• by Eric Jensen , September 2, 2014

With the everyday pressures of meetings, deadlines, budget management, sales forecasts and the business of pharmaceutical marketing, it’s easy to forget that it all boils down to one very simple thing: at this exact moment in time, millions of patients are living with and managing a whole variety of conditions. And the one thing they all have in common: some type of relationship with a healthcare professional. A huge opportunity exists for pharmaceutical marketers to enhance patient/HCP dialogue, to deliver better, more compassionate care for patients, which positively impacts both NRx and TRx for brands.

The Opportunity

1. Healthcare DTC trends are shifting as budget pressures, market dynamics, regulatory issues, managed care and savvy consumers impose a new set of standards for effective healthcare DTC marketing.

2. The mass market approach to healthcare DTC has taken a backseat to a more focused, cost-effective point-of-care (POC) strategy that makes engaging the patient the highest priority.

3. Patient engagement is most efficiently accomplished by facilitating a productive dialogue between patients and their healthcare providers, since this is where disease-state information is communicated, options are discussed and treatment plans are put in place.

4. Simply raising awareness rarely offers the firepower needed to ignite action that leads to better healthcare outcomes. POC trends will continue to push past the old school awareness- raising approach in favor of using strategies and tactics that not only engage the patient, but also offer valuable, “actionable” patient education tools for healthcare providers to use in their practices.

5. Effective POC efforts break down the emotional and behavioral barriers that too often short-circuit treatment plans. With brands often facing huge condition gaps in motivating patients, there is a growing need for consistent and ongoing educational efforts.

Emerging Trends

So what do patients want and need to solve the healthcare issues that are literally and figuratively keeping them up at night and how can pharma successfully satisfy those needs? First and foremost, patients need relevant, credible, actionable and complete information that will help them map out a treatment plan to enhance the quality of their lives and address the underlying condition. Patients want information that inspires hope that they can have a successful outcome.

The most trusted source of that information often comes from their HCPs. Yet the typical time an individual patient spends face-to-face with an HCP is shrinking. POC communications make it easy and efficient for HCPs to provide the necessary information to help patients. Smart marketers are focusing on communication vehicles that help HCPs deliver critical education in the office, through collateral materials the patient can take away and HCP/patient discussion guides. 

Giving patients information that is relevant to them wherever they are on the treatment continuum is critical. Savvy marketers are curators
of patient education that promotes productive patient/HCP dialogues in a logical sequence timed to address patient questions and needs at different points throughout the treatment program. The questions a patient might have when diagnosed with a disease are likely to be very different from questions that arise during the course of treatment and when the patient shifts to maintenance mode.

Engagement Realized

All of the information offered, and when and how it is delivered, promotes patient engagement at every point on the treatment continuum, and chips away at the emotional and behavioral barriers that can disrupt adherence. Communication tactics that deliver the greatest impact are ones that can be used at the point of care when and where the patient is most likely to take action. When patients are in the doctor’s office, they are focused on their issue, prepared to talk to their doctors and ready to find solutions to manage their health. Doctor/patient discussion guides that include answers to frequently asked questions, treatment options and other vital information empower the patient to make the most of their time with their HCP.

Sending patients home with materials builds on the momentum generated during the doctor/patient dialogue and helps keep patients engaged in their treatment program. The most important element is to make sure patients feel as if the resources they are given have the implied and/or direct endorsement of their HCP.

Trends in POC marketing will continue to be driven by motivating patients to work with their HCPs to create a treatment plan that patients will stick with throughout the course of treatment to get the best possible outcomes. Keeping the patients’ needs first and foremost and facilitating the patient/HCP dialogue is the bedrock for successful POC marketing. This approach not only supports the efforts of the HCP and enhances the quality of care for patients, it also boosts pharma’s marketing ROI. Third-party research consistently shows that when pharma companies place a branded advertisement around high-quality, third-party patient education, it can have a significant impact on both NRx and TRx.