#FutureReadyHealthcare
Putting Patients First:
The Prescription for Safer Healthcare
15 Sep 2023
Patient safety encompasses measures taken to prevent harm to patients during their interactions with the healthcare system. This includes avoiding medical errors, reducing risks associated with treatments, and ensuring the overall well-being of patients. By prioritizing patient safety, life science companies can mitigate potential risks such as malpractice claims, adverse events, regulatory non-compliance, and damage to reputation. Implementing robust patient safety protocols not only safeguards patients but also contributes to improved outcomes, increased trust in healthcare providers, and enhanced overall quality of care.
When you fly in an airplane, you trust your life in the hands of the pilot and crew. So, when they explain the flight plan, potential turbulence, and safety precautions, it is really about engaging and empowering you to contribute to your own safety. Feels a lot more secure and confident that way, doesn’t it?
Engaging patients to advance safety in healthcare is pretty similar in that sense. With first-hand experience of the end-to-end patient journey, their active involvement is critical to the effectiveness of safety interventions.
The World Patient Safety Day 2023 is dedicated to engaging patients for patient safety. It aims to influence all stakeholders of the healthcare system to work collaboratively towards co-designing interventions that truly reflect the needs and preferences of patients, ultimately enhancing healthcare safety globally.
As a key stakeholder, the global life sciences industry has a significant role to play here. However, it has traditionally adopted a product-centric approach to market and relied heavily on HCPs for patient insights and connect. This is not by choice, but by design, given the stringent regulatory constraints imposed on patient-pharma interactions by health authorities the world over.
Within the boundaries of regulation, life sciences companies need to identify opportunities to push the envelope on patient-centricity across their value chain, if they wish to make a significant contribution to cause of patient safety.
Improve patient recruitment and engagement for clinical studies
Real-world data (RWD)-powered omnichannel marketing approach can identify patients, conduct efficient primary and secondary screenings, and transfer the right patients to clinical trial sites. Deploying concierge model with trained clinical research nurses can improve conversion rates and eventual randomization.
Here is how a US-based biopharmaceutical company improved patient engagement and retention by building trust with, and onboarding the right participants for the phase-3 clinical trial of its COVID-19 drug. Through AI/ML-based geo-fenced targeting, and hyper-local outreach campaigns, we enabled it to receive over 17,000 weekly unique visitors to the trial landing page, and qualify 7% of patients through the primary screening process.
Enhance patient confidence in medical content
Validating all promotional and medical content for factual and editorial correctness from medical, legal, and regulatory perspectives; while still providing patients and HCPs easy access to scientific/ medical content about drugs and therapies across multiple channels (contact centers, websites, emails, social media etc.) and through personalized content formats for maximum engagement is critical to enhancing patient confidence in medical content.
Here is how one of the world’s largest global biotech companies struck a balance between its marketers striving to ensure that assets (promotional and non-promotional) reach the markets faster, and stringent regulators striving to ensure that HCPs and patients receive complete, accurate, and fair-balanced information with our full-thickness promotional and Medical Review (PMR).
Enhance patient confidence in medical labels and artwork
Medication errors are a leading cause of avoidable patient harm in healthcare globally. Effective label content and artwork is not only compliant with global and local regulations, but also patient-centric in facilitating easy identification and clear understanding of important information about the drug/ therapy for the end-user/ patient.
Here is how a leading global biopharmaceutical company leveraged our end-to-end labelling Center of Excellence with local language capabilities and thorough understanding of the Asia-Pacific regulatory landscape, to create effective labels and patient information leaflets specific to the region for over 250 product profiles.
Manage risks to keep patients safe
Adverse events need to be understood as a part of the patient experience by connecting call center services, patient support programs, medical information and product complaints. Effective monitoring, analysis, and reporting of adverse events can ensure persistent regulatory compliance and effective management of risks across the product life cycle.
Here is how a US-based top-3 pharma and biotech company managed surging case volumes efficiently and effectively to realize the true potential of its breakthrough COVID-19 vaccine in affecting patients’ lives as we leveraged AI and NLP technologies to transform automated case intake and processing for them.
Deliver a superior experience at every touchpoint of the patient journey
Comprehensive technology-led patient services including end-to-end journey design, onboarding, engagement, adherence, reimbursement, financial support, diagnostics and training, and data analytics can help life sciences companies navigate the complex patient healthcare ecosystem and drive better health and safety outcomes.
A one-size-fits-all approach to Patient Support Programs (PSP) does not cater to specific patient needs resulting in a subpar patient experience. Here is how a global pharma company designed and delivered an innovative PSP to facilitate 85% therapy compliance among cancer patients. We enabled them in this with on-site counselling support, eligibility validation process, innovative financial schemes, tele-support, and caregiver support group meetings.
WHO’s Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021-2030 envisions a world in which no one is harmed in healthcare, and every patient receives safe and respectful care, every time, everywhere. This vision cannot be realized without patients being informed, involved, and treated as full partners in their own care. Life sciences companies need to hear their voices and elevate them as their guiding beacons across the value chain. On the World Patient Safety Day 2023, we renew our commitment to enable them in doing so.