About half of U.S. adults take prescription drugs, but according to a new Accenture survey, those drugs are only part of what consumers today expect pharmaceutical companies to provide.
Three-fourths of prescription-taking consumers say pharma companies should offer services that complement the products they sell, either directly or through a healthcare provider. The services consumers value most? More product information, financial assistance programs, rewards programs and physician referrals.
Consulting firm Accenture surveyed 2,000 U.S. consumers who were currently on a short-term, long-term or lifestyle medication and found disparities between the services they said they were getting and those they actually wanted.
For example, only 10 percent said they are involved in a rewards or financial assistance program for their prescriptions, whereas 63 percent and 51 percent, respectively, wanted them.
As consumers take on more buying power in the healthcare marketplace, pharma and medical device companies have made moves to expand their portfolios with other offerings that could boost engagement, adherence and ultimately lead to improved outcomes. Shifting priorities have opened new doors for digital health companies, too. Nearly half of consumers in Accenture’s survey said they want pharmaceutical companies to reach them online, and slightly less said they wanted to connect with a pharma company via a mobile app.
Several drug companies have already launched apps for medication tracking and beyond. GlaxoSmithKline worked with MedTrust on an app that locates nearby clinical trials. Meanwhile Merck runs the site MerckEngage and a corresponding app for consumer health education. But the survey suggests even those efforts are leaving much to be desired.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Overall, three-fourths of respondents said they wanted a pharmaceutical company to provide assistance or support along with their drugs, and most said the best time for a company to initiate outreach was when they started taking a new medication.
Sixty-four percent of respondents said they would even be willing to fork over information about their health to get free information or services – a potential boon for drug companies.
“This desire for services, and their willingness to collaborate with healthcare firms to obtain them, represents a significant opportunity for pharmaceutical companies to explore service components as a way to expand access to care and treatments that patients need to remain healthy,” the report concludes.
[Image credit: Accenture]
