How to best engage with digital-critic HCPs by applying horizontal integration

We believe that in order to drive innovation in healthcare, there has to be a paradigm shift towards ecosystem thinking, i.e., an integrated understanding and addressing of relevant players. In this article we share our insights on this kind of mindset and how it helps companies to build strong and long-lasting relationships, including actionable steps that can be applied to build sustainable engagement with target groups.

Ecosystem thinking is key, especially when engagement opportunities with target groups are limited, which is very often the case in Rx. Pharma companies struggle to build strong and long-lasting relationships which often leads to less effective and efficient engagement. When looking at HCPs, for example, we can see that their digital affinity and digital engagement preferences differ greatly between specialties. Surely, the pandemic has functioned as a catalyst for the adoption of digital tools, also leading healthcare stakeholders and, especially pharma companies to test various new ways in engaging digitally with their target groups, e.g., through offering webinars or video conferences with sales reps. However, more than one year into the pandemic, digital fatigue slowly sets in. HCPs still appreciate (offline) interaction with their dedicated sales rep, not only because they provide them with latest insights, but especially because sales reps give them space to vent. One solution to tackle limited engagement opportunities is building a more integrated communication, fostering connection in the healthcare ecosystem.

To obtain a greater understanding of these connections, a change in perspective can give valuable insights. When looking at the healthcare ecosystem holistically, it becomes clear that the care a patient receives is not limited to the treatment by a single HCP. In fact, the healthcare ecosystem comprises various, interrelated and interacting players, all of them impacting a patient‘s quality of life.

Accordingly, an HCP never walks alone — their work is affected by a range of healthcare ecosystem stakeholders: from upstream and downstream physicians, to payers, nurses, social institutions, research institutions, or even tech start-ups. Consequently, by engaging with relevant stakeholders within the ecosystem, additional value can indirectly be created for HCPs. Here are some examples:

· Education measures addressing HCPs can result in more timely referrals of patients to specialists, resulting in earlier diagnosis of a disease.

· Providing HCPs with relevant material or digital services for their patients can relieve them from educational efforts.

· A learning platform for nurses can train them to take on some duties of the doctor.

· An HCP exchange platform can drive knowledge sharing and learning among HCPs

· A start-up collaboration can enable HCPs to extend care-offerings ‘beyond the pill’ with comparatively low time investment whilst creating value for the patient. (If you would like to dive deeper into the topic, we have illustrated an example here).

In the end, it is all about improved patient care — and a meaningfully implemented healthcare ecosystem thinking is a strong way to achieve this. This means understanding and uniting its individual participants with the aim of creating optimized value for all. That is why ecosystem thinking does not jeopardize target group-centricity, in fact it builds on it. It includes looking beyond the horizon, integrating relevant stakeholders into the customer journey to drive holistic and, above all, relevant healthcare innovation. We call this horizontal integration.

Now what? We recommend the following steps towards ecosystem thinking:

1. Understand your target group’s (e.g., HCPs, patients) daily work life, including interactions with other ecosystem stakeholders (e.g., through qualitative interviews).

2. Identify key stakeholders your target group interacts with.

3. Map key stakeholders according to their power (i.e., influence on HCPs work) and interest (i.e., interest in collaboration with HCP).

4. Focus on stakeholders with high interest and power and identify opportunities to engage with them through services, products or content.

5. Translate identified engagement opportunities into solutions and actions, while integrating communication activities across the ecosystem.

If you are interested in knowing more about this approach and the steps above, keep an eye on our Medium page as this will be further explored in another article.