In the realm of healthcare, few issues are as pressing and pervasive as those surrounding social determinants of health (SDoH), health disparities, and health equity. These interconnected challenges, which demand our immediate attention, have garnered significant attention from healthcare stakeholders and beyond, reflecting a growing recognition of their profound impact on individual well-being and broader societal health.

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic served as a stark accelerant, casting a harsh spotlight on the disproportionate outcomes experienced by marginalized communities. The virus laid bare existing disparities in healthcare access, quality, and outcomes, underscoring the urgent need for action to address underlying inequities.

Amidst this backdrop, doctors, health systems, payors, and other stakeholders find themselves grappling with the fundamental question of how to impact these deeply entrenched issues directly. While many have made strides in identifying at-risk populations through data analytics and population health management strategies, translating these insights into actionable interventions remains a significant challenge.

This is where organizations like Relevate Health come into play. Since our founding in 2008, we have been at the forefront of activating healthcare professional (HCP) engagement solutions to address the needs of underserved populations across the United States. Our approach centers on leveraging data-driven insights to identify communities facing the most significant barriers to health and wellness.

Crucially, we go beyond mere identification by actively targeting resources and support to the treating HCPs who are on the front lines of patient care. By fostering awareness and facilitating actionable interventions at the point of care, we empower healthcare providers, inspiring them to make a tangible difference in the lives of their patients.

At Relevate Health, we recognize that achieving health equity requires a multifaceted approach that encompasses clinical care and broader social and economic factors. Our solutions are designed to bridge the gap between healthcare and social services, facilitating collaboration across sectors to address the root causes of health disparities.

In doing so, we strive to create a more equitable healthcare landscape where every individual has the opportunity to thrive, regardless of their background or circumstances.

Our work is driven by a deep commitment to advancing health equity and fostering a more just and inclusive society for all.

As we look to the future, the imperative to address SDoH, health disparities, and health equity will only continue to grow in importance. By working together and leveraging innovative solutions, we can build a healthcare system that truly serves the needs of all individuals, regardless of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or other factors. Together, we can make health equity a reality for all.

Addressing Health Disparities Through Relevant Communications

About two years ago, I decided to lose some weight and start exercising. To that end, I went online and started researching HOW to lose weight and HOW to exercise. I was overwhelmed with the volume of information available on these topics and thus started going down these rabbit holes of doing hours of researching and reading to come up with my perfect plan. What I was not doing was putting in any hours as it related to losing weight and exercising…I was 

it, and I finally came to the place where I just started walking and eating less…it was not rocket science, 

I feel like we are doing the same thing in the Bio/Pharma industry with Omnichannel marketing. We are 

Many of my customers are in one of these situations:

Senior leadership at larger companies are mapping out a strategy they will ultimately roll out to the rest of the company. As a Brand Leader, the challenge is that you have been patiently waiting for this direction for two years.

Senior leadership at smaller/mid-sized companies do not have the bandwidth to put an omnichannel plan in place and roll it out to the organization. Thus, you have no direction and don’t know what to do or where to start with omnichannel.

Waiting for their Omnichannel Plan to be provided to them by senior leadership.

They try to develop a plan on their own and perhaps get caught up in hours of researching and reading and feeling stuck.

Below is the equivalent of “just start walking and eating less” to begin an omnichannel journey as a Brand Leader.

An easy-to-digest definition of Omnichannel is:

A data-driven, unified customer experience across channels

At the highest level, you want to use every source of data that could exist, from transaction data to engagement data, to understand your customers at an individual level better. This can be data that your organization has or that you obtain from a partner.

your organization and your partners what type of data they have on your targets.

If you use this data/insights properly, you can begin to create a 

Speaking of creating a seamless experience across channels, I often get the question, “How many channels make it omnichannel?”

for organizing your go-to-market differently by being more data-driven and more able to be coordinated.

While delivering seamless messaging across many channels is a good idea in theory, Brand Leaders can overcomplicate this aspect of omnichannel.

So, whether you are able to deliver messaging in one, two or five channels, to make the practice of omnichannel more approachable/less complicated and in keeping with our fitness theme, we recommend you adopt the 

Leverage your data/your partners’ data to be more precise and personalized with your HCP engagements.

This data can help you know what your HCP targets prefer, what they open, who they learn from, and where to find them.

This makes your marketing more effective from the start.

Next, you want to create a unified experience across channels by sequencing your outreach and layering it across different channels.

To drive efficiencies at scale, you can create scalable content in different formats, mostly repurposed from approved brand content.

This creates a more personalized and memorable customer experience.

