pharma marketing:

Personalized treatment plans

Unique treatment plans that are adjusted to the patient’s circumstances are not only more effective but also show that the patient is cared for and that their needs are considered.

Follow-up messages

A healthcare journey does not stop at one visit; however, many patients end up continuing it on their own due to fear, anxiety, and other reasons. Some might even feel like the facility they were treated at doesn’t care about them, while others believe they can handle their conditions on their own. When an organization messages after appointments, asks follow-up questions, and gives recommendations, patients see and appreciate the commitment and receive the necessary support.

Mobile apps

There is a lot of space for customization and personalization in the world of mHealth apps. Scheduling appointments, checking for doctors’ recommendations, chatting with physicians, and many other features can become the ground for your future app. Such software can save a lot of time for both patients and health professionals while making healthcare more accessible.

Social media

The power of social media cannot be underestimated. Use it to post educational content, educate patients, and spread awareness about your facility. Case studies, questionnaires, guides, F&Qs, and other formats can help you increase website traffic and increase patient engagement.

Modular content

The modular approach is a relatively new strategy that focuses on breaking down content into smaller, more manageable pieces instead of always creating something from scratch. This way, you can create tailored content across different platforms much faster, quickly responding to the needs and interests of patient communities and spending less time on content delivery.

Patient support programs

Patient support programs, or patient advocacy programs, is an umbrella terms that encompasses various services offered by pharmaceutical companies to improve access to prescription medicine and provide patients with comprehensive support in navigating various challenges related to their treatment. Patient support programs can be implemented across a myriad of challenges such as mobile apps or telemedicine platforms, making it a versatile and flexible method to increase patient satisfaction and achieve better health outcomes.

There are many other patient-centric practices, such as patient advisory boards or online events, that lead to improved patient retention and better clinical outcomes. Research what works for your organization best, and follow the chosen methods to create a personalized and empowering patient experience.

Summing Up

Patient-centered care is always about understanding your patients and doing your best as a healthcare organization to provide them with the assistance they expect. Conduct surveys to gather important patient insights, develop patient-centric healthcare processes that are both patient-friendly and physician-friendly, work with healthcare marketers to find the best patient-centered approaches, and, most importantly, make sure you put your focus on humanity, empathy, and inclusivity to create an environment where people who come to you feel safe.

Viseven is a future-inspired global MarTech Services Provider for Pharma and Life Sciences industries with over a decade of experience. Viseven’s digital transformation center offers innovative solutions for companies of different sizes and digital maturity levels by merging marketing and digital technology expertise with innovation and strategic capabilities. The company’s solutions, products, and services are actively used by the TOP 100 Pharma and Life Sciences companies in more than 50 countries around the globe.

Follow Viseven on social media: LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook.

What if we told you that you have the single most effective tool to help patients stay and get healthy? What if we told you that all pharmaceutical companies can use this tool at any stage of patients’ journeys? In fact, you can enhance the effectiveness of this tool whenever necessary. So, what is this powerful tool that you can use? 

It is your patients’ voice.  

Putting patients’ needs at the center of their healthcare journey translates into better clinical outcomes, higher patient satisfaction rates, and customer loyalty. Customers’ voice helps life sciences brands understand what to research, how to develop, how to market products, and, eventually, how to build rapport with the audience. The use of technology allows them to amplify this voice, thereby facilitating the patient journeys. 

Let’s dive into some stats. Approximately 46% of adults in the US take prescription drugs. A quarter of individuals aged 18 to 39 regularly consume two prescription drugs, which means that the dependence on multiple medications is not exclusive to the older population. Meanwhile, patient visits last around 18 minutes only. That’s not a lot for most patients to receive all the information they need.  

These statistics explain why patients are increasingly taking more control over their own health. It becomes blatantly clear why 80% of patients read about their diagnoses online and 76% expect pharmaceutical companies to provide information that complements the products they sell. 

Viseven is a future-inspired global MarTech services provider delivering pharma companies digital innovations to craft valuable content, devise robust marketing strategies, and elevate brand awareness. This is the description you will find both on our website landing pages and at the bottom of our external articles.  

But that is only the part of the story. While we do help pharma achieve their business goals, our primary focus has always been on patients. And, today, the Viseven team wants to bring a crucial topic to the discussion: how innovations enhance the patient journeys. 

What is Digital Innovation? 

Digital innovation reers to the implementation of modern digital tools to improve business operations and processes. Companies introduce digital innovation to enhance patient experiences and shorten their healthcare journey to the brand. One of the major goals of digital transformation and innovation is to create a competitive advantage over market players and build a large base of devoted consumers.  

Why are Digital Solutions Important for the Patient Journey? 

Customer-centric companies make a science out of understanding patient needs. Using digital solutions while concentrating on healthcare experience helps to meet patient’s expectations and increase brand attractiveness. For instance, automating healthcare services can elevate efficiency and increase speed, making a company more appealing and reliable in the eyes of consumers. 

Technologies allow companies to offer value in a patient-focused manner without making difficult trade-offs. As an example, pharmaceutical companies can personalize content for different patient groups without making large investments into content production. Artificial intelligence (AI) and the modular approach make this possible. Brands assess performance of separate modules and craft effective marketing strategies based on evidence, rather than taking a shot in the darkness. Later, they can reuse highly performing assets to target specific audiences. 

