EyeForPharma, Philadelphia – Marc Boutin, CEO of the National Health Council, hosted a panel on how pharma embraces the new customer engagement paradigm. Here are four of our favorite observations and examples.
Kaiser Permanente: Solve the big problems
Andrew McCulloch, President of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan & Hospitals Northwest Region, explained that Kaiser Permanente takes care of a large portion of the Medicaid population in Portland, Oregon. In that state, close to 50% of the new babies born receive Medicaid. “That’s not going to go away,” McCulloch said, “if we can’t figure out a way to give the health and wellness we enjoy to these vulnerable populations.”
To do that, Kaiser Foundation believes we need to focus on partnerships that help us understand and address the social determinants of health. They recently partnered with health organizations and community and county government to create a new program that will build 400 units of supported housing and health support systems for vulnerable patients and families to keep them out of the emergency room and off the streets. Kaiser Permanent used its involvement to attract other funders and new collaborators.
Boutin weighed in, “How are we surprised people aren’t compliant and adherent when they don’t have food to eat or a place to live?”
Otsuka: Work in real life
Kabir Nath, President & CEO of Otsuka North America, talked about the 133 million patients living with chronic conditions. None of them chose to be a patient. Few of them see themselves as patients. The solutions that they will use and adopt have to fit into the ways they want to live their lives.
Otsuka recently audited the landscape for cognitive therapy support. The vast majority of the tools require 20 minutes of seat time. “Nobody sits down for 20 minutes with their mobile,” Nath said. “We have to find solutions where you can do that in bite size chunks.”
Shire: Focus on trust and value
Perry Sternberg, EVP & Head U.S. Commercial at Shire, said our new focus needs to be trust and value. “If you want to change the perception, you have to keep trust and value at the core of what you do,” he said, sharing two examples from the culture at UCB:
- Trust: Shire earns trust with transparency. They were ranked #1 by All Trials for, in part, publishing all of their data – positive and negative – to clearly show all findings and let other companies learn from those to ultimately better serve patients.
- Value: Shire starts every meeting with a patient story or experience. They never want to lose that external focus. The values of that patient have to be at the center of everything they do.
Shire: Support beyond medicine
Sternberg also shared their experience The myPKFit device for people living with Hemophilia. 400 physicians in 24 markets around the world already use it. With just two blood tests, those doctors can dose patients more precisely and deliver personalized, powerful care.
Sternberg said, “it can’t just be about the medication any more. We have to go further to give patients what they need to live more normal lives.”
