Story

Digital Adoption by Healthcare Doctors & the Pharma Industry

By Abhishek Ghosh


The past year saw how the healthcare system was strong and remained accessible to many. In fact, a recent Accenture Survey of nearly 1,800 people in the US shows 26% of the respondents saying that their access to healthcare has been even better since the pandemic. Digital adoption grew almost overnight since providers had to quickly move to virtual care. However, over 25% of the respondents surveyed said they had not used any digital technology to deal with their health over the past year.

In this article, we will look at some key aspects that people are experiencing in healthcare today.

 

  1. Active Role of Patients in Treatment

Nowadays, patients have become more active in their treatment process with sufficient and authentic information available online. Traditionally, when a patient suffered from a particular condition, they used to make an appointment with a doctor. Earlier, patients depended on instructions and drugs that doctors prescribed. But, with digitization, patients now do their own research even before visiting a doctor’s clinic. They match their symptoms to conditions. Many people talk to other patients with similar conditions and try to find a cure. Moreover, patients are more aware of their rights and have high expectations from healthcare professionals and the medicine or products they prescribe.

 

  1. Access to Wide Range of Products

The pharma and healthcare sector is data-rich and is growing at a faster pace every minute. Unlike in earlier times, people nowadays no longer depend on doctors for information about medicines or medical products prescribed by them. In fact, consumers and patients have to be given the information on a need-only basis. However, with the emergence of digital technology in the pharma sector, there is no secrecy any longer. Information about every medicine and healthcare product is available online. Patients can easily find different cures for their conditions just by searching on the Internet. Besides, they can find alternative medicines and cures without spending a lot of money, as well.

 

  1. Day-to-day Health Tracking Apps

Reports say every two physicians out of five ask their patients to try out healthcare apps. The basic goal is to make patients health conscious and help them bring about lifestyle changes. Some of the most common apps that patients use include Iodine, Omnio, PubMed Ontap and so on. Today, doctors are also using apps for professional reasons. Apps, such as MedscapeVisual DX, Epocrates and so forth, are becoming increasingly popular. The digital mode is a more convenient way of accessing medical services and healthcare information. Moreover, these popular medical apps are also proving to be of immense help in handling emergency situations.

 

  1. 360-Degree View of Doctor & Patient

Use of big data in healthcare has the capability to provide a 360-degree perspective of doctor, patient and consumer trends, helping companies to improve personalization and provide effective treatments. The pandemic highlighted the significance of converting data into a digital format for creating databases across the world. These records store large amounts of data to assist researchers and doctors in improving their understanding of medications, as well as of patients, to drive innovation. This infrastructure will enable open partnerships throughout the sector, resulting in better outcomes.

 

  1. Building an Omnichannel Strategy

Pharmaceutical companies have to customize their marketing with new and attractive commercial models in the long run. Companies must analyse how to create an integrated experience that comprises a mix of channels with relevant information and a personalized model for customer communication. To improve experience, each customer has to be reached according to their chosen channel to deliver both personalized and branded documents. The creation of an omnichannel strategy can help pharmaceutical companies to become flexible and make rapid changes to meet client behaviour or requirements.

 

  1. Leading to Transformation

The industry should create resources that can be developed individually. This will include enhancing digital tools and developing interactive interfaces to build a system that can help patients all through their healthcare experience. This can be done in several ways, such as artificial intelligence, data analytics and by using apps and software.

 

In the exceptional times that we now live, digital transformation must happen and that, too, very fast. And the ideal time for the transformation to happen is now. The two important aspects that drive the pharmaceutical industry are narrative and need. The need has been recognized, but there is an urgent requirement for faster digital transformation.

 

In Conclusion

It is time the entire healthcare sector—from doctors, hospitals, pharma companies and so forth—adopt digital technology swiftly, thereby improving the ability to meet the growing demand for personalized and value-oriented care. Investing in a holistic and targeted strategy will boost early and continuous physician engagement in every care delivery phase and also enhance the basic effectiveness of the healthcare systems and finally benefit all stakeholders involved.

 

 

(The author is MR. Abhishek Ghosh, Co-founder & Director, Medisage, and the views expressed in this article are his own)