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.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Postscripts, the podcast
exploring what happens after thefirst prescription.
We cover the latest innovationsin patient access, support,
digital tools, HCP engagementand pharma marketing that drive,
we hope, better outcomes forpatients.
This podcast is forinformational purposes only and
does not constitute medicaladvice or should influence any
clinical decision making.

(00:20):
Patients should always consulttheir healthcare professionals.
Welcome to the podcast.
My name is Brian Carr.
I'm the Senior Vice Presidentat Medisafe.
Decision-making patients shouldalways consult their healthcare
professionals.
Welcome to the podcast.
My name is Brian Carr.
I'm the Senior Vice Presidentat Medisafe, although any
opinions expressed here are myown and not necessarily those of
Medisafe or its partners.
What we're talking about todayis, you know, digital health
expectations are becoming real.
Pharma is catching up.
So, when you think about it,how do you book your next

(00:42):
airline ticket?
Most likely through an app or awebsite or your smartphone.
In seconds, you order dinner,you buy groceries, you transfer
money between bank accounts, payyour credit card balance all
digitally, all instantly.
You can't get into a sportingevent now anymore, usually
without a ticket on your mobiledevice.
Right, it's all gone away.
So now imagine navigatingsomething that's really far more

(01:03):
personal and critical yourhealth with zero similar
conveniences right.
That's the daily reality for alot of patients managing chronic
illnesses, medication, complextherapies.
You know.
According to Salesforce, acouple years ago they did a
report showing over 70% ofpatients say they wish their
healthcare interaction were justas easy as shopping online or

(01:25):
banking digitally.
And yet when you see themajority of life science and
touch points, you know, fromonboarding to reminders, to
support and, here in the US, forinsurance, they really do
remain somewhat outdated andanalog.
The disconnect isn't justfrustrating for patients, it can
be jeopardizing outcomes.
When you think about it, it'salso the perfect storm for
transformation and a shift.

(01:46):
As you, you see more going intodigital health that leaders, a
lot of innovative leaders, arereally 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' expectationsare outgrowing that traditional
model of patient support.
Brand marketers and accessteams are recognizing digital
isn't just a nice-to-have likeit was a few years ago.

(02:08):
It really is a new baseline fordelivering meaningful,
measurable patient experiencesthat drive outcomes, persistence
and loyalty.
And especially after theCOVID-19 epidemic a few years
back, where a lot ofinteractions really pushed going
digital and you're seeing theoutcome of that now.
So what you see here is, asconsumers are gaining more
control over their healthjourneys, they really do expect

(02:30):
brands to offer timely,personalized digital support
similar to what tech platformsprovide in travel finance even
ordering a pizza or following apackage arriving coming from
Amazon.
So when you say 43% of patientsnow say they would switch to a
different pharma brand if itoffered better digital support

(02:50):
during their treatment journeythis came from Accenture's
digital health tech visionreport in 2023.
And also we see a Deloittestudy where over 75% of patients
prefer digital communicationover phone calls for
prescription refills andmedication guidance.
That was Deloitte coming outagain 2023 survey, actually 2024
.

(03:11):
So when you look at digitalplatforms like Medisafe full
disclosure, I work at Medisafe,but all digital platforms they
do address these modern day careexpectations.
You know our digital companionprograms.
These pharma brands that wework with set up personalized
treatment journeys, timelynudges, and we can provide
engaging support tailored toeach patient.
You know, for example, thedigital copay card.

(03:32):
You know you no longer have tohave a card in your wallet, fish
through your pocketbook or yourwallet to find the card, to
show it to a pharmacist.
You can put it right on yourphone and just show that right
along with your prescriptioninformation from Medisave.
We have it there.
So the challenge there is youknow 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

(03:53):
a voice interactive agent thatcan call patients with symptom
reminders, for symptom checks orrefill reminders, for example,
and our just-in-timeinterventions that are really
personalized for each patient.
That is on the platform.
I really do bring that power ofdigital and personalization and
intelligence into the center ofthe patient support world.

(04:13):
Medisavia builds the journeyswith the end user in mind.
We help brand teams deliverstrategic messages at the
critical times in therapy foreach patient individually.
And at the core of these tools,these digital tools have the
data, which leveragesde-identified longitudinal data
to understand the medicationbehavior patterns.

(04:34):
We can fill gaps in adherence,refine in HCP outreach.
And platforms like these aren'tjust scalable, they're smart,
continuously evolving across thepatient journey.
So it does translate intomeasurable improvement and one
of our integrated programs, atop pharma company, saw a 20%
lift in 90-day retentioncompared to their baseline
controls.
We manage almost 2 billiondoses already in the platform,

(04:59):
enabling the evidence-driveninsights at population scale
that we can use for multipleconditions and brands.
So why does now matter?
Well, the policies are changing.
Innovation continues to pushthese boundaries of what's
possible in digital health.
You just saw that the US policylandscape is pressuring pharma
to deliver more value topatients at lower costs.