Achieving Customer-Centricity in Your Digital Transformation 

To ensure a customer-centric digital transformation, it is essential to leverage data to know your customers, ensure security of their private information, and focus on compliance solutions for patients’ safety. 

Use Data to Know Your Customers 

People differ in their approach to care. Some prefer studying all potential side effects, while others refuse to get involved and find it hard to comply with prescribed therapy. It is not enough to simply provide information. It is essential to generate interest and provoke engagement. 

To connect with your customers, successful brands get to know their fears, emotions, cognitive biases, motivations, and personal struggles. An effective means to know your customer is a patient journey mapping. But there is a nuance: they must be written from the patient’s perspective. What do patients need once they notice something wrong with their health? How do they react to reality after receiving the diagnosis? At what point do they turn to available information for help? By understanding their customers, life sciences brands can seamlessly move them from one touchpoint to another. 

Pharma companies should leverage data analytics to identify specific barriers that can cause patients to abandon therapy or refuse care at all. As an example, a life science brand can rely on AI to understand why patients diagnosed with HIV/AIDS drop off treatment. Some individuals may fear possible side effects of the antiretroviral therapy or be affected by stigma surrounding the disease. Acknowledging these misconceptions enables businesses to send the right message based on an abundance of convincing evidence. 

Still, no matter how well your content is crafted, it is of little use, unless you engage patients where they are. Sending the right content through the wrong channel or at the wrong time significantly reduces the chances that the patient stumbles upon it.  

Viseven not only creates engaging, personalized content at a scale but also uses data to reach those who need it. Our omnichannel patient journey strategy helps pharma companies deliver messages in a compelling way, with the desired frequency and through the preferred channels. In doing so, we assist in bringing genuine value to patients, building connections with them, and raising awareness about pharmaceutical brands. Our clients experience up to 250% increase in engagement rate and 20% higher click-through-rate. 

We also firmly believe that data is often ineffective without visualization. Our team transforms overwhelming amounts of statistics into user-friendly graphs and diagrams, letting pharma companies make sense of their crucial metrics, such as impressions, clicks, shares, reach, comments, and leads. Our analytics not only capture patient engagement results but also highlight trends and patterns that might otherwise get lost in the sea of data. 

Ensure Clinical Data Security to Build Trust 

In the past, a healthcare provider (HCP) used to keep patients’ sensitive information in manila envelopes stored in filing cabinets to ensure data security. Nowadays, as health data migrated to the cloud, we must constantly come up with more sophisticated security strategies that outsmart hackers’ intentions. 

Health information contains more private and personal information than any other kind of customer data, making healthcare organizations more vulnerable to cyber-attacks. According to the latest evidence, more than 540 healthcare organizations reported data breaches in 2023, which affected upwards of 112M patients.   

This translates into money and time needed for recovery, let alone the damage to the organization’s reputation. According to the Healthcare Breach Report, a healthcare organization needs 236 days on average to recover from a data breach. Each incident costs approximately $500 per compromised patient record. 

Encryption protocols, file backups, regular security audits, and multi-factor authentications are some commonly used solutions to protect patients’ data from prying eyes. Pharma companies adopt robust anti-virus and anti-malware applications and, what’s equally important, keep them updated all the time.  

It is not uncommon to use system monitoring applications that track and record all activities and data usage. This boosts transparency, as you can have a bird-eye view on who is updating, deleting, accessing, and moving patient files. When these solutions spot any suspicious activities, they instantly notify the organization’s IT staff. 

While all these measures are effective, why are cyber-attacks prevalent today? One often-overlooked reason is healthcare professionals’ large workloads. HCPs frequently express feelings of being overwhelmed and exhausted. In an effort not to disrupt the workflow, they may be tempted to neglect proper protective measures.  

The health system must adopt a holistic and comprehensive approach to address HCPs’ heavy workloads and mental health concerns. Leveraging technologies, standardizing processes, and offering wellness programs are some of the ways that help them combat chronic fatigue and burnout. 

Balance Innovation and Compliance 

Pharmaceutical companies must navigate a tricky path – innovating rapidly to drive the health system forward, while toeing the line of local and international regulations for patient safety. The rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines is the case in point, where groundbreaking speed did not compromise compliance. Trials adhered to all standards, and patient data was constantly shared with regulatory agencies.  

Now comes the million-dollar question: How is it possible to balance innovation and compliance? And once again the quick answer is technology. 

Modern technologies play a pivotal role in areas like drug development and pharma marketing. And they are equally helpful when it comes to adhering to stringent regulatory requirements. AI, blockchain, and data analytics optimize processes, ensure traceability, reduce human error, and increase transparency in the pharma supply chain.  

But let’s look at the examples. The development of precision medicine has become one of the macrotrends in the industry due to advances in proteomics, genomics, and data analytics. In fact, the precision medicine market is expected to be worth $126.14 billion by the end of 2025. Another study shows that the number of personalized drugs in the United States alone has doubled from 2016 to 2020. Personalizing therapies based on genetic makeup and unique environment holds the potential for more effective ongoing care, with fewer side effects.  

