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Great ideas for new digital health solutions are emerging all the time. But too few of them are making the leap from great ideas to successful commercial solution at scale. Our latest Pharma & Life Science report "From pilot to scale" found that most pharma and medtech businesses surveyed believed that they expected very few of their digital health solutions (between zero and 20%) to reach mass adoption. And no respondent could say that their digital initiative had turned a profit to date.
So what’s the problem? The research identifies a number of common barriers that are preventing most companies from making progress. In this blog, we’ll look at what some of those obstacles are, and the strategies that companies can adopt to overcome them.
Digital health takes off
The pandemic proved a major boost to the development of digital health solutions. With in-person consultations largely unavailable during lockdowns, the use of digital tools for patients to communicate with healthcare professionals (HCPs) increased dramatically. For example, the global market for remote patient monitoring is set to grow by 18% over the next five years. Investors, too, have been increasing their commitment to digital health.
«Funding for digital health nearly doubled between 2019 and 2020, rising from US $7.4 billion to US $14 billion in 2020.»
With strong demand signals and rising funding, the market for digital health is growing fast. But still too few products and services are making it out of the pilot stage. And there are a few reasons why success at scale is proving elusive.
Barriers to scale
For some, the technology simply isn't ready. For others, the technology is mature but fails to find favour with targeted patient groups. It can also be the case that corporate environments built around the development of traditional health solutions impede the rollout of digital solutions. And digital solutions can often be developed as standalone products or services that don't integrate easily into existing patient pathways or payment models.
Three key capabilities for scale
But whatever the reason for a specific digital solution not succeeding, those that are successful tend to share some common characteristics. And these are the areas where health and life sciences companies should focus their attention as they pursue the move into digital health.
- From standalone to ecosystem
First, successful solutions follow an ecosystem approach. PwC's research found that the top barrier to scale cited by pharma and life sciences businesses was the siloed development of new digital solutions. This means focusing on a specific business need rather than taking an end-to-end approach. Digital solutions that scale successfully play a role in an ecosystem that focuses on value across a portfolio. To start with, that might be a specific therapeutic area, with the ability to expand. - Empower markets to drive adoption
Next is the need to empower markets to engage users and drive adoption. That means making sure that the balance between global and local teams is carefully calibrated. Solution design, development and deployment should be the preserve of a global team. Local teams should then be enabled to launch the solution in their market(s) and use their knowledge and networks to encourage uptake among HCPs and patients.
- Fix the back end
Finally, successfully launching digital solutions at scale requires a new operating model. The front end (the digital solution) requires back-end systems and processes to match. What does that entail? Flexible API-based architectures, the right cloud platform and automation are all key ingredients.
«To take advantage, businesses must think beyond the initial stages of innovation and factor in scaling from the start.»
There's no question that fast-growing demand for digital health solutions has been accelerated by the experience of the pandemic. And that's creating new possibilities for pharma and medtech companies.
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