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    • Eyes on the horizon: six (and a half) predictions for the future of healthcare communications

    June 21, 2024 | Customer Experience, KOL, Personalization, healthcare communications, healthcare communications trends, patient experience 

    By Zoë van Helmond and Leyna Prince

    - PMLiVE

    The Pharma/biotech industry (referred to as ‘Industry’ throughout this article) is undergoing a period of rapid change in a landscape that is exceptionally dynamic and expanding at never-seen-before rates. Keeping on top of this transformation requires a paradigm shift in how Industry approaches things. Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock you will have noticed that we are in the midst of a tech/information revolution, which is fuelling many of the changes that Industry is undergoing. But this isn’t another blog about tech – tech is a tool, it’s not the goal. What is the goal for healthcare communications? Delivering a great customer experience.

    Industry is not there yet. And it’s going to get more complicated, with the need to engage effectively with a broader range of external stakeholders – patients, primary care and payers will be just as important as meeting the needs of specialists and key opinion leaders. This will mean more customer profiles to understand, more insights to capture, more planning and coordination at scale, more, more, more!

    Agency life allows us the advantage of hearing perspectives from across the Industry, on the steps some are taking to make this paradigm shift in healthcare engagement and communications. Here are our predictions for key areas we see adapting – some of which may help you take those critical steps towards the golden goal of greater customer experiences!

    Prediction #1: Digital medical influencers are as important as key opinion leaders (KOLs)

    How people communicate is changing. We (the authors) are both Gen X – we grew up without the internet and mobile phones; computers were found in an IT lab at school. Today, Gen X is comfortable with technology, while unable to completely cut the nostalgic link to traditional media like TV and a hard-back book.

    Gen Y (Millennials) have grown up alongside the internet’s rise and easily navigates online platforms and social media. Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012) is the first true generation of digital natives, growing up in the age of smartphones and constant connectivity. Gen Y and Z are already in today’s workforce, and it won’t be long until Gen Alpha (using smartphones and tablets by the time they can walk and talk) start looking for their first jobs.

    So what does this mean? Opinion leaders and influencers are changing, they are getting younger and rely on digital platforms as their primary tool for communication. This generational shift in communication styles is affecting who we trust for information, particularly in healthcare. Industry thrives on the voices of trusted established experts (KOLs), but with the rise of digital medical influencers, their strong online presence and engaged communities will hold equal sway in shaping patient perceptions and healthcare provider (HCP) behaviours. Digital medical influencers hold the key in reaching untapped audiences that Industry has traditionally struggled to connect with. Their broad influence allows them to bridge the gap and deliver targeted information to demographics that may not be reached by conventional media channels.

    Prediction #2: A greater drive to reach the primary care setting

    In the future, healthcare will give greater focus to the holistic wellbeing of the patient over treating diseases, and this level of healthcare is primarily coordinated within the community / primary care setting. In addition, general practitioners (GPs) and primary care physicians (PCPs) are the gate-keepers for diagnostic testing and referral, and will be managing more chronic, complex patients on a day-to-day basis so they play an important role in deciding which treatments these patients receive.

    Traditionally, it has been difficult to reach this audience through Global communications strategies and channels. The PCP pool is huge but the individuals are incredibly time limited, so having time to accommodate Industry field force engagement during their working hours is wishful thinking.

    The digital revolution has really opened opportunities for such engagement. Partnership with digital medical influencers is one approach that can bolster communications, as outlined in our first prediction, but that’s just one aspect.

    Where we see the greatest opportunity is in harnessing a truly omnichannel approach in PCP engagement. This will allow Industry to communicate with this audience in a tailored and impactful way with minimal real-time field force engagement. That’s all well and good, but how do you get to the PCPs in the first place? Search Engine Marketing. Use this to drive PCPs to a specific website and, once engaged, they can be brought into the omnichannel system.

    Prediction #3: The patient is truly at the core

    We are starting to see a realization of what patient-led care truly means, with a greater drive for patient inclusivity and equity. There are so many patient types that have historically been ignored in clinical development and healthcare systems – it’s no wonder that patients can feel marginalized and have a distrust in Pharma.

