Page 47 - Demo456

PM360 asked those with the know-how to improve the patient experience what the industry can do to better serve patients during and following the global pandemic.
Patient Experience in 2020
As patients desire to have more of a say in their treatments and the services being provided to them, how can life sciences companies make patients more of a partner in the development process? What are the keys to forming a successful, lasting, and trusting partnership?
Social media, more robust patient support programs, increased caregiver engagement, and a tsunami of online information have opened the door for everyone to have a seat at their own “health and wellness” table. Even conditions in which the physician has historically driven the treatment decision have seen a shift to a more collaborative approach. So how can life sciences companies ensure they embrace
this dynamic and recognize the patient’s desire to be a part of the conversation?
Like most relationships, building a trusting, lasting partnership requires good communication. Frustration mounds when patients don’t feel heard or understood. Integrating simple feedback loops into patient communications via text, social media, and website content allows patients to tell you how they’re
doing and what would make their experience better. Hosting a virtual co-creation lab with a group of patients enables real-time input on a specific initiative. Conducting surveys and focus groups gives patients the opportunity to share thoughts directly with you. Patients and caregivers will tell you what they want and need—it is up to you to listen.
Laura Bartmess
Senior Vice President
AbelsonTaylor PPD
laura.bartmess@ rhonda.henry@ppd.com abelsontaylor.com
Even though the industry is placing a growing emphasis on partnering with patients in the development process, few are successful in doing so. Key considerations to pull it off:
• Build patient engagement activities into the development plan and timeline.
• Create strategic relationships with patients through patient advocacy groups, physicians, or patient communities to facilitate ongoing dialogue.
• Barriers, biases, perceptions, and concerns will vary across race, ethnicity, geographies, socio-economic levels,
and cultures. Reaching more diverse patient populations requires a tailored and intentional approach to build trust, support, and increased interest in clinical trial participation.
• Endeavor to understand disease burden, patient preferences, barriers to healthcare and/or clinical trial participation, patient experiences, and risk tolerance.
• Consult experts in patient-centered research to build patient questionnaires, conduct patient panels, and build/ validate instruments to ensure robust data collection and evidence of value.
• Incorporate embedded and exit interviews to evaluate the patient experience at key timepoints.
• Leverage patient input to modify design elements of the trial to ensure patients
see value in the study objective, as well
as to develop key messages to enhance enrollment.
• Provide patients with plain language summaries to recognize their contribution to the study, as well as a “thank you” for their study participation.
Increasingly, patients want to engage in a dialogue and discuss the pros
and cons of available options to
get comfortable with the ultimate treatment decision. A critical piece of these conversations is the availability
of quality patient educational material provided at the point of care. Through these materials, life sciences companies can help facilitate the dialogue and
play an important role in this new, more patient-driven treatment decision process. However, in order to build trust and engage patients, it is critical these educational materials speak directly
to patient concerns and convey a deep understanding of the patient experience.
Patient questions and concerns should be explicitly addressed in educational literature. To gain an accurate understanding of these concerns, companies should focus on the patient journey and the questions they are asking physicians during clinical visits.
Additionally, companies must understand the non-clinical factors
that influence patient preferences. Concerns around the impact on
quality of life and on unique lifestyle circumstances are now playing a greater role in treatment decisions. By acknowledging the patient’s viewpoint in educational materials, companies can demonstrate that they value the patients as individuals and want to provide them with a positive experience.
Vincent Valant
Product Manager: HCP-Pt Conversation Research ZoomRx vincent.valant@zoomrx.com
Rhonda Henry, BSN
VP, Patient Centered Trials
September 2020 / pm360 magazine 45