You should also consider using trigger engagements (EHR, Search Intent, Behavior-based triggers, etc.) in other channels when you see the desired HCP engagement.

This is where you can optimize the experience by taking what you’ve learned to date and improving campaign performance.

Make sure you have clear Data Use Agreements in place with your partners so that you can leverage the Physician-Level Data (PLD) and other important insights to fuel seamless next-best actions.

Even if it is hard to envision how you might 

Essentially, whether you work in one channel, or many channels, you want to think about using data to be more precise and personalized to create a unified brand experience…

from your partners on how a recommended channel can and should coordinate with your ecosystem.

, it is easier to get other stakeholders to sign up for 

Are We Overcomplicating Omnichannel?

It's the most (wonderful/stressful/exciting/ambitious – 

) time of the year! That’s right…pharma brand planning season is upon us for those on a calendar fiscal year. Our clients and prospects are either already in the thick of it or about to embark on strategic planning for 2025. It’s a mission-critical season for agencies to pull out all the stops to ensure we’re equipping our clients with fruitful, results-driven strategies essential for brand growth.

But how do we stand out to our clients in such a competitive marketplace? This is where expertise, innovation, customization, and comprehension of industry challenges come into play. Below are seven ways to show valued partnership throughout the brand planning process:


Agencies must stay on top of rising trends and understand what the competition is doing in the market. Presenting key market insights –early and often – may help secure your place at the planning table. So, bring that market research expertise to help elevate your strategy.


Arrive to agency days with pioneering, unique ideas and concepts tied to Brand business objectives and strategic imperatives. While regulatory guidelines are important to keep in mind, value-driven strategies born from outside-the-box thinking may be just what your clients/prospects didn’t know they needed.

Personalize the approach through data-driven insights and analytics


This is a big one! Each HCP (and patient) is unique – and should be treated as such. When leveraging data to draw insights on targeted audiences, custom journeys can be built based on:

What channels and content are most effective to the individual

How quickly new therapies are adopted or prescribing behavior

Regional influence of, for example, disease prevalence

The list goes on…
These types of precision-targeted strategies translate data into actionable insights that can result in greater engagement and potential increase in ROI, a crucial key performance indicator for clients and prospects.


Differentiate with proficiency in integrating multi-channel/omnichannel marketing strategies or coordinated channels. Highlight digital capabilities and technologies that effectively reach the right audience with the right message at the right cadence, encouraging maximum engagement.

Awareness of market trends, regulatory challenges, and ever-evolving Brand and HCP preferences is imperative for pivoting strategies to meet and exceed client/prospect needs. Indispensable partners will quickly flex to feedback during the brand planning process to ensure recommendations transcend expectations.


Understanding guidelines for developing impactful, compliant campaigns with a positive track record within the manufacturer can help put clients/prospects at ease when developing strategies that may be uncharted territory for them or their regulatory/medical/legal reviewers.

Strategic partnerships built on a passion for client satisfaction


Client satisfaction is paramount in this industry. Ensuring clients and prospects feel the enthusiasm behind strategic recommendations helps encourage open doors to long-term, lasting relationships and potential for referrals. Opportunities will continue to present themselves if we maintain consistent and dedicated delivery, starting with tactical recommendations and measuring success.

By implementing these strategies, agencies can be valuable partners in supporting pharma brands during this crucial time of the year. Through specialized expertise, innovative solutions, a collaborative approach, and a commitment to delivering measurable results, agencies can contribute to the success and growth of their clients in a competitive marketplace.

For more information on how Relevate Health can elevate your strategic brand planning, please contact Katie Farmer at 

7 Strategies for Meaningful Collaboration During Brand Planning

Having a career in healthcare communications for over two decades, I have had the privilege of working with some incredible physicians. What has been eye-opening to me is how much ‘gets in the way’ or distracts them each day from doing what they ultimately want to do: deliver great care and help patients. Some of these distractions or pressures I’ve heard physicians state include:

….Helping patients find a diagnosis for mysterious persistent health challenges.

….Assisting them with the proper treatment plan and medication.

….Arguing with insurance companies that the treatment plan I outlined is necessary.

….Finding the appropriate specialist to help diagnose and hopefully treat my patient’s rare condition.

….Regularly confronted by patients consulting Google and are sure of their selfdiagnoses.

….Meeting my RVUs and performance requirements.

….Frustrated by some patients and their lack of accountability to the treatment plan.

….Overburdened with paperwork and charting.

….Challenged to work in an environment that is still very much fee for services but also value-based.

….Struggling with leadership and decisions being made at corporate health system offices states away that impact my patients and my work environment.

