Patients and their experiences offer crucial insights both for healthcare systems and Pharmaceutical companies. In particular, they help to better understand how products are truly working and improve services. Digitalisation has played a crucial role in most industries, allowing a greater connection between companies and their end users, however, here the pharmaceutical industry seems to be lagging.
Research from Adobe in 2018 reveals that only seven percent of healthcare and pharmaceutical companies said they had gone digital, compared to 15 percent of companies in other industries. For the Pharmaceutical industry, this presents a great opportunity to harness the power of patient insights and digital data to make improvements and ultimately enhance healthcare systems around the world.
Democratising data
In this digital age, an increased access to information is empowering individuals in a variety of ways. In particular, people and consumers now possess a greater ability to influence change and improve products and services directly from their fingertips. Think ‘Trust Pilot’ or ‘Trip Advisor’ and the power that reviews and direct feedback can make to our everyday choices.
By developing a similar initiative with medication, a feedback loop that takes the temperature of patient experiences, the pharmaceutical industry can benefit significantly and be encouraged to improve its products, always with the patient in mind.
How data can address the trust deficit
Currently, there is no mechanism for patients to directly relay feedback on their medicines to the companies producing them. Presently if there were any issues, they tend to be taken up with a physician who will then recommend a new course of action. The feedback would stop there.
Recent research from DrugsDisclosed.com of 3,346 Nordic and UK users of prescription and over the counter medications found that:
- Over three-quarters of patients do not trust advice from pharmaceutical companies about their medication
- 81% of patients feel the pharmaceutical industry influences prescription decisions
- 72% do not feel listened to by pharmaceutical companies
It’s clear from these findings that patients understand the influential role pharmaceutical companies are playing in developing the medication they are taking. There is a trust deficit occurring between patient and Pharma, and this could be rectified by addressing the fact that patients want to open up this dialogue directly and be able to give feedback on their medication experiences.
The power of listening
We have started to see a shift in healthcare systems around the world who are placing greater emphasis on listening to patient voices. This is resulting in better outcomes and improved services both for patients and the systems themselves. Covid-19 has played a critical role in speeding this process up, and explains the surge in digital appointments seen so far this year, but this was merely a catalyst for an unstoppable tide already mustering.
Research by Mckinsey on US patients last year demonstrates the patient desire for greater digitisation for healthcare. This revealed:
- 79% want to use digital healthcare to search doctor ratings and reviews
- 74% want to search hospital ratings and reviews
- 71% want to check personal health information
- 55% want to book appointments
- 48% get information on treatment options
Similarly, research from Accenture found that 33% of millennials and 41% of Gen Z patients are in favour of virtual experiences as opposed to in-person visits. Patients want healthcare on their terms and healthcare systems are listening and delivering this.
In the UK, the NHS has recognised this digital shift and has actively sought to stay ahead of this by establishing the NHS Digital Academy. This has been designed specifically to develop a generation of digital leaders to drive digital healthcare transformation across the NHS and adhere to new patient needs and requirements.
Here, digitisation has created an obvious power shift, giving more to patients, which has resulted in improvements in services and has given patients more control. It is time we use these examples to really examine the patient medication experience and start to apply digitalisation tools to extract the data we need from medication users, to unlock further improvements there.
A force for good for pharma
Patients are keen to have an open dialogue with pharmaceutical companies. The industry faces strident compliance laws which can make the ability to research patient insights difficult, but not impossible. These regulations, which are in place to protect patients, should not be a barrier for pharmaceutical companies to take action.
The ramifications of not developing a real-world listening mechanism are significant. Billions are spent in the clinical trial stages of drug development. Yet, once on the market, their impact is not tracked or monitored.
Patients can be the key to unlocking how these medicines are working beyond the confines of clinical trials. It can provide producers and developers of medication the opportunity to improve their business operations by understanding which products are working best for patients and allowing them to allocate their resources accordingly.
The road ahead
Covid-19 has proven to be a tipping point for digitisation in healthcare and how medical appointments are conducted is due to change forever. This has been driven by demand from patients, resulting in increased healthcare convenience.
Pharmaceutical companies can follow suit by harnessing the power of insights to drive improvements across the board. This can work to both build trust with patients, and boost business profitability. At the same time as improving the medicines they produce and sell to payers, helping to unlock the potential of the world’s healthcare systems for all.
By Claus Møldrup, CEO of DrugsDisclosed.com