New laws are continuously introduced to control personalized treatments and genetic testing. As a result, pharma brands must regularly update their organizational processes to remain compliant. But this is easier said than done. Personalized therapeutics is much more sophisticated than the “one-dose-fits-all” approach.  

Pharma heavily relies on regulatory technology, also known as RegTech, to keep up with the overwhelming number of new amendments and always-changing standards. When a new law comes in, a notification pops up, telling them to reconsider their compliance processes and helping them report to regulatory bodies on time.  

The adoption of AI to accelerate the Medical Legal Regulatory (MLR) process is an important innovation in digital pharma marketing. The rise of ChatGPT has shown how content can be created in a matter of seconds. But while in many industries it only takes a couple of minutes to generate and send an email to a customer, the pharma industry is a different ballgame. Due to strict regulations, each claim must be supported with the relevant reference and then approved by the MLR team.  

On average, it takes about four to five weeks for a pharma company to send just one email. But in less-than-ideal situations where content must do a little back-and-forth dance between content creators and MLR crew, businesses are not just losing time and money but also gambling their competitive edge. Companies risk not sending timely follow-ups, potentially losing HCPs as customers, or missing the chance to update them on the latest groundbreaking therapies, facing a decline in engagement rates. 

The good news is that the same AI can be used to speed up content creation while ensuring compliance. Let’s take our eWizard, content experience platform for pharma, as an example. We are developing a feature that allows users to see the likelihood of content approval before undergoing the formal MLR process, thereby speeding up time-to-market. If there are content mismatches, sensitive images, or missed references, you receive an alert and, importantly, suggestions on how to improve your piece. 

Once the content gets the green light, you can recycle and tweak it for future campaigns without the need to go through rigorous MLR procedures once again. Thanks to AI technology, you can automatically tag all your texts and images to easily compose a new personalized campaign using the already-approved modules. With eWizard, one of our clients, Biogen, a major player in the global biotech sector, has streamlined their content production, cutting the time-to-market from three weeks to just one. 

Final Words 

Effective patient’s journey presupposes caring for patients in every aspect of business. This includes creating drugs with their needs in mind, prioritizing data safety and patient experience, generating compelling, compliant content, and always considering them, even in HCP marketing. 

Pharmaceutical brands that treat patients respectfully and address their unique challenges throughout the entire patient journey tend to build trustful, mutually beneficial relationships with their target audience. Digital innovation in healthcare offers a means to build this trust, be it through granting access to reliable information, providing ways to engage patients, or ensuring data security. 

What’s equally important, digital innovations enable pharmaceutical and life sciences companies to put customers first without compromising their business interests, like costs or operational efficiency. This intricate balance lets brands satisfy their customers’ needs while propelling towards organizational health and a competitive edge. 

Viseven has been delivering compliant, cutting-edge solutions for over a decade now. Our pharmaceutical MarTech company boasts a 93% client satisfaction rate. In fact, 80% of our clients have come to us through referrals.

Need a robust, patient-centric digital solution? Drop us a line, and we will reach out to you as soon as possible.

Apart from high-quality care, personalization, and transparency, patients are eager to have more control over their time and day-to-day health activities with easy access to accurate medical information. 

A healthcare mobile app is a perfect tool to satisfy all these needs. mHealth apps don’t aim to replace doctors and medical devices but to revolutionize the healthcare system by improving healthcare delivery. 

The revolution in digital health development can potentially exceed customers’ expectations and help attain a higher level of clinical engagement. 

As wearable technology and mobile devices have already created a new tone of connectivity within the patients-HCPs-pharma triangle, the demand for mobile applications in pharma has become immense. 

In this article, you’ll find more about mobile health app development, its enormous role in HCP engagement, and the principal outcomes of including mHealth apps in your multichannel or omnichannel marketing strategy. 

What Is an App in Healthcare? 

Healthcare apps, or healthcare applications, are software designed to provide users with health-related services, such as online consultations, live chats, appointment scheduling, and more. mHealth apps help professionals deliver more personalized treatment, assist patients worldwide, and collaborate with other experts. Due to the increasing demand and technological advancements, the mHealth market is projected to surpass $269.31 billion by 2032. 

Healthcare Mobile Apps: A Brief Statistics Overview 

• The number of healthcare apps downloaded worldwide is expected to reach 8.6 billion by 2025. 
• According to Statista, more than 52,000 healthcare and medical apps are available on the Google Play Store worldwide, and over 53,000 mHealth apps are available on the Apple App Store; 
• By 2023, nearly 30% of American adults regularly utilized a health-tracking or management app multiple times daily; 
• The global mHealth app market will reach $68.77 billion in 2024. 

How mHealth Apps Are Changing Healthcare 

Hospital in a pocket 

Patients can take advantage of healthcare services while staying home. With the help of a mobile device, they can get consultations and prescriptions and even send payments. 

Entire workflow in a mobile device 

Mobile apps can help healthcare workers remember their daily tasks, browse the documentation, and optimize communication within their teams. Healthcare professionals can conduct quick online checks, access information about their patients within seconds, monitor their health, prescribe medicine, and so on. 

Mobile platform for pharma 

Pharma companies can develop a healthcare mobile app where their staff can send propositions, close deals, and do other business activities with partners and clients. 