….Learning and re-learning multiple systems and processes that are changing with health system initiatives, billing, EHR, etc.

Our healthcare system is a pressure cooker for providers and their support staff. They are burdened by increasing expectations, and it’s not new news that this is a root cause of burnout.

So, how can we get a provider's attention when they have limited bandwidth?

Here are three things to consider as you seek to engage providers.


It’s like going on a first date…you would never show up without doing your homework. Initially, seek to understand who your HCP audience is and how they want to be communicated with. It’s the starting point to getting you the date, showing you care enough to learn the basics. Data is everywhere. In fact, we have so much data at our fingertips that most people say it’s paralyzing. It is crucial that you understand your target and how they want to be communicated with when considering your marketing and communication strategy. Don’t get overwhelmed by the sources of data that flow all around you. At Relevate Health, we have a proprietary engine that allows us to compile and translate so that you will easily understand the preferences and needs of the targeted providers. We make sure data do not bog down clients…instead, we use it to fuel actionable execution and impact for customers.


You’ve got to connect. Like you and me, we desire relevant communication, disengage in conversation, or read resources. Could you imagine going on a first date and saying you don’t like to talk politics, and then all your date talks about is politics? Understanding the providers’ preferences, what they know, and what they don’t know is essential. How they respond will allow you to continue to tailor their journey in your communication strategy and deliver the information they need.


While they are modern-day superheroes, we should remember that these providers are human. Busy people that most likely have micro-moments for us to relay a message that resonates with them. Sound familiar? I know the credibility of those who are communicating with me is essential. Are they a trusted source, or perhaps someone I know? I am way more likely to pay attention if the messenger is respected or revered as a subject matter expert. This should translate into deploying appropriate responses, resources, and marketing tactics. Make yourself a known and trusted source.

At the end of the day, partnering with organizations that can think through smart strategies backed by insights and data to deliver quality content where, when, and how a provider prefers will make you stand out among the crowd. Who you partner with to actually execute the plan is key. So go ahead….and double-down on your first date preparation, leveraging the three tips above. You may even get that second date!

Be Relevant in the Micro-moments 

I feel like I’m 1,000 years old making this statement. In the 90s when I was a pharmaceutical sales rep, the traditional dinner meeting was THE GO-TO Peer-to-Peer solution used to engage, educate, and activate healthcare professionals about your brand. What makes me feel less old is that the traditional dinner meeting was still the GO-TO Peer-to-Peer solution right up until 2010.


Did you ever go to a party in high school or college and the police showed up? RUN! The parallel here is that in July 2010, Novartis entered into a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice to settle False Claims Act lawsuits based in part on violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) due to illegal honoraria paid to doctors through Peer-to-Peer Speaker programs. Novartis paid $642 Million to settle these allegations and others pertaining to illegal charitable payments to cover Medicare copayments and signed a corporate integrity agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General agreeing to implement a rigorous compliance program.


So, what do you do if you are the rest of the pharmaceutical industry after this bombshell drops? You start thinking about alternative ways to redefine the traditional dinner meeting/ Peer-to-Peer programming and how you can effectively and compliantly use these mechanisms to engage target healthcare professionals.

Why is Peer-to-Peer programming so popular in the Pharmaceutical Industry?


Peer-to-Peer programming is popular across ALL INDUSTRIES. Think about it. If there was a golf clinic provided by Tiger Woods and you were a golfer, you would want to show up. The same holds true in the Pharma Industry. If there is a psychiatry seminar provided by Stephen Stahl, MD, PhD and you are a psychiatrist, you show up.

The lists below outline two Virtual Live alternative speaker program solutions that can be used to engage healthcare professionals that still use “Peer-to-Peer” as the format, but move away from the traditional dinner meeting.

National Broadcasts provide an extremely effective vehicle to communicate your key brand messages to a large number of healthcare professionals in a compressed time frame using your brand’s top speakers.

Messages are delivered in a Peer-to-Peer format in a consistent, compliant, and cost-effective manner.

Depending on the disease state, I’ve seen this format engage 10,000+ healthcare professionals in ONE DAY!

Pre-record your National Broadcast and air it multiple times across multiple dates with each airing being followed by LIVE Q&A from one or more of the speakers.

You can effectively air your National Broadcasts during the daytime at 8am ET, CT, MT, PT and at 12:15 ET, CT, MT, PT and avoid having a dinner meeting altogether.

When I was a rep, I would offer an invite to my dinner meetings to my customers and would typically hear one of the following objections as to why they could not attend:

The time does not work for me. I have kids at home and can’t go to dinner.

