Challenge

To improve the value of healthcare solutions, we must better understand the empowered person living with a condition and how that person proactively manages that condition in his or her daily life. Cerner Enviza created the HERO Framework™ to provide unparalleled insight into the many faces of today’s diverse healthcare consumers.

A mid-size global pharma company wanted to better understand Parkinson’s Disease across multiple stakeholders. They needed a partner to conduct assessments on care delivery and product value to optimize the commercial potential of an advanced Parkinson’s medicine in key markets. The desired insight would benefit not only the company’s market research department, but their entire brand team, as the pharma manufacturer intended to use the information for multiple purposes, including:

• Building knowledge around unmet treatment needs and patient care delivery needs

• Understanding the emotional and rational needs of patients, caregivers and healthcare providers (HCPs) affected by Parkinson’s

• Developing ways to foster the patient/caregiver and physician relationship related to this debilitating condition

• Deriving a communications strategy that would support scientific publications, as well as educational and commercial materials

For the client, it was important to understand how the individual was affected by this disease and not just the "patient". The research results needed to be anchored in reality, thus Cerner Enviza focused on the person’s experience with the disease (their voice) as well as the evidence generated (e.g. validated scales and biometric data).

Approach

In order to achieve the most holistic view of healthcare consumers and their behaviors and motivations, Cerner Enviza employed its new HERO Framework™ , which allows us to connect all of the dots using psychology, behavioral science, linguistic theory and anthropology. The framework – supported by our combination of Experience, Evidence and Expertise – involves listening to the patient, where we learn about their health experience and get to know their thoughts, emotions and wishes for better health; applying our unmatched patient-based evidence; and drawing on our vast heritage of expertise to create an action-ready blueprint for achieving scientific marketing and commercial success.

Maintaining a patient-centred mindset, Cerner Enviza developed a custom market research study focusing on patient’s and caregiver’s needs, their journey, and their quality of life. This focused research approach integrated active qualitative data collected via Cerner Enviza’s award-winning Lumi App (the technology records Parkinson’s patients’ quality of life in the moment) with passive biometric quantitative data collected via FitBit devices. From there, we focused on hearing the “Voice of the Patient” through research involving patients and their caregivers. The documentation was done by the patient and also by their caregiver through short quantitative questions in the Cerner Enviza app, and also through videos, voice recordings and images.

Insight

We learned about patients’ good moments and about situations where they were reminded of their disease either physically or emotionally. The key learning was clear to us. In order to reach a true understanding of patient needs, patient-centred research needed to dive deeper and include active and passive data sources and techniques. Through the combination of experience and evidence we were better able to understand Parkinson’s Disease below the surface, where patients and caregivers have many intersections of conscious and sub-conscious needs. The final report revealed unmet needs and gaps in both the market and satisfaction of patients and caregivers, as well as clear and actionable evidence-based recommendations on ways to commercially differentiate our client’s Parkinson’s Disease medicine. Cerner Enviza also secured Ethics Committee (EC) approval that helps guarantee review for publication, and a higher willingness to participate from patients as consent forms were in place.

Impact

To complement this holistic and integrated engagement, we’ve also undertaken two pilot studies to determine whether biometric data can be linked to patients’ physical and emotional wellbeing. The studies will create a link back to the patients’ experience with their condition, allowing us to better understand the obvious and hidden needs of patients through words they’ve spoken and their physical wellbeing.