Personalized care 

Users can receive personalized treatment plans, answers to their questions, and medical advice through healthcare apps within a few clicks. This decreases the time needed to contact a doctor and makes healthcare resources more accessible. 

AI-powered assistance 

AI-enhanced technology has completely changed the course of the pharmaceutical industry. Apps with AI technology integration offer instant assistance with various patients’ requests, providing them with around-the-clock support. Moreover, AI-driven algorithms can help healthcare organizations analyze patient data, find more effective ways to assist them, and offer better treatment. 

Benefits of Mobile Apps in Healthcare 

More powerful brands 

Revolution in mHealth has stepped ahead. Assistant apps are helping pharma brands boost awareness by approaching the maximum number of smartphone customers. 

It means pharma brands can quickly improve their marketing campaigns with intuitive navigation to company data such as contacts or other first-hand details, which are always available, accessible, and visible on apps. 

Improved time management 

Due to constant direct contact with the audience, applications in healthcare can help physicians save plenty of time and effort. It will streamline HCPs’ workflows, improve productivity, and maintain patient communication agility. Not to mention that people who need medical assistance can schedule or cancel an appointment with a nearby physician using the app. 

Patient loyalty 

Mobile medical apps significantly increase transparency with the help of constant remote monitoring, support, and online interactions. It keeps users engaged and involved in each step of their healthcare journey. 

Data harvesting 

Mobile health apps can work as a single hub for all medical information — from numerical data to their preferences, emotional reactions, and current behavior patterns. It provides professionals with a complete pack of insights valuable for further care and treatment enhancements. 

Real-time response 

Doctors can respond to people who receive medical treatment proactively using mHealth apps while providing effective treatment anytime and anywhere. Patients can request assistance whenever they need it, and an available doctor can consult them immediately. Moreover, mobile app users can avoid going to the doctor over minor problems or questions and just receive all the answers they need right in the app. 

Main Types of Mobile Healthcare Applications

Many types of apps help patients manage and improve their health independently and assist healthcare professionals with multiple tasks. Here are some mobile health applications examples: 

Patients’ apps 

• Symptom checkers; 
• Reminders and alerts; 
• Applications for remote monitoring; 
• Support for patients with chronic diseases; 
• Health plus applications; 
• Health insurance apps; 
• Mental health apps; 
• Fitness apps; 
• Diet apps. 

Apps for healthcare professionals 

• Medical calculators; 
• Prescription management; 
• Appointment reminders; 
• Pharma guides and surveys for eLearning. 

Medical salesforce apps 

• Remote communications; 
• eDetailing scripts and guides; 
• Informational materials. 

Most In-Demand Patient Engagement Healthcare Apps 

Medical education 

Patient engagement healthcare apps support and strengthen learning processes. Instead of wasting time on long-turning educational sessions, these apps give permanent access to up-to-date medical materials, prescription guidelines, diagnostics, and more. 

Apps for clinical communications 

Apps of this type simplify interactions between healthcare providers and facilitate quick responses with virtual functionalities, such as voice calling, video conferences, messaging, and beyond. 

Calculators 

Such healthcare mobile apps for patients can calculate dosage or offer dosing suggestions based on multiple complex formulas and individual medical parameters. 

Disease management and diagnostics 

Various symptom checkers are among the most popular apps used in healthcare. Doctors and other HCPs can stay in touch with their patients to keep track of their drug adherence and lab results, check current health conditions, and coach them in their health journey. 

For example, doctors use the SkinVision app to identify skin cancer in its early stages. It reveals the diagnosis immediately. 

Drug reference 

Such healthcare apps for doctors provide health information about medicine, pharmacology, indications, dosages, interactions, contraindications, costs, and beyond. 

Patient education and engagement 

mHealth apps designed specifically for patients can include educational content such as treatment options, health issues, prevention methods, and more. It results in a better experience and a higher satisfaction rate. 

For example, TalkLife is one of the healthcare apps that help patients talk to people with the same symptoms or illnesses. They can ask for advice or exchange their experiences if they need it. 

Mobile telemedicine 

Another great feature in mHealth apps is an implemented video service technology that can provide remote patient monitoring. Doctors and other healthcare professionals can deliver real-time medical assistance to patients through remote video functions. It concerns those who cannot access their healthcare providers directly or get needed care due to remote location or physical disorders. 

For example, Dr. Now is one of the best healthcare apps for patients to make a video call and reach their physicians anywhere they want. 

Top Use Cases of Mobile Apps by Viseven 

Here are some of the best health apps for patients and healthcare professionals Viseven has developed: 

1. Dosage calculator for children’s caregivers. The app can calculate dosage and the frequency of pill or suspension administration. All the medical data is based on the criteria of disease as well as on the little patient’s weight; 
2. Dosage calculator for parents and HCPs. This app provides instant access to medicine instructions and allows parents or physicians to calculate the accurate dosage; 
3. Offline application. This app provides patient care recommendations for specialists in the oncology sphere (adjuvant, neoadjuvant, and surgical therapy); 
4. Versatile medical reference app for pharmacists. The app offers diagnostic possibilities and helps users identify a type of pain depending on its location, duration, or intensity. Osteohelp also allows choosing among the best treatment alternatives, investigating its pharmacological properties, route of medical administration, and beyond; 
5. Pharmacist’s guide. This app offers a wide range of up-to-date medical education materials for HCPs with various reference videos for clinical procedures; 
6. Health app for tracking health. Based on PhoneGap, this hybrid app has a built-in video module and BMI Calculator technology. The mHealth app provides users with the needed medical records regarding their disease, sets up custom pill reminders, and allows them to keep track of their current health situation; 
7. Life Plus App. This mHealth app allows program members and pharmacists to share offers with clients. It includes various options such as promotions for top products, redeems and redemptions, and eVouchers. Users receive the latest information continuously and always stay updated. 

