In recent years, the healthcare sector has evolved a lot, leading to significant changes in every single aspect. Nowadays, patients are more inquisitive and put in efforts to gain a better understanding of medical treatment. As a result, the need for patient-centric healthcare is becoming more pronounced than ever. While all stakeholders of the healthcare ecosystem work towards a common goal, which is delivering value to patients, medical affairs teams of pharma companies have a crucial role to play in this.
What is patient-centric healthcare?
Patient-centric healthcare is a new concept that mainly focuses on the idea of prioritizing the patient’s individual needs and desired health outcomes. This approach sees the patient and the healthcare provider both as partners in the process of providing medical treatment.
Role of the medical affairs team in patient centricity
The medical affairs team can be aptly termed as an important pillar of any pharmaceutical organization. Their primary role is to provide scientific support to internal teams and medicalize the launch of any new drug. Apart from this, they are also responsible for improving cross-functional collaboration and fostering insights-driven decisions. However, in the current scenario, it is essential that they move from their traditional role and contribute to improving patient centricity.
Here’s how they can do this:
Address unmet patient needs
Although medical affairs teams do not have direct interaction with patients, there are several other ways of understanding their challenges. Pharmaceutical companies use various patient engagement solutions these days to gather information about their needs and preferences. Medical affairs teams can utilize these details to understand the unmet needs of patients and give input to internal teams accordingly.
Create awareness
This is a well-known fact that individuals need access to quality education in order to make informed decisions about their health. In various surveys, it has been observed that patients with enough knowledge about an illness and its possible outcomes are more likely to seek prescribed treatments and adhere to them. So, medical affairs can support patient education and ensure that they are provided with relevant information that is not just scientifically accurate but also easy to understand. For this, they can leverage the same patient engagement solutions used to gather information about their needs.
Design patient-centric clinical trials
Another thing that the medical affairs team can do is design clinical trials while taking major pain points of patients into consideration. The knowledge a pharmaceutical company gains from field interactions can be used to design patient-friendly trials.
Improve engagement with KOLs
Nowadays, KOLs (key opinion leaders) are playing an important role in the healthcare landscape by providing valuable insights and shaping industry opinions. Medical affairs teams can support pharma companies in building a strategic partnership with KOLs. They can leverage their scientific expertise to ensure compliance and strengthen the organization’s reputation.
In the present scenario, the increasing importance of patient-centric healthcare cannot be overstated. This ensures that the treatment that is being offered to a patient meets their specific needs and preferences. As every pharmaceutical company is looking for ways to achieve the same, the role of the medical affairs team cannot be ignored. By addressing common patient challenges, creating awareness and facilitating communication, they can make a significant contribution.
