Patients Expect Health Management Tools From Pharma

By Jeff Arnold, CEO and Chairman

I read on the Wireless-Life Sciences Alliance’s website this week that Accenture recently completed a study revealing some very interesting findings about patient engagement. Possibly most notable is that of the 2,000 Americans taking one or more medications they surveyed, more than 75% of them believe pharma companies have a responsibility to provide patients with tools and information to help them manage their health.

To me, these findings mark an important point in the lifecycle of mHealth – bottom line, patients understand the value digital tools can bring them; they’re just waiting for the ecosystem to respond. I am hopeful that these kinds of indicators will move stakeholders to collaborate on building mHealth strategies and solutions, rather than work in silos, which would just riddle the system with digital fragmentation and unnecessary bureaucracy.

So while patients recognize the industry has a responsibility to respond, those of us in healthcare should remember that it’s our responsibility to build transparent, secure and user-friendly patient engagement solutions that help people live their healthiest lives and unlock their true human potential. It won’t necessarily be easy, but nothing worth fighting for ever is.