I have questions “now” and can’t wait until a dinner meeting to have them answered by a thought leader.

A solution to consider is the 1:1 Webinar.

What is a 1:1 Webinar? One Speaker to 1 Practice of 1 or more HCPs can select

In-office program occurs within 5 business days

In short, your customers get an exclusive presentation and Q&A session featuring just their practice.

If your MLR will not allow 1 speaker to 1 practice, you should easily be able to negotiate 1 speaker to 1 practice of 3 or more HCPs. That way, you are still able to offer a personalized presentation to a practice to meet an unmet educational need.

Since these take place In-office and usually over a sandwich at most, this format can be very compliant.

If you ever want to talk, debate, or discuss peer-to-peer programming, please reach out to me at george.griffith@relevatehealth.com. I would love to hear from you!

HOLY MOLY—A $642 Million Fine! 

Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with a former colleague, Elizabeth Enders Menon, Launch Excellence Lead at UCB, to discuss Launch Best Practices. I was in preparation mode for a training session with some of our internal team, and while I’ve worked the client side on launch, it had been a minute, and I wanted to enlist expertise to validate my thoughts and garner more real-time perspective. The session was so helpful, I thought it would be great to share it more broadly. Spoiler alert – no 2 launches are EVER the same, things NEVER go according to plan, and don’t let the intimidation factor get to you too much – there are always unknowns in a launch, no matter how many you’ve done. Being decisive is key. Here were our top 10 takeaways:

Each launch is a unique journey filled with unknowns and opportunities for growth. What worked for one launch is not guaranteed to work for the next. Enlist the support of your cross-functional colleagues, vendor partners, and intel on industry trends.

Ideal launch timelines often start 24-36 months out, but marketing efforts usually ramp up around 18 months prior, especially for Global-to-US focused launches.

 Be prepared for changes. No launch ever goes according to plan, and typically, around the 6-8-month mark post-launch, there is often an opportunity or need to make adjustments and/or course corrections. If you’re on the vendor side, Menon shares, “Usually there is a rule: there is no movement in 12 months…but honestly around the 6- month mark…check back in as things change.” Brands are finding their ability to pivot quickly is a critical advantage.

 Start building relationships years before the launch. This is often an after-thought, and it’s too late, as this effort requires authenticity, time, and care. This can be done through congress involvement and participation, advocacy efforts, genuine curiosity and intentionality, and can continue through establishing speaker bureaus, etc.

Post-COVID, national broadcasts remain a common launch initiative that helps with peer-to-peer influence and the ability to reach a large audience to drive share of voice more cost-effectively and efficiently.

With numerous vendor partners involved in a launch, even in smaller-scale launches, playing well in the sandbox with others is critical. Each vendor partner brings a skill set and capabilities unique to the launch. Understand what they are and how to collaborate effectively to drive the greatest impact.

 According to Deloitte, 1/3 of launches don't meet their forecast, and the #1 driver of this is market access. Ensure you’re working across disciplines and teams early and often to secure favorable positioning upon launch.1

 No matter how many launches you've done, there's always a chance to add value, improve, and grow. Whether it’s your first launch or you’ve done 13+, dynamics change.

The goal is not perfection. It's about making informed decisions, moving forward, and adjusting accordingly. Don’t let the market and competition make the decisions for you.

With the number of active biotech products in phase 3 trials increasing 400% over the past decade, now is a great time to get launch experience. 2

Remember, every company's secret sauce of success varies, from its culture to ambition, structure, and risk mitigation. So, whether you are on the client side or vendor partner side, don't let the intimidation factor get to you. Embrace the unknowns, be decisive, and keep learning.

It’s worth noting that Relevate Health worked with over 15 launch brands in 2023. We have a lot of expertise in data-driven strategy, market access capabilities from Phase III through LOE, population health and system-level expertise, and HCP marketing strategy through activation experience to drive brand performance and ensure launch readiness and beyond.

If you want me to share the typical timelines and key initiatives I have used, email me at julie.granberry@relevatehealth.com.

References: 1. Deloitte. https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/health-care/key-factors-forsuccessful-drug-launch.html 2. Tufts CSDD: https://www.centerwatch.com/articles/26758-number-of-phase-3-biotech-trialsincreases-400-percent-over-decade-studyfinds#:~:text=The%20number%20of%20active%20biotech,13.7%20percent%20observed%20si nce%202012.

Beginning to Tackle a Pharma Launch Top 10 Lessons Learned  

Payer communication is pivotal in shaping access to medications and treatments in the dynamic healthcare landscape. Market access strategy and execution are linked to the success or failure of a product launch, with half of failed launches being attributed to limited market access. But what exactly is market access, and what does it entail?

