From Pizza Apps to Patient Care: The Digital Transformation Gap

Digital health expectations are becoming the new baseline in healthcare as patients increasingly expect the same level of convenience they experience in other aspects of their digital lives. The disconnect between modern consumer expectations and traditional healthcare delivery isn't just frustrating—it can jeopardize treatment outcomes and patient satisfaction.

• Over 70% of patients wish healthcare interactions were as easy as online shopping or digital banking
• 43% of patients would switch to a different pharma brand for better digital support
• Digital platforms provide personalized treatment journeys, timely nudges, and engaging support
• Digital tools like voice interactive agents can deliver personalized interventions at scale
• Data-powered platforms can identify patient behavior patterns and fill gaps in adherence
• One pharma company saw a 20% lift in 90-day retention using digital patient support
• U.S. policy changes like the Inflation Reduction Act are increasing pressure for better outcomes
• Digital solutions enhance rather than replace human care by allowing support teams to focus on high-need patients
• Future success for pharma brands lies in scaling proven digital solutions across portfolios

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PostScripts Rx is not intended to constitute medical advice, nor is it intended to influence prescribing decisions or any other medical or clinical decision-making. All medical and clinical judgment and decision-making, prescribing decisions, and all related considerations remain exclusively the responsibility of providers and patients.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Postscripts
• 0:35 Digital Expectations vs Healthcare Reality
• 1:52 Digital Health as the New Baseline
• 3:07 Data-Powered Patient Support
• 5:09 Policy Changes Driving Digital Adoption
• 7:57 Scaling Digital Solutions for Future

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to Postscripts, the podcast exploring what happens after the first prescription. We cover the latest innovations in patient access, support, digital tools, HCP engagement and pharma marketing that drive, we hope, better outcomes for patients. This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice or should influence any clinical decision making. Patients should always consult their healthcare professionals. Welcome to the podcast. My name is Brian Carr. I'm the Senior Vice President at Medisafe. Decision-making patients should always consult their healthcare professionals. Welcome to the podcast. My name is Brian Carr. I'm the Senior Vice President at Medisafe, although any opinions expressed here are my own and not necessarily those of Medisafe or its partners.

Speaker 1: 0:35

What we're talking about today is, you know, digital health expectations are becoming real. Pharma is catching up. So, when you think about it, how do you book your next airline ticket? Most likely through an app or a website or your smartphone. In seconds, you order dinner, you buy groceries, you transfer money between bank accounts, pay your credit card balance all digitally, all instantly. You can't get into a sporting event now anymore, usually without a ticket on your mobile device. Right, it's all gone away. So now imagine navigating something that's really far more personal and critical your health with zero similar conveniences right. That's the daily reality for a lot of patients managing chronic illnesses, medication, complex therapies. You know. According to Salesforce, a couple years ago they did a report showing over 70% of patients say they wish their healthcare interaction were just as easy as shopping online or banking digitally.

Speaker 1: 1:27

And yet when you see the majority of life science and touch points, you know, from onboarding to reminders, to support and, here in the US, for insurance, they really do remain somewhat outdated and analog. The disconnect isn't just frustrating for patients, it can be jeopardizing outcomes. When you think about it, it's also the perfect storm for transformation and a shift. As you, you see more going into digital health that leaders, a lot of innovative leaders, are really embracing. So when you look at digital, you know we talk about digital health. It isn't really an upgrade, it's a new baseline. Why? Because patients' expectations are outgrowing that traditional model of patient support. Brand marketers and access teams are recognizing digital isn't just a nice-to-have like it was a few years ago. It really is a new baseline for delivering meaningful, measurable patient experiences that drive outcomes, persistence and loyalty. And especially after the COVID-19 epidemic a few years back, where a lot of interactions really pushed going digital and you're seeing the outcome of that now. So what you see here is, as consumers are gaining more control over their health journeys, they really do expect brands to offer timely, personalized digital support similar to what tech platforms provide in travel finance even ordering a pizza or following a package arriving coming from Amazon. So when you say 43% of patients now say they would switch to a different pharma brand if it offered better digital support during their treatment journey this came from Accenture's digital health tech vision report in 2023. And also we see a Deloitte study where over 75% of patients prefer digital communication over phone calls for prescription refills and medication guidance. That was Deloitte coming out again 2023 survey, actually 2024.

Speaker 1: 3:11

So when you look at digital platforms like Medisafe full disclosure, I work at Medisafe, but all digital platforms they do address these modern day care expectations. You know our digital companion programs. These pharma brands that we work with set up personalized treatment journeys, timely nudges, and we can provide engaging support tailored to each patient. You know, for example, the digital copay card. You know you no longer have to have a card in your wallet, fish through your pocketbook or your wallet to find the card, to show it to a pharmacist. You can put it right on your phone and just show that right along with your prescription information from Medisave. We have it there.

