Creating a single view of the patient has been both an objective and buzzword in the life sciences industry for the last many years. In an industry where direct-to-patient interaction can be challenging and geographically restrictive, patient communication can often use different and disjointed messaging, methods, and channels over time. The data captured from those many patient engagement efforts often limited and begins to live in organizational silos.

In today’s world with an abundance of ways to capture data, teams will double down on the method that worked for their team to achieve a specific goal. But what does the organization know about the patient holistically? Leading companies in this space break down those walls in a compliant way to create a true single view of their patients, ultimately leading to more effective patient engagement and better outcomes. In our experience, these best-in-class organizations take a three-pronged approach to creating that single view:

1. Making Pragmatic Investments in a Centralized Marketing Automation Platform for Patient Engagement

Leaders begin by mapping out the many patient engagement channels and data pockets that have grown over time. With that understanding in place, leaders seek to implement a centralized marketing automation platform that would feed all incoming requests for communication and outgoing patient engagement to those recipients.

The benefits of these tools are many and can be seen immediately. They can allow for the creation of centralized mailing calendars, CRM streams, and more cohesive communication plans rather than plans by department or function. Companies can see who is signing up and understand their preferences. Giving patients the ability to opt-in/out of different messaging gives the power to the patients to ensure content is fit for purpose. Centralization has also been helpful in complying with emerging data privacy laws like CCPA.

2. Data Preparation and Cleansing

In parallel with the implementation of any new centralized database, there are steps that a life sciences company should take to maximize the benefit of the newly centralized data. One key step in data prep is de-duplication of records. Common marketing automation platforms do not do this well – allowing for multiple records to be created for a single individual signing up across different properties (e.g. branded site, disease awareness site, corporate site). Consequently, multiple signups could lead to duplicate communications. Leaders address this problem in-house and prevent duplicate communications before they happen.

Data preparation activities like de-duplication pay benefits not just on the front end. Developing a de-duplication process for future sign-ups will ensure holistic patient engagement journeys and targeted compliant communications based on patient preferences. It builds confidence in the datasets by which teams are making decisions. It allows decision makers to zoom in to smaller populations and try to understand what is unique to them to further drive messaging.

3. Leverage Advanced Analytics to Further Generate Insight for Patient Engagement

Another benefit of a centralized ecosystem is that it is primed for advanced analytics. Embedded analytics allow teams to identify the outcomes of their actions in a tangible way and to test and learn with messaging faster than ever before. These approaches can help drive an understanding of where communication is breaking down and what is driving success. Reliable and consistent first-party data capture can inform new KPIs and metrics to improve organizational performance and make improvements in patient engagement and communications strategies.

These analytics can serve as a cornerstone of patient-centrism. As the dataset grows, it can help support internal measures to ensure that all facets of the business keep the patient at the center of what they do. This can help to link together several teams that each play a role in delivery of the therapy but may not serve on the front line.

Creating a single view of the patient is an admirable goal to strive towards. It puts the power in the hands of the patient and creates new opportunities for analysis and insight. No matter where a life sciences company is on the evolution of their data journey, steps can be taken that helps to improve patient engagement and drive better outcomes.

Contributions by Ryan Beard.