As we move into 2020, the dynamics shaping biopharmaceutical decision-making are moving faster than ever. But constant change makes it difficult to focus and plan, showing that it's all the more important to prepare for the future by keeping a trained eye on the major shifts happening now.
To help industry leaders do this, the Syneos Health Insights Hub released 2020 Health Trends. The report is an in-depth compilation of trend forecasts and analyses of the healthcare industry, based on interviews with hundreds of subject matter experts around the world who work on healthcare's frontlines and across the clinical-to-commercial spectrum. This year's top trends will influence everything from clinical trial design to health services delivery. Key themes (with more to be found at trends.health) include:
• The Many Points of Care: Digital care connections are opening doors to making healthcare scalable and accommodating (beyond the clinic) to both baby boomer demands and millennial disruption.
• Better By Design: Look for big shifts in the clinical trial experience—from interactive, personal ways to connect with new participants to new technologies and tools that make learning as easy as conversing with a friend.
• The Trust Deficit: Mistrust is everywhere, from living rooms to boardrooms, fueled by pessimism and worry about once-trusted institutions. We're seeing leaders launch new initiatives to win trust back from people dubious about whether their trust has been earned.
• The Value Equation: Discussions about cost and value are becoming both more sophisticated and more commoditized. From big expectations for innovation to bulk pricing, payers, advocates and regulators are challenging industry leaders to both show population-relevant data and defend value.
• Answering to the Real World: From building organizational fluency in real world evidence (RWE) to learning new methods of data-infused trial design, leaders are helping their teams get ahead of both regulatory requirements and payer expectations to consistently demonstrate impact.
• Connected Communications: Gone are the super-sized digital ecosystems that stakeholders were expected to navigate on their own from the first tap to the 50th click. In their place are more personal communications that understand where people are in their personal journeys of discovery and decision making. These new approaches leverage data, smart systems and behavioral science to create experiences that change minds and lives.
• Tearing Down Silos: The walls are coming down as groups that once had turf embrace teamwork. We're seeing new models of partnership and competitive collaboration; more strategic integration of outsourcing; intriguing new deployment models; and agile ways of working that help everyone experiment and learn together.
• Profession Under Pressure: Disruptions caused by technology, consolidation and changing expectations mean that the once-lauded career of a doctor is feeling decidedly dismal to some currently practicing doctors and potential student recruits. Standing in the gap: unpaid caregivers who, in 2020, will have to give so much more.
• Acting on Equity: Leaders are getting actively involved in achieving greater health equity by responding to social determinants of health, extending care beyond our cities, involving more people in clinical research and championing those who need us most.
• Escalating Talent: The race is on to recruit the most expert field teams, elevate the role and impact of medical affairs, earn the loyalty and mastery of clinical data associates (CDAs), and adopt a new approach to recruiting that just might start with purpose.
How should biopharmaceutical leaders answer to these dynamics? Each trend in the report is matched with actionable suggestions for responding to these powerful currents of change while staying on course to deliver on the promise of innovation.
Download the full eBook and browse at trends.health.
Subscribe to our podcast for additional perspectives on the trends in this report.
The Syneos Health Insights Hub generates future-focused, actionable insights to help biopharmaceutical companies better execute and succeed in a constantly evolving environment. Driven by dynamic research, our perspectives are informed by our insights-driven product development model and crafted by subject matter experts focused on real answers to customer challenges to help guide decision making and investment.