Let's face it, the healthcare landscape is complex - developing clear and concise value communication across stakeholders is essential.
Whether the communication is targeted towards patients seeking optimal care or to payers responsible for healthcare expenditures, building a value story highlighting the unmet need and how a given intervention fills it is the only path to influencing decisions. In the past few weeks, I've been reading Peter Attia's book, Outlive, and as a medical communicator, I am floored by the simplicity and clarity of the writing. His anecdotes throughout the book provide fantastic opportunities to observe how articulating value changes perspectives - from patients to healthcare providers to payers.
Let's start with the most obvious - clear value communication can empower patients to participate in shared and informed decision-making for their health.
When patients understand the value, benefits, and potential risks of different medical interventions, they actively participate and become a key stakeholder in their own healthcare journey. By providing transparent information, healthcare professionals enable patients to evaluate treatment options, consider personal preferences, and align their choices with their values and goals.
In the book, Attia describes a scenario where he communicates the value of preventive screenings to a patient at risk for colon cancer. By explaining the potential benefits of early detection and the impact on treatment outcomes, Attia empowered the patient to choose a screening procedure aligned with their personal values. His approach to communication facilitated the patient's decision-making process and contributed to improved healthcare outcomes.
An informed patient is also more likely to be engaged and collaborative with their healthcare providers.
When patients understand the value of recommended interventions, they are more likely to engage actively in their healthcare, adhere to treatment plans, and communicate openly with their providers. Effective communication establishes trust, encourages patients to ask questions, and enables healthcare providers to better understand patients' preferences and goals - more importantly, an engaged patient who adheres to treatment plans, means better outcomes in the long run.
Attia shares an example of communicating the value of long-term medication adherence to a patient with a chronic condition. By clearly explaining the benefits of consistent medication use in preventing disease progression and improving quality of life, Attia facilitated a collaborative dialogue. The patient, equipped with this valuable information, actively participated in their treatment plan, leading to improved health outcomes and a stronger provider-patient partnership.
And most importantly, let's talk about access and the importance of communicating value to payers.
As a strategic market access agency, at PFG MedComm, we believe that communicating value to payers (and all market access stakeholder) is the most important piece of the puzzle. These stakeholders are looking for the value from a broader perspective - the points of the value story that most resonate will trend in an economic direction, like cost effectiveness, budget impact, and overall population health. Articulating how interventions impact outcomes is essential because market access stakeholders hold the cards for continued access to necessary treatments.
In his book, Attia highlights a case where he collaborated with a team of healthcare professionals to present the value proposition of a novel cancer therapy. By providing clear evidence of the treatment's efficacy, improved survival rates, and potential cost savings in the long term, they successfully demonstrated the value of the intervention. This led to its eventual coverage policy changes, enabling more patients to access the life-saving treatment.
Clear and concise value communication is crucial for all stakeholders in healthcare, from patients seeking optimal care to payers responsible for funding healthcare services. As demonstrated in Peter Attia's book, effective communication of the value and benefits of medical interventions empowers patients, fosters collaboration between providers and patients, and, most importantly, ensures access decisions by market access stakeholders.
Let's talk market access - as medical communicators and market access strategists, we are experts in developing effective value stories across stakeholders.
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