The document discusses trends in healthcare marketing in 2015, including:
1) The Affordable Care Act taking full effect, making Americans more cost-conscious healthcare consumers.
2) Pharmaceutical companies adapting to value-based pricing models that link drug costs to health outcomes rather than volume.
3) Growth of personalized medicine and diagnostics that improve care while reducing costs, though companies face challenges demonstrating value.
4) Rapid growth of telemedicine and remote health monitoring technologies that improve access and efficiency in healthcare.
2. 2
2015 is a turning point
As we look toward 2015 and think about
the implications for healthcare marketers,
we should start with the obvious. For
many individual consumers of healthcare,
small and large businesses and life
sciences organizations, the year ahead
will be the first full calendar year
operating under the Affordable Care Act
(ACA), or Obamacare. Starting in 2015,
businesses with 50 or more employees
will be required to provide healthcare
coverage to their workforce, or face fines.
New health plans in the age of the ACA,
most with higher deductibles and co-
pays, mean that Americans today will be
more motivated than ever before to
become educated consumers of
healthcare. And that includes having an
intimate understanding of how much
things cost.
Healthcare is no longer a “menu without
any prices” as it surely was for many of
those prior to October 2013 (which is
when the health insurance exchanges
opened) who had health insurance that
paid most, if not all, medical costs.
This major shift represents more than just
a systemic change. It impacts our culture,
social attitudes towards health, and more.
As active purchasers of their own
healthcare, cost and outcomes will now
become important to everybody, not just
managed care organizations, hospital
formularies and health insurance
companies.
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3. 3
“If you come
to a fork in the
road, take it”
- Yogi Berra
Americans are becoming price
conscious purchasers of
healthcare.
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The ripple effects of these changes
are beginning to impact technology
and life sciences in a number of ways.
Among the most important of these is
the shift of the healthcare economy
into a much greater focus on value
and outcomes, where people pay for
treatments based on demonstrated
efficacy and improved outcomes,
instead of volume, where treatments
and procedures are reimbursed
regardless of their efficacy.
Healthcare marketers need to
understand these changes and adjust
how they position their companies,
the messaging they use in corporate
and product communications, and
perhaps most importantly, how they
use data as a decision making tool to
drive all of these things.
Pharma in Transition
The healthcare infrastructure in the
United States is changing, and life
sciences companies are changing
with it. The current business model
used by many global pharmaceutical
companies is at least 50 years old. In
2015, pharmaceutical companies will
continue to explore alternative
approaches to pricing, sales and
marketing and global prioritization as
executives at these companies adapt
to the new realities of a new healthcare
economy.
Value-based pricing is an area that will
be increasingly important for
pharmaceutical and biotechnology
companies, as pressure to justify price
based on value delivered will increase
next year. Under value-based pricing
agreements, payers and pharma
companies agree to link payment for a
medicine to value achieved, rather
than volume. In the new healthcare
economy, value is becoming more
important than ever before.
Sales and marketing models will also
continue to evolve. Pharmaceutical
sales forces are disappearing. As of
early 2014, there were a total of 60,000
pharmaceutical sales representatives
in the United States. This is down from
100,000 in 2006. This downward trend
is likely to continue. Regulatory
restrictions at the state level, and
medical practices struggling to keep
up with new technology and reporting
requirements means that doctors have
less time than ever before to spend
seeing pharmaceutical sales
representatives.
4. 4
Pharma sales reps in the U.S.
60,000 in 2014; down from 100,000 in 2006
Finding new ways to sell their products is at the top of the agenda for healthcare marketers. Health
economics studies, cost/benefit modeling, and personalized medicine represent major opportunities
that will be pursued by leading innovators in 2015. An underlying challenge to all of this is the
historically poor perception of the pharmaceutical industry by the general public, physicians and
government. For far too long, pharmaceutical companies have been primary targets. Something
needs to change. A 2014 study by the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development estimated that
the average cost of bringing a new drug to market is now approximately $2.6 billion. So it is easy to
see why the pharmaceutical industry faces some serious headwinds.
One thing is clear: the ubiquity of social media, and the fact that patients are increasingly becoming
direct consumers of healthcare, means that healthcare marketers need to work hard on trying to
impact public perceptions of their companies and their industry in the new healthcare environment.
The Continuing Promise of Diagnostics and Personalized Medicine
The cost of sequencing a human genome went from an estimated $300,000,000 in 2001 to
approximately $1,000 in 2014. During the same period, between 2006 and 2011 there was a 75%
increase in investments in personalized medicine by industry. Pharmaceutical companies,
5. 5
M
“Where’s the
beef?”
--Wendy’s, 1984
diagnostics companies,
insurance companies and
government research
institutions recognize the
value and the potential of
personalized medicine to
improve patient care and
reduce cost.
However, innovators
developing new
diagnostics and
personalized medicine
technologies face similar
challenges to
pharmaceutical companies,
particularly when it comes
to pricing and
reimbursement. This is a
significant communications
challenge and also a health
economics challenge.
Demonstrating the value of
a diagnostic test that may
cost thousands of dollars,
but which saves hundreds
of thousands of dollars in
treatment costs over a
patient’s lifetime, is the task
facing healthcare marketers
working for diagnostics and
6. 6
Telemedicine
CAGR over 56% between 2013 and 2018
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personalized medicine
companies.
Telemedicine Holds
Enormous Potential
One of the brightest spots on the
healthcare landscape, in
addition to personalized
medicine, is telemedicine and
wearable health devices. One of
the central tenets of the ACA is
to utilize technology to improve
efficiencies within the
healthcare system. We’re
seeing this in the push towards
electronic medical records, and
also with major investments in
telehealth. Telemedicine, which
is defined as "the use of medical
devices and communication
technology together to monitor
diseases and symptoms," is
predicted to grow at a
cumulative annual growth rate of
more than 56 percent between
2013 and 2018.
One of the biggest factors
contributing to this explosive
growth in telehealth is
demographics. The world’s
populations are aging. And the
majority of elderly want to “age
in place,” that is, they want to
remain in their homes for as long
as possible. New technologies,
including wearable health
monitoring devices, sensors, smart
appliances and even eventually
robots will make this an easier
choice for the elderly and their
families.
Perhaps the biggest change over
the past few years is the continuing
convergence of technology, data
and medicine.
Healthcare marketing and
communications professionals
today are experiencing a
significant amount of convergence
in media, and a simultaneous
proliferation in communications
7. 7
tools. The ability to communicate across multiple channels, in a number of different ways to many different
stakeholders is critical. In today’s communications environment, being truly “media agnostic” differentiates
those with the ability to adapt to new ways of doing things, and those who are stuck in the past.
Given the amount of change taking place both in the life sciences industry and in the strategic
communications business, it is an incredibly exciting time to be a healthcare marketing professional. The skill
sets needed to succeed today are very different to those required just five years ago. But for executives who
are open to learning new ways of doing things, and eager to contribute to the growth of emerging
technologies, the opportunities are abundant.
MANA