The foundation of market access lies in a company's ability to demonstrate the clinical and economic value of a medication or treatment, align with various healthcare stakeholders, and ensure affordability and timeliness of treatment for appropriate patients. Providing payers with the information necessary to make formulary decisions is critical to ensuring that patients can physically get access to the products they need.

Traditionally, pharmaceutical companies have relied primarily on face-to-face interactions. However, there is an increasing need to communicate complex and multifaceted data to establish a product's value for market access stakeholders. As pharmaceutical companies strive to enhance their engagement with payers, digital strategies are becoming increasingly critical.

Digital engagement tools can provide tailored communication and enhance collaboration between pharmaceutical companies and payers. These tools will help field teams focus on specific payer needs and complement complex data-driven faceto-face interactions. The right tools can allow an engagement to continue after the initial meeting and also track the outcomes of the exchange.

Pairing account managers’ knowledge with insights from payers about how they prefer to receive information and what types of information they seek from pharmaceutical companies can establish a continuous feedback loop to inform and improve ways of communicating with payers. This ongoing digital evolution of payer communications is paving the path for omnichannel engagement of market access stakeholders.

Emerging Market Access Marketing Trends – Part 1 

With the advent of digital environments, increasing budgetary constraints, and emphasis on value-based healthcare, market access stakeholders are more challenging to engage with than ever. This new reality requires more tailored, datadriven digital engagement strategies for market access customers.

North America leads the way in payer digital engagement, investing approximately $1.3 billion annually. Despite a 32% increase in global digital channel investment, only about 7% of pharma spend is allocated to market access instead of focusing on prescriber engagement. Research has shown that 95% of formulary decision-makers rely on digital resources and spend more time online and using digital resources than the average physician.

Since the pandemic, interest in omnichannel approaches has increased. Market access teams within pharma companies now integrate non-personal and digital tactics into payer engagement plans, and remote interactions have become essential since payers rely more on digital resources during their workday.

This digital evolution can be seen in communicating a product’s value to payers. Value-based messaging resonates with payer priorities to help make decisions about managing healthcare costs, improving population health, and enhancing patient access to innovative therapies. An interactive payer value proposition allows payers to explore complex clinical information, efficacy and safety data, health economics data, outcomes research, and treatment pathways.

Omnichannel marketing facilitates ongoing digital engagement with payers through meaningful interactions and value-added content. It seamlessly coordinates and integrates multiple channels to ensure a cohesive and synchronized experience for payer audiences.

Fundamental Tenets of Market Access Omnichannel Marketing:

Personalized Communication: Leveraging data analytics and insights allows companies to tailor messages and content according to payer preferences, needs, behaviors, and engagement patterns. Companies can deliver personalized communications that resonate with payers by understanding payer demographics, formulary considerations, and therapeutic interests.

Unified Brand Experience: Ensuring consistent messaging, branding, and design elements across all touchpoints is key, whether payers interact with pharma companies through digital channels, at conferences, or through field representatives. This reinforces the company's value proposition and fosters trust and credibility among payer audiences.

Data-driven insights: Analyzing data from various sources, including payer interactions, website traffic, and digital engagement metrics, allows companies to refine their marketing strategies, optimize channel mix, and measure the effectiveness of their market access campaigns.

Pharma companies and payers can collaborate to optimize access and improve patient outcomes by fostering collaboration, transparency, and evidence-based decision-making

Evolution Towards Omnichannel Engagement in Market Access – Part 2 

Arming your field forces with the next best engagement for interacting with their target HCPs involves leveraging data, technology, and strategic approaches to ensure that each interaction is personalized, relevant, and effective.

Gather comprehensive data on physicians, including their prescribing habits, patient demographics, communication preferences, and historical interactions.

Utilize advanced analytics tools to process and analyze this data, identifying patterns, preferences, and potential areas for improvement.

Use predictive analytics to anticipate physician behavior and preferences. This involves employing machine learning algorithms to identify trends and suggest the most likely next actions.

Segmentation, Targeting and Personalization:

Segment HCPs based on various criteria, such as specialty, prescription history, and engagement preferences.

Develop targeted strategies for each segment to tailor communications and interactions to their specific needs and preferences.

Leverage technology to dynamically generate content recommendations based on the physician's profile, previous interactions, and current trends.

Embrace an omnichannel approach to communication, considering live, email, phone calls, video conferencing, social media, and other digital channels.

Implement real-time decision support tools that provide field representatives with insights and recommendations during interactions with physicians.