(05:20):
There was the InflationReduction Act in August 22,
which started initiatinghistoric changes to empower
Medicare to negotiate drugprices and cap some of those
out-of-pocket insulin costs toseniors, you may recall, for $35
a month.
It was kind of a clear messagethat outcomes are starting to
matter and affordability reallyis mattering more in patient

(05:41):
results here in the US.
So when you look at lifescience companies hoping to
maintain brand preference,market access, market share
under this scrutiny, they'rebeing pushed even more to
justify medication efficacy butalso demonstrate comprehensive
patient support strategies.
And digital tools aren't justsupport mechanisms, they really
are strategic imperatives whenyou look at it that way.

(06:01):
So by addressing gaps inadherence, side effect
management, refills, you know,platforms like Medisafe and
others can really reduce therapyabandonment and help justify
the value of medications acrossthe life cycle and a couple
other things.
Here.
Digital means, you know, humanat scale.
Let's be clear it doesn'treplace human care and digital
tools don't replace it, itreally does enhance it.

(06:23):
Rather than burdening anoverstretched nurse, educators
or case manager's populationwith one size fits all outbound
calls, our ecosystem reallyallows support teams to triage
intelligently and focus on thosehigh need patients, enhancing
traditional programs with mobilefirst engagement tools.
You know, digital firstsolutions really empower those

(06:45):
support teams to deliverautomated, personalized welcome
and onboarding messages andremind patients when it's time
to refill medications, attendfollow-ups and really, you know,
reduce fear or information bylinking to these curated drug
specific content at the righttime for those patients that may
be asking about it.
It also allows our supportteams to flag high-risk patients

(07:07):
in real time by using protocolsthat are established for
behavior to trigger alerts withpharma partners.
So if someone's missed morethan three doses, for example,
that could trigger protocols formore aggressive outreach to
make sure things are okay,depending on the protocols that
are set up with the support teamand the sponsoring pharma
companies or others.

(07:28):
In short, tools like MetaSafeand other digital companions
provide that concierge-levelsupport delivered at scale that
no human-only model can achieve.
It's care that converts, goesanalog to proactive, fragmented
to connected, and the benefitsare tangible not only for pharma
and life sciences teams, butthe patients they support

(07:48):
Pharmacies improved adherence,stronger brand affinity, higher
refill rates, better datainsights, preservation and
expansion of market share wherepatients see that convenience,
personalization, empowerment and, most importantly you know,
better health outcomes.
And this is how they're workingin other facets of their lives
and how they want and expecttheir health outcomes and data
and management to also bemanaged right from the palm of

(08:11):
their hand.
So you know we have one patientactually tell us.
You know I used to miss dosesall the time.
Now Medisafe gives me the peaceof mind and control over all my
treatment.
That's exactly the mentality wethrive to make sure that we're
empowering and controlling andletting patients control their
own efficacy and journeys right.
So what's coming next?
Well, scaling really.

(08:32):
We're at this stage now whereit's no longer just about pilots
, digital solutions.
In many companies they remainpilot projects.
This is back, especially a fewyears ago, when you see those
pledges to innovate.
They really never leave theincubator.
But what we're seeing now isthat urgency and evidence really
now demand scale right, becausewe've got proven solutions that
are out there and it's time toreally scale them to other

(08:54):
portfolio brands and othertherapeutic areas in.
We see pharma companies doingthat, so you know.
So the future of some of thesuccessful pharma brands is
really going to be especiallywith increasing pricing
pressures evident here in the USlikely it's really going to be
in reimagining how they delivervalue.
Right, because when you havedigital solutions empowering
teams across patient support,brand market access, innovation

(09:16):
and market share with compliantstrategies that are fast to
deploy at scale, we're gettingbeyond that trial phase because
that value and ROI is reallybeing recognized by life science
companies.
So again, patients, finally, inconclusion, really expect
digital experiences inhealthcare, just like they do in
banking.
Food and travel Platforms likeMetaSafe that have those

(09:39):
real-time interventions at scale.
And also, do you know voiceinteractive agents You're going
to hear more about those in thecoming year Really do support
that large-scale patientengagement with measurable
impact.
We're seeing regulatory changesreally increasing pressure on
pharma to add demonstrable valuethrough better outcomes and
lower total cost of care.
So you know that digitalrevolution that really reshaped

(10:00):
a lot of industries, includingeven how you buy a car.
Now you don't alwaysnecessarily have to walk into a
dealership, you can buy itonline.
Right, it's really acceleratingin healthcare and patients are.
They're not just ready for it.
They're really expected.
So thank you very much forjoining us on Postscripts.
If you found this conversationvaluable, follow now or
subscribe for more insights aswe talk about the intersection
of pharma technology and patientimpact.

(10:22):
Until next time, keep lookingforward.
The real work begins after theprescription.