Virtual’s Long-View Reality: Patient and HCP Engagement

Pharmaceutical Executive Magazine, February 2021 – COVID shifted the paradigm of healthcare provision, turning medical visits that were once widely done in-person into a virtual experience for both physicians and patients. Telemedicine, which was slowly gaining traction in the US healthcare system, saw a surge in utilization as social distancing measures and state lockdowns ensued.

Ipsos research conducted in September 2020 shows that while the pre-COVID environment saw telemedicine utilization as roughly 2% of all patient visits,1 the initial stages of the pandemic saw that figure surge to 100% in some physician practices. With this experience in mind, physicians anticipate that long-term virtual care usage will be sustained after the pandemic and represent roughly 15% to 20% of post-COVID patient visits. Ahead is a glimpse of some additional findings from 10 in-depth interviews conducted by Ipsos, in partnership with GLG, among physicians, insurance companies, and industry stakeholders between Sept. 3–18, 2020.

It is clear that telemedicine is here to stay—but the critical question becomes: In what way? Stakeholders across the healthcare space, including pharmaceutical manufacturers, must now account for this evolving treatment landscape. To ensure their success, companies should now look to:

• Understand the new patient experience.
• Support telemedicine usage among providers.
• Enable their products with appropriate support tools and programs.

Imagine the hypothetical journey of patients dealing with cardiovascular diseases, and how telemedicine usage may impact patients and physicians. A key trigger point here is diagnosis; telemedicine will be utilized more frequently to respond to specific cardiac events and guide treatment at early stages of the condition. Another intervention point is ongoing condition management, where increased healthcare professional (HCP)-patient interaction via telemedicine could drive better monitoring of condition progression and treatment efficacy. Telemedicine consults should also allow for better continuity of care between acute hospitals or specialists and primary care. Thinking about the brand’s patient, some questions to consider include:

• How does telemedicine impact how your patients deal with their conditions, the way they seek product information, their relationships with their physicians, and how they choose sites of care?
• Where within the journey are the key intervention points, i.e., “the moments that matter”?
• Where can you provide unique and meaningful value to the consumer, and how can telemedicine fit into this value proposition?

Ipsos’ Alex Colborn explores this topic further in his Pharmaceutical Executive article (pages 29 & 30). To download the full magazine, please click here.

For more on this topic, please join us on March 18^th!