Optimize the mix of channels based on each physician's preferred communication methods.

Train field representatives on utilizing data-driven insights and technology tools effectively.

Provide ongoing education to keep representatives updated on industry trends, product information, and communication best practices.

By educating your field force on utilizing data-driven insights and technology tools effectively you can help them enhance the quality of interactions with their target HCPs and ultimately improve overall sales and relationships.

How to arm your field force with the next best engagement 

With a house of teenagers (17, 14, and 12 – but acts like he is one), my wife and I often find ourselves struggling with ways to really engage with the kids in meaningful ways. Whether it’s competing for time (sports, friends, sleep), fighting for eye contact vs. screen contact, or dealing with the dreaded, one-to-two-word answers, it’s challenging to engage with these humans that we have raised in what we believe is the best way possible. Although I try not to take work home with me (and I do a pretty good job of that – maybe a future blog post), there are a few things that I have learned at the office that have supported this engagement mission at home. There is a lot that I have learned from interacting with my children that I have brought into work to complete this learning loop.

 – A wise man and former colleague of mine experience shared (see next bullet) a gem several years back. Instead of asking your kids, “how was school today,” because that will result in a “OK” or “fine” or “good,” ask them, “who did you sit with at lunch today?” This minor tweak in my asking about their day often resulted in a much more detailed response beyond who they shared a table with at lunch. The open-ended approach by leveraging “tell me about,” “why did you take this approach,” and/or “how can we do better” allows your teammates and clients alike to take the stage and provide more details that will allow you to really listen (see bullet 3) and learn before responding. Also, a no-brainer when it comes to surveys and market research…

 – I have been meeting with a group of like-minded professionals for the past 5+ years. We connect monthly over lunch and talk about our professional and personal lives. While in very different industries, we find that we can support one another in meaningful ways. There’s only one rule in this fight club… no advice given, only experience sharing. This very basic and important rule allows us to speak from experience vs trying to guide someone down a path we haven’t traveled. This has been a game changer at home and with clients & colleagues. My kids have been very clear with me that they aren’t looking for advice; however, when I’m able to share with them that I was in a similar situation and this is how I navigated, it tends to resonate. With clients, if we can tell them that we have dealt with this type of opportunity or challenge in the past, they tend to want to learn more about what worked and what didn’t in previous situations. Experience sharing empowers the listener to do what they want with the new information. This tends to land better than telling someone what you think they should do.

 – I’ll be honest. I am way out of my league these days when it comes to middle school and high school challenges. I feel like I had it much easier back in the day. However, although I don’t understand all the new terminology or have a good grasp on the new way math is being taught, I’ve found that if I shut up and listen (really listen) that connections are built. I may not have the answer or an experience to share, but the focus on them (with a few open-ended questions thrown in there) shows them that I care and am here for them. Not sure if I must make a correlation to work here but the same holds true for those that you spend most of your waking day with. Show you care (one of our core values here at Relevate Health), and relationships are built to create an environment for amazing things to be accomplished.

– I used to complain (and still do a bit) about all the time that my wife and I would spend driving the kids to all of their activities. That is until I realized that this 20-minute drive was an amazing opportunity for me to put bullets 1-3 into action. Besides paying attention to the road, I was laser-focused on one kid. There were/are great times for a temperature check – to hear what is going on with them, in their world. I quickly went from dreading the drive time after working hours to truly embracing them as yet another opportunity to connect. Finding this time with clients and colleagues is just as important. One is to find out what’s going on with them outside of work. And two, to check that relationship temperature. Here at Relevate Health, we survey client satisfaction on theregular, but these scheduled or impromptu 1:1s with clients allow for a natural flow of two-way feedback to improve the relationship and, ultimately, the work we create together.

Engagement, whether it be with HCPs, patients, clients, colleagues, or yes, your kids, requires work on our part. Like trust, engagement is not just given to you. Only once you have proven that you are engage-worthy, relevant, and value-adding will others decide to engage with their words, their time, and their attention. Just do me a favor and don’t ask my kids about what it’s like to talk

How to really engage with someone… guess what, it’s hard work!  

https://www.intechnic.com/blog/ux-for-the-entertainment-and-mediawebsites-from-super-serving-to-hyper-personalization

In the realm of healthcare marketing, user experience (UX) trends in the entertainment and media industry offer a compelling blueprint for revolutionizing patient and healthcare professional engagement. Intechnic’s article underscores the pivotal shift from mere content delivery to crafting deeply engaging, personalized user experiences to foster customer retention and loyalty.