Speaker 1: 3:45

So the challenge there is you know what we bring here is it's powered by data. It can be personal and scalable. You know our suite of tools, including Medisave Via, which is a voice interactive agent that can call patients with symptom reminders, for symptom checks or refill reminders, for example, and our just-in-time interventions that are really personalized for each patient. That is on the platform. I really do bring that power of digital and personalization and intelligence into the center of the patient support world. Medisavia builds the journeys with the end user in mind. We help brand teams deliver strategic messages at the critical times in therapy for each patient individually. And at the core of these tools, these digital tools have the data, which leverages de-identified longitudinal data to understand the medication behavior patterns. We can fill gaps in adherence, refine in HCP outreach. And platforms like these aren't just scalable, they're smart, continuously evolving across the patient journey. So it does translate into measurable improvement and one of our integrated programs, a top pharma company, saw a 20% lift in 90-day retention compared to their baseline controls. We manage almost 2 billion doses already in the platform, enabling the evidence-driven insights at population scale that we can use for multiple conditions and brands.

Speaker 1: 5:07

So why does now matter? Well, the policies are changing. Innovation continues to push these boundaries of what's possible in digital health. You just saw that the US policy landscape is pressuring pharma to deliver more value to patients at lower costs. There was the Inflation Reduction Act in August 22, which started initiating historic changes to empower Medicare to negotiate drug prices and cap some of those out-of-pocket insulin costs to seniors, you may recall, for $35 a month. It was kind of a clear message that outcomes are starting to matter and affordability really is mattering more in patient results here in the US. So when you look at life science companies hoping to maintain brand preference, market access, market share under this scrutiny, they're being pushed even more to justify medication efficacy but also demonstrate comprehensive patient support strategies.

Speaker 1: 5:56

And digital tools aren't just support mechanisms, they really are strategic imperatives when you look at it that way. So by addressing gaps in adherence, side effect management, refills, you know, platforms like Medisafe and others can really reduce therapy abandonment and help justify the value of medications across the life cycle and a couple other things. Here. Digital means, you know, human at scale. Let's be clear it doesn't replace human care and digital tools don't replace it, it really does enhance it.

Speaker 1: 6:23

Rather than burdening an overstretched nurse, educators or case manager's population with one size fits all outbound calls, our ecosystem really allows support teams to triage intelligently and focus on those high need patients, enhancing traditional programs with mobile first engagement tools. You know, digital first solutions really empower those support teams to deliver automated, personalized welcome and onboarding messages and remind patients when it's time to refill medications, attend follow-ups and really, you know, reduce fear or information by linking to these curated drug specific content at the right time for those patients that may be asking about it. It also allows our support teams to flag high-risk patients in real time by using protocols that are established for behavior to trigger alerts with pharma partners. So if someone's missed more than three doses, for example, that could trigger protocols for more aggressive outreach to make sure things are okay, depending on the protocols that are set up with the support team and the sponsoring pharma companies or others. In short, tools like MetaSafe and other digital companions provide that concierge-level support delivered at scale that no human-only model can achieve. It's care that converts, goes analog to proactive, fragmented to connected, and the benefits are tangible not only for pharma and life sciences teams, but the patients they support Pharmacies improved adherence, stronger brand affinity, higher refill rates, better data insights, preservation and expansion of market share where patients see that convenience, personalization, empowerment and, most importantly you know, better health outcomes. And this is how they're working in other facets of their lives and how they want and expect their health outcomes and data and management to also be managed right from the palm of their hand. So you know we have one patient actually tell us. You know I used to miss doses all the time. Now Medisafe gives me the peace of mind and control over all my treatment. That's exactly the mentality we thrive to make sure that we're empowering and controlling and letting patients control their own efficacy and journeys right.

Speaker 1: 8:30

So what's coming next? Well, scaling really. We're at this stage now where it's no longer just about pilots, digital solutions. In many companies they remain pilot projects. This is back, especially a few years ago, when you see those pledges to innovate. They really never leave the incubator. But what we're seeing now is that urgency and evidence really now demand scale right, because we've got proven solutions that are out there and it's time to really scale them to other portfolio brands and other therapeutic areas in. We see pharma companies doing that, so you know. So the future of some of the successful pharma brands is really going to be especially with increasing pricing pressures evident here in the US likely it's really going to be in reimagining how they deliver value. Right, because when you have digital solutions empowering teams across patient support, brand market access, innovation and market share with compliant strategies that are fast to deploy at scale, we're getting beyond that trial phase because that value and ROI is really being recognized by life science companies.

Speaker 1: 9:28

So again, patients, finally, in conclusion, really expect digital experiences in healthcare, just like they do in banking. Food and travel Platforms like MetaSafe that have those real-time interventions at scale. And also, do you know voice interactive agents You're going to hear more about those in the coming year Really do support that large-scale patient engagement with measurable impact. We're seeing regulatory changes really increasing pressure on pharma to add demonstrable value through better outcomes and lower total cost of care. So you know that digital revolution that really reshaped a lot of industries, including even how you buy a car. Now you don't always necessarily have to walk into a dealership, you can buy it online. Right, it's really accelerating in healthcare and patients are. They're not just ready for it. They're really expected. So thank you very much for joining us on Postscripts. If you found this conversation valuable, follow now or subscribe for more insights as we talk about the intersection of pharma technology and patient impact. Until next time, keep looking forward. The real work begins after the prescription.