“A key improvement that we have seen in the industry is centralizing resources — both headcount and budget — outside of the brand team. This allows companies to focus on key initiatives, such as patient health literacy, patient co-creation activities, and even call center dialogue that can help break down the barriers of a complex conversations into a human dialogue,” says Sue Lipinski, executive director, omnichannel marketing, TGaS® Advisors.
A January 2019 TGaS Advisors study polled pharmaceutical marketers about their top priorities heading into the year; improving customer-centricity came in as No. 1. Although customer-centricity is a broad term, improving patient-centricity has taken on a more tangible function in some leading organizations. Those organizations consist of either a centralized function, with a headcount average of 5.2, or in some cases a decentralized model responsible for pulling through their patient centricity vision. Of those surveyed, 83% of centralized groups’ responsibilities span clinical and in-market patient experience activities, specifically:
- Health literacy initiatives
- Medical information contact center
- Patient-support programs
However, some patient experience groups weigh their efforts on either clinical-trial related capabilities or adherence-related efforts, driven by overarching business initiatives.