The healthcare sector stands at a key juncture, mirroring the entertainment and media industry's evolution. As we pivot towards a more patient-centric model, the principles of hyper-personalization and super-serving users have an opportunity to significantly enhance healthcare professional access to relevant information, thus improving patient outcomes. By integrating these UX patterns, healthcare applications and platforms can evolve beyond functional utilities to become indispensable tools that intuitively cater to the unique needs of each user.

Customer retention, as Intechnic highlights, is increasingly paramount over new acquisition. This philosophy resonates profoundly within healthcare, where sustained patient engagement can lead to improved health literacy, adherence to treatment plans, and ultimately, better health metrics. The entertainment industry's proficiency in creating sticky user experiences - making it almost effortless for users to stay engaged and provides a playbook for healthcare to imitate. Designing interfaces and experiences that not only simplify access to information but also make engagement compelling, healthcare platforms can significantly reduce the friction in managing health.

Additionally, Intechnic emphasized leveraging AI for hyper-personalization as it can be transformative in healthcare. Imagine a platform that understands a healthcare professional's specific interests and information needs, dynamically curating content and resources to match. This level of personalization can streamline the vast ocean of medical knowledge into actionable insights, tailored to the precise context of each professional's practice and patient care objectives.

Imagine if the journey from under-serving to super-serving users in healthcare, driven by UX innovations borrowed from the entertainment and media sector, offers a promising path to enhancing the efficacy and satisfaction of healthcare delivery. By adopting a user-centered design philosophy, healthcare technology can transcend traditional barriers, offering personalized, engaging experiences that not only retain but also enrich the professional and patient journey.

Hyper-personalization in healthcare is not just a trend; it's a necessity for the future of patient care and professional development. 

By learning from industries outside our own, we can leapfrog into a new era of healthcare engagement, one where technology serves as a seamless extension of the care team's efforts to meet the diverse needs of their patients and themselves. The insights and application of UX in entertainment and media are a beacon, guiding us toward a more connected, intuitive, and patient-centric healthcare ecosystem.

To see hyper-personalization in action, download 

How to Revolutionize Healthcare UX: An Opportunity for Hyper-Personalization 


Traditional agencies are in love with “the big idea.” They compete on who can create the better, bigger idea. They win creative awards for them and hire the staff to create them. They exist to provide big ideas to their clients. But big ideas can be blunt. In reality, the content that will make a difference to HCPs needs precision and depth—it’s down in the details of the data, engagement strategy, and execution.


Doctors have an overwhelming journey every day—60% of their time is non–patient facing1 and is filled with practice management and staff administration. They’re often just trying to keep up with their schedules and to-do lists instead of actually practicing medicine. When they are treating patients, they are inundated with changing guidelines, referrals, specialty medicines, and more. The average PCP visit is scheduled for 30 minutes. The average time on EHR? 36 minutes. 2 No big idea is going solve that math. Typical agencies wind up overshooting during planning and struggle to relieve the burden HCPs routinely face—a growing amount of information without the time and tools to process it all.

So how can brands make an impact—how can they be relevant to HCPs?


There is nothing wrong with thinking small. When we all start our day, pour some milk in our coffee, and fire up the laptop, we don’t ask ourselves, “What big idea can I uncover today?” Instead, we look to try and tie up yesterday’s loose ends, get to some unanswered questions, find the necessary information we lack, make some decisions, and try to get ahead of the day. HCPs are no different. They don’t need a big idea—they need access to deeper, more nuanced, timely, and relevant content. Unfortunately, they aren’t going to tell us exactly when, where, and what they need—they may not even know themselves. That’s why it’s every marketer’s job to know the HCP better than they know themselves. To do that, brand directors need to see hidden and disparate data pulled into one clear view, revealing who is reachable by specialty, region, NPI, KOL connections, and consumption habits. They need to easily track who has previously engaged, with what content, and in what channel. This is predictive analytics at work, uncovering exactly where and how to win each doctor. Next-generation marketing companies will provide that granular, hidden view—making the invisible visible—helping brand directors elucidate every nook and cranny of their audience’s needs. They will help see through the static and focus on the small signals, placing creative content at the precise moment and place needed with operationalized solutions that are ready to field.

Any marketer, on any brand, should ask these questions of their marketing partner: 1. Can you see the discrete, behavioral events I can’t? 2. Can you use that to place relevant content, at the right time, to the right HCP? That is thinking small to win big. *No big ideas were hurt in the writing of this piece—we love them too! :)

1Barnett J. Administrative tasks take up more time than patient care for many PCPs. https://peoria.medicine.uic.edu/administrative-tasks-take-up-more-time-than-patient-care-for-many-pcps/ 2 Berg S. Primary care visits run a half hour. Time on the EHR? 36 minutes. https://www.ama-assn.org/practicemanagement/digital/primary-care-visits-run-half-hour-time-ehr-36-minutes

Omni Know-How: Think small.  