Core Usability Principles for Healthcare Apps

The best healthcare apps for patients and HCPs have the following features: 

• Intuitive user experience (UI) and excellent user experience (UX); 
• Simple installation and flawless functioning; 
• Synchronization of data across devices; 

• Safety and security of personal information. 

Innovations in digital mHealth technologies help augment clinical efficiency, provide accurate diagnoses, and help pharmaceutical brands stand out. 

mHealth application development includes business analysis, UI/UX design, backend, app development, and quality assurance. 

As for operating systems, Android and iOS are still at the top. However, Android remains the lead platform for mobile health application development. 

Need a mHealth app? Viseven is an app healthcare provider that can develop a hybrid, native, or web app for your pharma, healthcare, or life sciences brand, considering your marketing strategy and the needs of your target audience. 

Download our case study or fill out the form below for more information. We’ll get back to you shortly! 

Imagine you wake up an omnichannel marketer and ask: What does omnichannel strategy implementation start with? We bet you’ll say segmentation among the mumbled words.

Any decent omnichannel strategy requires proper target audience segmentation; pharmaceutical marketing is no exception. And here’s the thing. Pharmaceutical marketing is a specific area where an omnichannel marketer cannot simply use best practices from other industries and hope they’ll work out.

In this article, you’ll discover what’s unique about healthcare professional market segmentation. We’ll stress the main advantages, review the key criteria, and analyze current and future segmentation practices.

Before getting started, let’s figure out:

What Is HCP in Marketing?

HCP’s meaning in pharma has different interpretations. HCPs stand for healthcare professionals, providers, or practitioners. HCPs can be individuals like physicians, dentists, nurses, pharmacists, or institutions like hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes. Healthcare professionals have diverse roles in the industry and engage with patients in various ways. It’s crucial to understand that not all HCPs can be your target audience, however, all HCPs are important when it comes to pharma marketing.

What Is HCP Segmentation? (And What Is Not)

HCPs segmentation refers to any practice of dividing a target audience into segments according to a set of relevant principles. On an intuitive level, all of us in marketing have that notion: you have a target audience that is a mixed crowd, but you want to be relevant and innovative to as many of them as you can. In other words, instead of offering everyone at a party a glass of wine and a steak, you want to cater to those who won’t go for that first option.

In terms of a healthcare professional audience, physicians are different too. No one can reasonably expect that an eDetailing slide or other traditional content focused on patient challenges or costs will compel everyone to consider prescribing.

If we take that analogy further, it may seem that the more segments there are, the better.

In reality, though, it is not the case.

First of all, there is content — if you have too many segments (carefully sliced up by your analysts based on a 12-dimensional matrix), each containing a handful of HCPs, there will be more of these categories than agencies available to craft all that content.

Secondly, humans are highly complex. The account you find in one segment today may appear in a different one tomorrow.

When done correctly, omnichannel approach is a powerful tool that can furnish monstrous amounts of customer data. Thus, it is crucial to remember what omnichannel audience segmentation is and is not:

• It is NOT segmenting based on anything you can think of, down to loads of tiny segments just because you can
• It IS segmenting based on the criteria relevant to your business, brand, and situation

Main Benefits of Pharma HCP Segmentation

The benefits of well-segmented campaigns are immense.

• Your tactics are more powerful, and they yield better results. With proper segmentation, you can identify more precise pharma HCP engagement moves. Based on actual needs, these moves are likely to involve HCPs. That impacts conversion even in a non-personal digital promotion channel like online ads. The conversion rate for targeted ads rises from 2.8% to 6.8% — more than twofold.
• The affinity between brand and customer increases, and it impacts loyalty. Essentially, it’s a principle similar to providing the beyond-the-pill value in pharmaceutical promotion. If life science professional feels there’s so much more to interacting with the brand than just listening to standard central messages, they’re more likely to perceive this value favorably and become loyal brand advocates.
• Quality leads. One of the best things about doing segmentation right is that once you have identified a segment, the audience within that segment that was under your radar suddenly becomes more accessible. You already have the content and methods to provide them the value they seek.
• Brand image and perception in the community. Customers form communities, and the power of reviews is enormous. That’s also true of the medical community, with key opinion leaders of different caliber swaying the fates of pharmaceutical products in entire regions. Segmenting your omnichannel campaigns will provide the life sciences professionals with targeted messaging and the reasons they personally need to refer to your brand as a trusted and valued one.
• Greater content personalization. Segmentation in Pharma allows companies to find the right audience and narrow it down only to those whose needs these businesses can meet. This strategy ensures that every service, piece of content, and even the smallest message or web banner is relatable to the consumers who encounter it. 80% of marketers consider personalization one of the biggest challenges, especially when integrating an omnichannel strategy, which makes segmentation one of the key ways to address this problem.

