A five-step plan for patient-centred digital communications

It is hardly news that the healthcare environment has changed and will continue to change for many years to come.
Pharmaceutical companies can no longer just sell pills, but must become partners with healthcare providers and patients; ie, they must go ‘beyond the pill’ (which is often a mere buzzword these days).
Another buzzword is ‘patient-centred’, which is constantly talked about by health communicators, but we can count just a small number of projects and programmes that really put the patient at the centre of their strategy and focus. Indeed, being user-centred has been shown to be a strategy that will support the business in the long term in a number of industries (including healthcare). Drug companies and industry regulators welcome patients’ opinions more than ever before. A survey of 1,600 pharma executives by eyeforpharma found that 85% of respondents agreed that patient-centricity is the best route to profitability.
How can health communicators in pharma support and facilitate patients’ desires for greater inclusion and authority in their care and still turn a profit? Making that a reality is surely a big challenge. Our research and experience shows that it is possible.

To read the article by PMLIVE