There has been no shortage of think pieces expounding the benefits of omnichannel for customers and brands. (I know. I have written my fair share.) An HCP gets a better experience; brands optimize engagement and pull back on less impactful and efficient tactics.

However, I want to look at the value of omnichannel adoption through the lens of another key stakeholder – marketing procurement. Plain and simple, the focus of marketing procurement for pharma manufacturers is to maximize the value of marketing spend for the enterprise. Essentially, an ROI analysis: “For every dollar in brand or comms spend, what is my organization’s return?”

Often, the negotiations move to the spending side of the equation – volume discounts, agency consolidation, and production decoupling. A standard set of levers intended to reduce cost while maintaining return.

I would argue that omnichannel adoption is a key opportunity for procurement to impact both sides of the return on marketing spend analysis through three key benefits.

Three purchaser benefits of omnichannel adoptions.

Omnichannel activation lives in the world of objective value, while a large majority of marketing services purchased by biopharma companies are evaluated subjectively. 

I’ll pick on myself here. I came up in this industry as a brand planner. Over the course of my career, I have run dozens of brand positioning work sessions. Those range global to US only, across different clients, therapeutic categories, and product life stages… Frankly, my billing rate reflected that breadth and depth of experience.

Now, I like to think I was good at running a positioning work session, and I can find a past client who would confirm that.

But let’s be honest—that is a subjective analysis. It is really hard to find objective proof that my workshops or the positionings that emerged from them were objectively better. 

However, in the world of omnichannel - where data, precision, and attribution are much clearer and trackable – evaluating the value exchange for the spend becomes much more transparent for procurement.

2. Optimization means doing less of what doesn’t work

The old adage from John Wanamaker, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted: the trouble is I don’t know which half” – is so clearly relevant for HCP marketing. Anyone who has ever been on a rep ride and seen the troves of unused marketing materials – knows that HCP marketing suffers from the desire to make more marketing collateral.

Now, the standard critique of omnichannel might be, doesn’t this personalization and precision stuff mean even more marketing spending? While that could be an outcome, I would argue that the first and most immediate benefit of omnichannel adoption is reducing underperforming marketing initiatives. Because omnichannel takes a customer-centric POV, the performance data gives marketers and procurement key insight into what they should do less of - A type of content that gets less engagement, a message that underperforms, or even a segment of HCPs who are unresponsive to a given channel. The insights from omnichannel adoption give marketing buyers a barometer for what portion of their spending can be cut back or repurposed.

3. Expected results and historical benchmarks as the norm

Finally, when a marketing organization is working with an experienced omnichannel activation partner, the conversation switches from “I think this will work…” to “I know this will work…”

Because an experienced partner should be working with historical benchmarks that often are catered to the program, channel, therapeutic category, and target HCP list. Focusing on activation, pull-through, and reliance on historical results should instill more confidence and accountability in what is being delivered in return for marketing spend.

When we combine these three benefits, it almost seems that omnichannel activation is catered to marketing procurement analysis.

You have transparency in the value exchange for the marketing spend.

You can identify underperforming initiatives and marketing investments.

You increase expectations and benchmarks for success.

All of these help marketing procurement maximize the ROI of the organization's marketing dollars.

Omnichannel Adoption as a Procurement Strategy  

Pharmaceutical writers are often tasked with putting (compliant) words and phrases in people’s mouths—especially doctor’s mouths. Every word we write is scrutinized by clients, review teams, and others. The result can be stilted, unnatural, and wordy language that no human would ever actually utter. 

While being legally compliant, medically accurate, and true to the label are all worthy priorities, I would argue that being engaging, passionate, and believable are equally important. Finding a balance between compliance and authenticity is tricky, but selecting a partner with strategic content development expertise can make it a reality.

At Relevate Health, for example, we offer a rep enablement tool, called KOLCastTM. KOLCast is built around the idea of capturing key opinion leaders’ (KOLs) real-world experience with a particular drug or disease state and allowing them to offer insights to a colleague who has less experience with the drug or disease state through video. The video content we capture is entirely UNSCRIPTED.

Yup, you heard me right. UNSCRIPTED. We purposely don’t script our KOL interviews for this program to allow the KOL's authenticity to shine through. The results are more engaging video content that reps can leverage in their conversations with customers.

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