    Partnering with patient organizations from early on in opportunity analysis and asset development is going to be important in developing those close relationships to build trust and to truly understand patient unmet needs and drivers. In doing so, Industry ensures that the patient voice is at the heart of all communications to all stakeholder types.

    On the flip side, when communicating with patients, Industry must apply the same personalization and impact approaches as it would for other audiences, as individual patients will all be starting from completely different levels of understanding. One size does not fit all for patient communications.

    Prediction #4: Industry gets agile

    Outside of the healthcare industry, the expectation for joined-up data leading to joined-up services is pretty much everywhere (we all want the ‘Netflix experience’). Because of this, there is an expectation for Industry to deliver a similar experience. Such agility can be delivered by adopting a truly insights-driven approach, rapidly actioning responses (for example, in refining your communications strategy) to collated data and insights.

    This is no easy task, particularly with legacy organizational structures and the waves of data that are being generated (and there will be more with the broader engagement covered in the earlier predictions), but it’s essential and we must believe that it can be done!

    Luckily, in the not-so-distant future, Industry will have embedded AI-driven tools to help with data processing. There will be learnings along the way – particularly around the need for input data to be packaged in a standard, high-quality format that weights for provenance, and how these tools are only truly effective if readily adopted company-wide.

    Prediction #5: A perfect marriage between content impact and personalization

    There’s currently a lot of focus on improving the customer experience through personalization – “personalization is the holy grail” was a phrase we heard recently from an Industry representative. Delivering personalized content is a great opportunity, but it mustn’t come at the cost of impact. Healthcare comms need both elements in order to resonate and deliver the desired behaviour change.

    Omnichannel communications done well (ie delivering both personalized and impactful content) delivers a really great experience to the customer, but a lot of Industry (including Big Pharma) is finding it a real challenge.

    So how does Industry get this right? First, focus on quality over quantity. Robust, meaningful content should speak differently to your different audiences. Content should tell a story over data alone, through effective application of learning principles, storytelling and data visualization to ensure real impact and hamper misinformation. Second, develop an omnichannel strategy that is agile and iterative to ensure that it responds to insights and is being refined as you move through your asset’s lifecycle.

    If you are yet to fully adopt omnichannel principles in your communications, it’s time to start doing so right away – it’s likely your competitors have already made a start! Our recent article can help you gauge where you are in your omnichannel journey.

    Prediction #6: In-the-field single point of contact is the norm

    Collaboration between functions, as well as Global and Local teams, has always been a sticking point. Competition between them can be fierce and is entrenched in a historical pecking order. From the outside, external stakeholders don’t understand the differences between functions – they just see ‘Company A’.

    In a drive to improve customer experience, Industry will embrace the single point of contact (SPOC) in the field. Gone will be the days when HCPs endure multiple visits from ‘Company A’, unaware that some visits were Marketing and some were Medical, and frustrated that no one within Company A appears to be joining the dots between these visits.

    Not only will SPOCs please the HCPs but they will also nurture expansion of functional capabilities, cross-functional collaboration and Global–Local connectivity within the Company, which can only lead to even better customer experiences.

    Delivering great customer experience means succeeding in a landscape that is changing rapidly

    Industry realizes this and is working to innovate and challenge its legacy ways of working. While our six predictions outline future trends in healthcare communications, these predictions will only achieve fruition if compliance and review processes also acknowledge the need to adapt to the rapidly changing landscape. It would be great to add an additional (half) prediction: Compliance / MLR review becomes agile. Half because this will be a tough nut to crack – ‘prediction’ might be too strong, but let’s be hopeful!

    In an industry that is getting more and more competitive, execution is becoming a key differentiator. Fulfilling these predictions is going to take time and we are here to help you achieve your goal by applying our extensive strategic and execution experience.

     

    To gain agency insights on any of the topics covered here, or to understand how we can support you in delivering a great customer experience, please get in touch with Zoë van Helmond at zoe.vanhelmond@amiculum.biz or Leyna Prince at leyna.prince@amiculum.biz. For more insights, visit the AMICULUM News and insights page.

    This content was provided by Amiculum

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