The last few decades have been marked by a wave of digitization that has reshaped Health care In multiple ways. Digital health is a broad, multidisciplinary concept that has emerged to define the intersection between technology and healthcare. It refers to the inclusion of software, hardware and digital services to transform many healthcare functions and deliveries.
Here are some key areas for the future that the digital revolution has brought to healthcare.
Everything revolves around patients
Patients can now get healthcare on demand, which means they have easy access to diagnostic services, doctor’s appointments and pharmacy needs whenever and wherever they want.
This growing acceptance of digitization among patients and healthcare professionals (HCPs) has encouraged pharmaceutical companies to provide critical information related to therapeutic areas through new digital platforms to raise awareness among patients and achieve better patient outcomes for HCPs. Nowadays, there are ‘Digital’ Patient Assistance Programs (PAPs) that can be provided to eligible patients as determined by HCP. The purpose of these digital PAPs is to enhance patients’ experiences, expand their access to innovative drugs, and provide rapid and trouble-free treatment assistance based on medical and socio-economic criteria, thus improving their health outcomes.
Digitization has also enabled pharmaceutical companies to run digital programs that educate patients about the possible symptoms of various diseases to ensure an early diagnosis of their ailments. Once diagnosed, these programs are also recommended by HCPs to help patients become more engaged in their disease management, under their supervision.
One such example is the All We Live (Empowerment Growth) initiative which aims to raise awareness about the growth disorders seen in some children. As part of this effort, we’ve partnered with Digital Partner and HCP to understand the patient’s (child’s) journey and to provide parents / carers with relevant information as well as HCP advice. This will increase early diagnosis and give children access to adequate care as they go on their treatment journey.
The evolution of healthcare professionals
There is a significant gap between the evolution of the needs of healthcare professionals, their information usage habits, their behavior versus industry maturity, agility and the solutions offered.
Pharmaceutical companies need to adopt new ways of engaging with healthcare professionals in this way. This can be accomplished by introducing individual touchpoints into the user’s journey, upgrading strategies based on user insights, and being constantly engaged through multiple touchpoints.
An example of such a touch point could be Virtual experience Studio to facilitate improved outreach and collaboration between HCPs. Can be unique in such a digital solution Specialty And capabilities – including peer-to-peer interactions, live webinar streaming, push notifications, newsfeeds as well as modules to help healthcare professionals study real-world scenarios. This will also help to understand HCP’s digital footprints and behaviors and content usage patterns. Customized content strategy and personalized experience for each HCP can be further utilized. The overall purpose of the Virtual Experience Studio is to provide a learning and engagement hub for healthcare professionals.
Healthcare professionals (HCPs) will benefit significantly from rich scientific knowledge sharing, interaction, seamless data management and competency set-ups that will increase patient access, retention and loyalty.
Another example could be Medical Case Series, a web-series style content platform aimed at sharing relevant knowledge and bringing a transformative experience to HCPs.
Digital partnerships for business efficiency
For large pharma companies, one of the most difficult tasks is to marry existing structures and processes with culture, speed of innovation and agility of the digital health business. That being said, there has been greater collaboration between pharma companies and external partners to help provide access to multiple digital solutions that provide seamless real-time access to sales information, loyalty and promotional information to sector colleagues / sales representatives and stockists / retailers. Enables. , Via mobile application and CRM solution.
As pharmaceutical companies continue to add HCP services that in turn improve patient outcomes and implement solutions around their core pharma products, partnerships with digital health companies offer a competitive ‘head-start’ through their ready-to-use digital platforms.
These partnerships not only provide businesses with new knowledge and avenues and opportunities for innovation, but they also have the potential to drive the overall ‘democratization’ of the digital health space.
Using data to its full potential
As an industry, we are moving towards a more data-driven approach to reach our customers through multiple channels. With rapidly changing customer needs, aggregate-level data insights are now being used to drive initiatives and create services tailored to meet the unmet needs of both patients and healthcare professionals. Patients can now personalize their health plans from the comfort of their home by connecting to virtual agents through AI-powered chatbots. Electronic health records and predictive analytics dashboards will now help clinicians make a quick diagnosis and effectively customize patient care journeys.
Keeping pace with the times, we’ve entered the world of ‘AI and Behavioral Science’ with personalized nudge-based solutions to drive winning behavior among our Customer Facing Colleges (CFCs), change the approach to meeting KPIs, and achieve their goals. Reactive to active.
Through technological advances, companies can take advantage of advanced analytics to provide customized services and information to their stakeholders and audiences, and redesign targeted marketing strategies based on data insights. This will help the industry increase outreach and increase targeted engagement between groups of customers and meet their unique needs.
Conclusion: Expect a 360 ° change in the market model
This digital transformation aims to revolutionize not only the market model but also the mindset and approach of patients and healthcare professionals. Digital tools will soon become essential rather than good while the services provided will undergo continuous evolution and improvement with the help of real-time insights and feedback from patients.
By prioritizing patients and healthcare professionals, the healthcare industry will deliver experiences that focus on the needs of the clients involved. Consumers will be empowered to define their personal healthcare journey by making tools and resources more accessible. Regardless of the nature of each interaction with patients, be it personal or virtual, the quality of services provided will be more consistent, efficient and effective.
Debashish Roy, Director and Head, Digital at Pfizer
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