The "new" rules of healthcare provider engagement

HCP Engagement
Accenture Article | December 2021

​When asked in 2020, HCPs shared that COVID-19 was driving lasting change in how they want to engage with pharmaceutical companies. They indicated that pharma companies had shown improvement in both relevance and the support services they provide.

​HCPs most value connections that blend the best of virtual and in-person, focused on the needs of their patients.

The article explores how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the needs and expectations of healthcare providers (HCPs) and how pharmaceutical companies can best engage with them. It is based on a survey of 720 HCPs from different disciplines and regions, as well as interviews with industry experts and leaders. The article reveals three key findings:

• Pharma companies need to do more to better understand and meet the expectations of HCPs due to COVID-19. HCPs appreciate that pharma companies have expanded their communication beyond product information to be more helpful, but they also feel overwhelmed by the volume and irrelevance of some digital content. HCPs still believe that pharma companies do not understand the real impact of COVID-19 on them and their patients, and they want more tailored and empathetic support.
• When pharma companies do more, they are recognized and rewarded by HCPs with more time and attention. HCPs have more time available than before COVID-19, and they are willing to spend it on meaningful engagements with pharma companies. HCPs acknowledge that some pharma companies offer better engagements than others, and they are more likely to trust and recommend those companies to their peers and patients.
• The new rules of engagement require pharma companies to reinvent their relevance and rethink their operating models. HCPs expect pharma companies to provide more value-added services, such as patient education, remote monitoring, and digital therapeutics, that go beyond the pill. Pharma companies need to adopt new capabilities, such as data analytics, agile innovation, and ecosystem collaboration, to deliver these services effectively and efficiently.

The article concludes by highlighting the opportunities and challenges for pharma companies to scale their generative AI initiatives and create a competitive advantage in the new era of digital health. It also provides some examples of successful generative AI applications in pharma, such as personalized patient journeys, novel drug discovery, and automated regulatory documentation. 

LINK to article

Despite Covid-19 restrictions mostly discontinued, pharma companies have not gone back to the old ways of one size fits all channel. Based on new technologies and insights they now cater to the actual channel preference of HCPs.
As each HCP tends to prefer one channel (email, phone, video chat, face to face) the use of the preferred channel has shown to provide multiple benefits. These include improved relationships, efficiencies an ROI.