Common Criteria for Pharmaceutical Market Segmentation

A segmentation model or pattern is the combination of criteria you choose to segment a life sciences provider target.

In some cases, it may be location, specialty, and the number of patients.  In other cases, it may be the psychological type (see below), specialty, preferred channel, and beyond.

Of course, these examples are too abstract because a more realistic combination is always focused on the brand, campaign, and many other specific factors.

Here Are the Elements of Market Segmentation:

Demographic data

• • Age and gender
• • Location

For B2C:

• Income
• Ethnicity
• Family status

For B2B:

• Industry
• Company size
• Position

Translating this into the HCP-pharma market, we get:  

• Age and gender
• Location
• Family status
• Specialty
• Employment at HCO
• Amount of patients
• Position in the community

Behavioral data

• • Purchasing habits
  • Preferred channel of interaction
  • History of interactions with the brand (frequency, proactivity, and beyond)

In healthcare provider segmentation:  

• Prescribing habits (open to innovation/experiment, traditionalist, and beyond)
• Preferred channel of interaction (rep calls, email, messengers, electronic health record)
• History of previous interactions (email open-rate, and beyond)

Psychological data

• • Personality (introvert/extravert, etc.)
  • Values and priorities
  • Interests

For pharma marketing and HCPs, a similar list would apply as well.

Geographical data

What Is Special About Pharmaceutical Market Segmentation?

For the most part, the segmentation components above have been developed in online campaigns, where the marketer is distant from the customer. But the pharma market lives in a different, much more individual reality with CRM and rep calls serving as a good launchpad.

Pharmaceutical segmentation makes it possible for companies to find out what they should focus their marketing efforts on. It’s not just about understanding the problem and its solution, but also identifying who might need it and when. HCPs are busy, and usually, you have a window of just a few minutes per day to reach the right audience and make them interested in what you offer. The magic of pharma market segmentation lies in its ability to pinpoint the exact HCPs who would like to hear from you.

Say you adopt more channels, each with its own metrics, and then start building a complete picture. How do you combine the two parts in your marketing strategy? It’s where it pays off to look closely at what the industry already has.

Problem of Existing HCP Pharmaceutical Practices

With the insight-collecting possibilities provided by CRM/CLM and the reps going from doctor to doctor, the market segmentation of the pharmaceutical industry would be more sophisticated for the F2F channel. However, it only seems that.

In reality, most companies stick with a simplified segmentation pattern based on their immediate commercial goals. While reps may be instructed (ultimately by the global office) to collect data in the CRM, the actual decision-making for the cycle still often relies on two criteria: 

1. Loyalty
2. Prescription potential

The problem is that this is brand-centric, not a customer-centric model. Everything revolves around two questions: What can this account contribute to brand promotion, and is it worth it to sway their opinion?

Of course, no marketer can escape these two factors, but this only tells how hard to try to engage, not how to engage. In this situation, the representatives possess insights into each healthcare professional, their preferences and psychological traits. However, representatives don’t decide what content to generate, at least directly.

And it’s not too helpful with other channels than sales rep calls. By now, a big number of organizations use entire sets of digital channels with email segmentation often existing in a specific universe. Meanwhile, a smarter take on rep-collected metrics involves psychology.

Psychographic Market Segmentation

Nothing can be more beneficial in crafting high-ROI targeted campaigns than knowledge about the target audience’s psychology. In B2C and FMCG where omnichannel practices first emerged, things are less complicated than in pharma HCP marketing. Regulations don’t overshadow customers’ choices while making prescriptions requires a hefty dose of scientific evidence.

However, as noted above, experienced and high-performing reps still use psychology in communications during their calls, if only to establish that famed personal connection with the provider.

When you want to expand to multichannel and then omnichannel approach, the last thing you want to lose is that connection. Besides, being aware of what moves this or that segment of physicians to favor the product over others helps create innovative content that performs.

That’s why companies are starting to include psychological data into their segmentation models, providing a further dimension. Some CRM systems have fields configured for this data. Currently, not many marketers use them in commercial operations planning, though.

The trick here is to define what psychological traits will be helpful outside the CRM and in the global world of omnichannel HCP engagement. That which lies on the surface — introversion/extraversion, Myers-Briggs types, empathy scales — is not very helpful per se. That is until you find combinations that serve to determine common psychological types.

For example, you may notice that the more pragmatic, cost-aware physicians are also patient-centric in their values. They’re generally more open to communications with pharmaceuticals regardless of their introversion/extraversion score.

Such psychological typing helps develop and generate fragments for rep-triggered email campaigns that reps could combine before sending to HCPs. The same logic can be extended to HCP targeting strategies that include other digital channels. These channels influence healthcare professionals’ choices (and the choice of key messages) and behavior when building omnichannel customer journeys.

Emerging Data Layers and Discrepancies

As pharmaceuticals are embracing ever more channels, management boards come across targeting principles and models that are traditional to those channels.

Take email (mass mailing, not the rep-triggered email). This channel comes with a targeting pattern that includes browser/device use and even habits when the customers open the emails (impacting sending time). The web has targeting practices too involving geolocation and other things tracked with click maps and SEO-related research.

