Privacy-Safe Analytics and AI Will Accelerate Shift to Patient-Centered Healthcare

In the latest article in a series of 2020 predictions for the life sciences industry by Veeva Systems, Tom Schwenger looks at how the continued shift toward personalized medicine and an increased concentration on data privacy will be balanced.

Tom Schwenger

In 2020, we’ll see two key trends collide – the continued shift toward personalized medicine and an increased concentration on data privacy. Successful commercial teams will focus their execution of patient-centered healthcare for specialty conditions in a way that’s privacy-safe and more intelligent.

The advancements in specialty products, including personalized medicine, has led to more effective treatments and improved health outcomes for patients. For example, the use of specialty pharmacy care has provided a significantly lower risk of disease relapse for MS patients than traditional pharmacy care.¹

However, the patient journey has become more complex, creating an opportunity for pharma manufacturers and hub services to better communicate and support patients and HCPs. Pharma sales and marketers will use privacy-safe predictive analytics to build a communications plan to engage HCPs at key moments along the patient journey. The use of AI will also give teams more detailed, person-level insights to precisely identify and target patient populations and enhance their promotional strategies. HCPs and hub services can then, in turn, reach patients at the right time to drive better diagnosis, treatment, and adherence.

With an increased societal focus on privacy – and corresponding regulations like CCPA and GDPR – companies will need to balance helping patients navigate the complexity of the specialty market while also addressing patient privacy concerns, including allowing optional enrollment and the right level of opt-ins and opt-outs. In fact, a recent survey found that 78% of respondents said a company's ability to keep their data private is extremely important.²

Data and analytics will continue to play a larger role in ensuring that life sciences companies reach the most relevant patients and HCPs in a privacy-safe way, and, ultimately, get more patients on the right treatments for improved health outcomes.

Tom Schwenger is President and COO, Veeva Systems.

Notes

1. American Health & Drug Benefits, “Effects of Specialty Pharmacy Care on Health Outcomes in Multiple Sclerosis,” Nov 2016, http://www.ahdbonline.com/issues/2016/november-2016-vol-9-no-8/2230-effects-of-specialty-pharmacy-care-on-health-outcomes-in-multiple-sclerosis.

2. IBM, “Cybersecurity and Privacy Report,” April 2018, https://newsroom.ibm.com/Cybersecurity-and-Privacy-Research.