Looking back, 2018 could be deemed as a pivotal year for pharmaceuticals when it comes to patients. The year when chatter around patients perceptively quieted.
Over the last few years, patient centricity in health care has been the go-to industry buzzword. But to paraphrase the most famous resident of Hibbing, Minnesota, Robert Zimmerman, these patient times may be a-changin’.
At a conference in London earlier this year, we witnessed a leading firm openly state that they had decided to put the doctors first once again. Representatives from another company had decided to place a heightened emphasis on payers in moving forward.
Not that either group will be neglecting the patient, but they each had deemed other stakeholders more critical to their business.
For the first time in years, it seems as if the patient is taking a backseat to other stakeholders yet again.
While we can argue about the importance of different stakeholders for hours, our view remains that all customers and stakeholders are important. Still, we’re all ultimately in the business of helping patients, and ideally in a comprehensive and holistic manner.
What is the holistic patient experience?
So, what do we mean by the holistic patient experience? Isn’t it a fancy name for the patient journey? Depending on who you ask, yes and no.
We strive to understand and improve, with empathy and compassion, every single aspect of a patient’s life experience as it relates to living with a specific disease, before, during and after the process of becoming aware of their diagnosis. That’s what we mean by the holistic patient experience.
Often referred to as the patient journey, we try to look at it more holistically with no preconceptions, restrictions or barriers, and leaving no stone unturned in the process.
We view it as the patient’s never-ending life experience, from their perspective, including all the thoughts, emotions, relationships, therapies, products, services and touchpoints they encounter that are unique to them as individuals and patients, before and after they become aware of their disease.
In our work supporting patients, we like to borrow examples and apply tools typically used in other industries, such as Blue Ocean Strategy.
How to address the holistic patient experience
Regardless of what tools are employed, we suggest a few simple tips when analyzing and addressing the holistic patient experience:
- Start with empathy & compassion and without any preconceived notions.
- Clearly identify the scope & goals.
- Choose the appropriate tools & methodologies to apply exploring all avenues, research & resources.
- Be creative & strive to experience the world from the patient’s perspective (whenever possible, invite/include patients or patient groups in the process).
- Use digital in an intelligent, “human” manner.
In the end, it’s still about discovering and delivering the best therapies to patients to improve and extend their lives. We find delving into the holistic patient experience helps in this endeavor.
Leading in Biotech & Pharma in 2025 & Beyond: The Big SixTrends in Biopharma
Over the course of the next few months and in anticipation of our upcoming launch of CentrX Biopharma2.0, StratX is exploring The Big Six critical areas of development for the healthcare and life sciences sector.
This new experiential learning & development solution is designed for success in 2025 & beyond and covers these core areas:
- Building Leadership in Biopharma
- Winning Commercial Strategies
- Multi-Stakeholder Value
- Holistic Patient Experience
- Engagement in a Digital World
- Innovation & the Start-Up Mentality
We’ll also be sharing a white paper on how Biopharma firms can improve their teams’ capabilities within The Big Six. Be the first to receive the free white paper by registering today.
Feel free to reach out, question, challenge, inquire or even pick up the phone and call us. Old school. (+33 1 53 46 69 00 for Paris or +1 617 300 8220 for Boston). We’ll be happy to talk and share ideas.
We hope you enjoy the ride and thank you very much for your time and attention. We greatly appreciate it.
If you’d like to hear more about our solutions and even participate in the testing phase and pre-launch cohort of CentrX Biopharma2.0, please connect with us. We’ll be thrilled to offer a free trial or workshop for your leaders and teams.