Do these models have life in pharmaceuticals? No doubt. Do they have value outside the channels they were developed for? Sometimes. What is the issue to solve? Few people take time to put these multiple models together and filter out what criteria are relevant everywhere, regardless of the channel. Instead of a brand-centric segmentation pattern we covered earlier, multichannel brings about a channel-centric one.

This needs to be broken, and this break is part of the transition to the omnichannel experience. Integrating data from different channel-specific platforms is the tech side of the question and is already being implemented at many companies across the market. The next stage is a shift towards a truly customer-centric mindset.

New HCP Targeting Practices in Omnichannel Marketing

What is the future of HCP targeting and segmentation? What practices are sustainable in an omnichannel model? Various organizations are working on their models, tactics, and methods, but here are some common findings that our expertise at Viseven confirms.

Implementation Process

Thankfully, there is no need to start from scratch. A good practice is to build upon what your business has aggregated throughout the years: the customer base, CRM data, pharma HCP insights identified by reps, email metrics, and questionnaires.

As you add more channels, find out whether the targeting segmentation that seems evident contributes to the overall ROI of the omnichannel campaign, not its channel-bound part.

Another essential thing to remember is that segmentation is an ongoing process rather than a once-and-for-all initial step. Omnichannel approach starts with a segmentation process not chronologically but logically. You harvest additional data in the course of an omnichannel campaign.

In a recent study, we described a case when the HCPs’ reaction to an automated email resulted in them either moving to the next step, the management changing the key message, or changing the channel to a messenger. It is natural to use the data on a message or channel preferences obtained in this way to segment the audience further along the way, refining the approach.

Common Mistake

We have briefly alluded to it when talking about the approximation analogy. It’s crucial not to make segmentation a goal in itself — refining here is not about creating an array of categories that multiply to produce a host of additional small segments of a target.

It’s the message that matters. One should start thinking about the message (or messages) they want to convey. It’s in connection with the messages you want to get through that you can define what insights are relevant for segmentation solutions.

Integrate at Every Step

Finally, the most important point is that there should be one governing segmentation pattern above any channel, even above the CRM. That’s what makes the omnichannel approach different from extended multichannel solutions. It’s all about HCPs with their needs and the value your brand brings, not the possibilities of a single channel, however efficient.

It requires a common data pool across channels and integration of the corresponding platforms that underlies it. With a robust, integrated omnichannel architecture, you can not only put together the data from CRM, email, web, or social, but make decisions based on the extended picture of customers you have.

Currently, only 15% of pharmaceutical companies believe their approach to HCP engagement is omnichannel. This figure is expected to change in the coming years. However, many pharmaceutical organizations continue to grapple with numerous challenges that make their transition to omnichannel marketing impossible, including budget constraints and limited resources.

With experience in setting up omnichannel architectures and campaigns based on the customer’s existing infrastructure and behavior, our experts know how to make your current technical and data capacities work to their maximum. Our team will create a new successful omnichannel mindset which you can then extend and scale.

If you want to get more practical and actionable information, professional advice, and technical expertise on building a segmentable and segmented omnichannel strategy, contact our experts or fill the form below. We’ll get back to you shortly!

The pharmaceutical industry has talked about improving communication with HCPs for decades. While even several years ago, “closing the loop” was routinely equaled to traditional rep calls plus maybe a couple of emails, things have changed a lot recently. After the seismic shift of 2020, when the F2F variable temporarily left the equation, one thing became obvious: one-way communication (pharma speaks, HCPs listen) is no longer enough. Where is the guarantee the physicians do hear the message? Where is the value they are expecting? Establishing real, reciprocal HCP engagement is a challenge, yes. However, an increasing number of pharma organizations are using digital and omnichannel approach to resolve it – and successfully so.

HCP engagement? Customer experience is the key

To understand how to achieve genuine HCP engagement, it is helpful to define what it really is. Nodding at a representative or liking a pharma brand’s social media post – does this count? How far does the interaction really need to go to be considered significant for the overall communication funnel?

In reality, it makes sense to define engagement as either a two-way interaction (HCP actively responding to pharma), or any event that can potentially lead to such an interaction (e.g., a physician downloading materials from a portal or subscribing to a service).

From the HCP’s viewpoint, all of this happens within a certain “landscape” – their overall experience with the brand. At some point, when this customer experience attains a certain level of value to the HCP, they actively engage to get more. There are two prerequisites:

• The value already received from the experience (proof that the brand can offer more), e.g., a fruitful conversation with a rep or an interesting webinar
• The “promised” value – i.e., what the doctor can get if they only click that CTA button or ask the rep/MSL a question, etc.

The effects of a well-constructed customer experience are hard to underestimate. In recent research by McKinsey (immunologists, n=600), the doctor’s satisfaction with “prescription journey” (in HCP-to-patient and HCP-to-pharma aspects) had the power to almost double the likelihood of prescribing the product.

In other words, the overall experience interacting with the brand (in this case, via the representative) influenced the decision making roughly as much as the convenience factor while leading the patient.

Interestingly, this refers to a “rep-only” or “rep-led” scenario. Seeing as how digital resources and channels are gaining more weight and credibility (for example, 46% HCPs reported to trust branded professional web resources in 2019), the power of a coordinated omnichannel experience would be even more impressive.

