Technology and digital advancements surround us each day. They are on the news, our devices, and in our workplaces. Our industry faces the challenge of correctly balancing people and technology. One article worded it as,
“Today, there’s a huge gap between digital transformation’s promise and digital transformation’s reality. What sits in that in-between space is people.”
— Quoted from People-first Approach to Digital Transformation – Spiceworks
The people in the “in-between space” are not all resistant to technology advancements, they are the workers using the new tools, the executives measuring with them, the clients using them, and the patients given access to them.
For example, a recent parallel emerged for clinical trial research. The FDA released a draft guidance in May formalizing decentralized clinical trials, the digitally transformed clinical trial. Traditional clinical trials occur almost exclusively at clinical trial sites, mostly located in major urban areas, and require physical presence of the clinical trial participant. With COVID-19 quarantines, a new era was ushered in. Now, the FDA says, yes, some trials can utilize technology advancements to decentralize and not require in-person visits to major urban areas. Their reasoning resonates with the people-first, technology-embracing approach. Their list of benefits from decentralization is listed below.
- Enhanced convenience
- Reduced burden on caregivers
- Facilitation of research for rare diseases
- Facilitation of research for diseases affecting populations with limited mobility or access to traditional trial sites
- Potential improvement of clinical trial participation in meaningfully diverse clinical populations
Some of these features are easily applied outside of the clinical trial space. Engagement and use of diverse population data sets is crucial to capture the comprehensive picture of what pharmaceutical / biotech companies need to know about real-world drug performance, real-world patient care, activity hubs and opinion leaders.
So, what are key factors for this approach?
1. Evidence-based, data-driven approaches using advanced technology
2. Big picture, people-first comprehension about what insights matter, including, but not limited to the:
- patient outcome level
- HCP treatment level
- company goal level
3. People-first values of communication
4. Technology-embracing approaches to capture the most diverse and comprehensive data possible
5. Technology advancements simplifying the user process so that the end user has enhanced convenience
This is the roadmap on which we founded HealthMappers. It is a roadmap for caring, while delivering quality and actionable insights. Message us on LinkedIn if you would like to learn more.
