As pharma began its ongoing shift half a decade ago toward an outcomes-based business model, marketers began buzzing about patient centricity, what it means, and how to do it. Fast forward to today, and marketers are still buzzing—but with a lot more experience under their belts, new ideas, and new tools. Today, patient centricity casts a wider and finer net. It now encompasses the entire Patient Experience. And it’s the focus of this issue.
Starting with patients’ diagnoses, marketers today—with the aid of technologies, insights, and the input of patients, advocacy groups, and caregivers—are taking the long view of a patient’s journey and their experience along the way. For patients, it’s not about brands, per se. And marketers know that if people perceive that selling a brand is your only goal, they tend to turn off at the very time they most need clear, pertinent information. Our feature, TMI: How To Alleviate Patient Confusion, highlights one of many crucial elements of the patient experience. Author Meredith Terry, PhD, writes, “Pharma is in a position to address patient confusion. But, an even better goal may be to identify mechanisms and changes that can limit confusion before it starts.”
So how do marketers pull that rabbit out of the hat? They don’t. It takes time, effort, listening, and responding with solutions to the questions and concerns patients grapple with. And offering services that can get them through tough times. That’s done by truly identifying with what patients require, what patients need, and what they may not even know they need. By demonstrating care through empathy and compassion for the situations patients find themselves in. And by providing the helpful information they need at every step to understand what they need to do to maintain a quality of life that they may see as slipping away.
For the how, why, when, and what of patient communications, you only need to turn to our Focus on: Patient Experience to find more than 24 experts who provide a rich cache of insights and information—from learning how to create deeper patient partnerships to improving the patient experience by closing gaps to create a seamless experience. And this month’s Think Tank unveils the best strategies for working hand-in-hand with patients to co-create the solutions that they want. This is how pharma regains trust. This is how healthcare moves forward.