But pharma already has a number of digital channels at disposal. Why is the problem still not obsolete? What could be improved?

What areas of improvement are still active?

Even though most organizations are, by now, using at least several forms of digital communication (tools, channels), there are factors that undermine the effort when it comes to HCP engagement. Drawing on Viseven’s experience, the most typical ones are as follows:

1. Attempt to “squeeze” as much as possible into a single touchpoint. A tradition from F2F era, when the rep was supposed to deliver a list of obligatory messages within the 2-7 minutes of the call – and an unnecessary constraint in an omnichannel environment. With proper organization, the information to deliver can be split across touchpoints and delivered in the sequence most likely to get the HCP engaged.
2. Lack of personalization. While a “one-size-fits-all” approach to messaging and content may sound temptingly simple, it no longer works well. Other industries, including retail, have raised the bar of expectations for customer experience.
3. Siloed channels. The digital maturity stage immediately preceding omnichannel – “multichannel” really used to presuppose broadcasting the same messages across different channels without actual interconnection or traceability across them. However, this approach severely limits the marketer and only allows to operate in broad, crude segments.

Addressing these three areas of improvement at once is the essence of the omnichannel approach as it has emerged lately.

Omnichannel in pharma: what is it, actually?

Compared to simply having multiple channels, an omnichannel approach presupposes integration and interconnection between these channels. This is the next stage of strategic development, empowered by modern technology to connect the once-separate online and offline platforms into a single, observable and manageable whole.

From the HCP’s perspective, this connection between the channels means they are no longer “bombarded” by the same messages in different situations (reps, emails, messengers, web) but rather enjoy a cohesive, meaningful experience with the brand.

For the marketer, this approach allows to truly coordinate the channels and touchpoints and arrange the experiences delivered to the HCP. By knowing what the certain physician (individual or group) has been exposed to prior to the next touchpoint, and what the feedback was, the marketer can provide the experience that will engage with more probability.

Essentially, the integration of channels and cross-channel campaigning based on data, insights and automation provides the possibility of choice at multiple levels.

By having a 360-degree outlook on the target audience, the brand can deliver the right message or information in the right context, and via the right channel at every touchpoint. For example, the understanding of where exactly in the adoption funnel the HCP is right now, the marketer can choose to offer them the information they need at this stage. At the same time, the HCP make choices of their own, based on their interests, needs, and other individual characteristics.

These choices contribute to the pool of data that the marketer can then use to provide even better experiences, further reinforcing the connection.

Technology and mindset

The omnichannel approach is powered by technology, which includes integrated digital tools, Marketing Automation System, and (increasingly) even ML-based tools to account for large amounts of data.

At the same time, using omnichannel is also linked to a change in mindset when it comes to operating the entire system. Omnichannel pharma marketing requires the ability to think in terms of customer journeys – and making them automated.

Tools help in this process; marketing automation platforms offer journey planners that allow creating of automated flows, where the HCP’s decisions (clicks, reactions, subscribes, etc.) serve as disambiguations in the flow. A certain event (triggered by the HCP) essentially “tells” the algorithm to offer the next touchpoint. Of course, it is best at least at the initial stage of implementation to have a skilled professional arrange the journeys for maximum efficiency.

How to increase engagement rate in HCP audience (3 aspects)

So how does a pharmaceutical brand use all of this in practice to increase HCP engagement? What to look at? Here is a short checklist.

#1 Personalized communication

With the advent of digital, the demand for personalized communication has increased. An HCP will not have the time to listen to a rep detailing “obligatory” slides when they are interested in other information they can find online. Is this a problem? Not really, once an omnichannel system is functioning around the brand. Arranging touchpoints across channels, the marketer can ensure that the messages get through, while the HCP retains their right to choose according to their real individual needs. Personalization can be delivered in terms of content, tone of voice, channel mix, and even timing of the touchpoints.

#2 Logically crafted Customer Journeys

A good customer journey is one that looks good from the HCP’s side, so for building it, the professional has to keep in mind both the campaign goals and the perspective of the customer. For example, a chain of touchpoints that starts as emails, can be programmed to cross over to messengers with the same content if the emails are simply not opened. The same journey can “behave” differently if the HCP opened the email but did not engage with it, switching the tone of voice, supporting material, etc.

#3 Using digital to reinforce F2F

Digital channels can be used to reinforce the traditional F2F interactions within the same context. For example, a rep call can be followed up by an email or message, further inviting the HCP to engage with content on a portal, website or landing page.

Where to start

Adopting an omnichannel communication model gives a considerable competitive edge and allows to engage HCPs in meaningful dialogues. Of course, to make it work, an organization will want to account for all the aspects, including technology, mindset, workflows, and even elements of psychology, not to mention the work on data management. As of now, though, this has become easier since pharma does not need to “transplant” best practices from other industries and risk every time. Engaging experts who have overseen omnichannel implementation with industry leaders is the most feasible solution. Viseven Group offers this expertise in all aspects, drawing on dozens of projects for TOP 50 pharmaceutical and Life Sciences enterprises. Learn more about how professional teams can help boost HCP engagement for your brand.