The future of healthcare revolves around creating a patient-centric ecosystem. In today’s landscape, 81% of patients report being unsatisfied with their healthcare experience.1 One of the key drivers of their dissatisfaction? Lack of patient involvement: As many as 90% of patients want shared decision-making with their physician.2
Digital companions — beyond-the-pill digital solutions that deliver personalized support and engagement programs to patients to empower sustainable behavior changes — play a critical role in creating and sustaining a patient-centric healthcare ecosystem. Pairing digital health technology with medications can provide patients with personalized data and educational content that empowers them to understand and manage their condition. With real-time insights into their health, patients transition from playing a passive role in their care to becoming actively involved in their health.
That being said, life science organizations that prioritize digital health partnerships to turn traditional drug products into connected, data-driven solutions today will be the first to reap the financial returns that patient-centric medications have the power to deliver.
Patients are expecting digital drug solutions
Patients don’t just want digitized healthcare experiences…they’re expecting them. Telehealth and mobile banking have evolved to give people access to care or monitor their finances from the comfort of their homes. Patients are expecting life sciences to deliver a similar consumer experience. In fact, as many as 76% of patients agree that life sciences has a responsibility to provide tools and services that complement their products.3
More patient touchpoints lead to improved engagement and outcomes
In the U.S., more than 80% of healthcare costs are spent on diseases that could be modified or reversed through behavior change.4 Digital companions increase the number of possible touchpoints in the patient journey, creating a more engaging patient experience. As patients engage with the platform, the digital companion captures real-world data on adherence, compliance, persistence, dosing intervals, and medication outcomes. With these insights, patients can have more productive conversations with their care team and feel empowered to make sustainable behavior changes that help them take control of their disease.
The result: Improved clinical outcomes and drug satisfaction among patients.
A patient-centric digital companion results in direct returns for life sciences
A digital companion creates a hands-on, patient-centric experience that produces better clinical outcomes, increases patient preference, and improves activation, trust, and engagement with a drug. By creating a patient-centric ecosystem, digital companions have the power to generate direct financial returns for life sciences, including:
- Disease progression monitoring: A digital companion collects data and transforms it into insights that can be used to better monitor disease progression and identify patients for step-up therapy — resulting in clinicians prescribing the most appropriate drug to a greater number of patients sooner in the treatment process.
- Increased adherence: Patients using a digital companion feel more informed about their disease and are more engaged in their care journey, making them more likely to adhere to their medications.
- Increased market differentiation: When patient and provider preference increases, so does the market’s appetite for the connected, engaging experience a digital companion provides compared to a competitor.
- Lower first script abandonment rates and higher persistence: With more touchpoints in the prescription journey, life sciences has more opportunities to encourage patients to fill — and continue filling — a prescription.
Patients want digital solutions from life science organizations. Those who meet patient expectations and deliver a connected medication experience enhance patient-centricity, resulting in direct returns that will improve their bottom lines — and the health of the patients they serve.
Interested in learning more about how digital companions are helping life sciences create connected, patient-centric medications? Let’s talk.
1 Gourdji, J., & Schrimpf, P. (n.d.). Patient experience: Rethinking the healthcare journey: Prophet thinking. Prophet.
2 Chatham, L. (2016). Infographic looks at ROI of Patient engagement. Kareo.
3 Smiley, A. H. (2022). Superior patient engagement – a “must have” for biopharma. Fierce Pharma.
4 Ostojic, I., (2020). Digital Therapeutics and Pharma: A Blueprint for Success from Sanofi’s Bozidar Jovicevic. McKinsey & Company.