Healthcare has made remarkable strides. We can edit genes, deliver medicine at a nanoscopic scale, and reprogram our own immune cells to fight cancer. Yet for all these advances, an overwhelming amount of patients report feeling unseen and unheard. So, why is this? With more voices and choices comes less clarity, and patients are feeling the weight.

There is a gap between what science can achieve and what the experience allows.

That gap is where patient engagement and support live. And where pharma has a huge, largely untapped opportunity.

Trust is fragmented, but not lost

People trust multiple sources: doctors (84%), of course, but also friends and family (72%), colleagues, online communities and others living with the same condition (49%).

Many are drawn to influencers not because they reject expertise, but because they crave empathy, lived experience and language that feels human. Ultimately, people want to hear from people like them. In a world where we can all access reviews and information from our peers at the touch of a button, authority alone is no longer enough.

Patients piece together a picture of “what to do next” from healthcare professional advice, loved ones, group chats, social media, online sources and more recently, AI chatbots. Of regular ChatGPT users, one in four submits a prompt about healthcare every week.

Trust now sits in an ecosystem. Patient support is not a portal or a program. It’s how the brand shows up inside this trust network with something that is credible, human and genuinely useful.

With trust ecosystems expanding, it’s unsurprising that misinformation is rife. More than one in two young adults regret a health decision caused by misinformation.

It’s unacceptable that so many patients are making decisions they regret. Patients need credible sources that are visible and relevant within their trust ecosystem.

Bias quietly shapes every healthcare experience

 Navigating this complex ecosystem does not come easy to patients, and this burden is not shared equally. Age, gender, race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic background are all factors that impact experience.

• Women are more likely to feel they must be assertive just to get the care they need,⁴ adding undue stress at an already difficult time
• People in lower income groups are significantly more likely to report unmet medical needs than those who are better off
• Older adults are less likely to turn to the internet for health information, widening the digital divide as more support moves online

The reality is that most patient support programs are built for advantaged patients.

If support is built around a highly engaged, digitally fluent, time-rich “ideal patient”, it will miss many of the people who need help most.

Patient support has to be designed for difference, taking account of literacy, language, culture, income, digital access, health beliefs, and caregiving responsibilities. Otherwise, we risk reinforcing the inequities we talk about fixing.

Wanting patient-centered care is not enough

Healthcare professionals care deeply about delivering patient-centered care, with 84% believing that involving patients in decisions improves outcomes.

Yet intent alone cannot outweigh unconscious bias, unintentional cultural insensitivity, language barriers, and deeply held beliefs and fears (on both sides). Add time pressure and fragmented systems to that mix and it is easy to see how patients leave with mixed understanding and a plan that does not fit their life.

Patient support cannot replace the consultation. It can, however, stretch its value.

High-quality, empathetic support can:

• Give confidence when starting treatment
• Empower patients to advocate for themselves
• Reinforce and clarify what was discussed
• Help prepare for their next appointment and beyond
• Be a trust source of information and advice between consultations

If we want to tackle bias and imbalance, we need to positively influence everyone involved. This isn’t about providing a leaflet, it’s understanding where change matters most, then showing up in relevant ways, with behavior change principles built into connected solutions that support people before, during and after treatment initiation. 

Patient support must evolve

Dispersion of trust, unbalanced experiences and information overload can all be addressed in part by patient support. Well-designed patient support can:

• Highlight trusted, relevant information
• Build confidence to act sooner instead of “waiting and worrying”
• Upskill patients and caregivers to manage more of their condition day to day
• Improve shared decision-making by aligning choices to personal goals
• Lift adherence through understanding and emotional support

Patient support is the human scaffolding around treatment that helps reassure and guide patients at a time when they need it most.

So why is it still so difficult?

Most biopharmaceutical companies supporting patients are not short of ambition. Brand teams are briefed to be “patient-centric”. There are pilots, portals and programs everywhere.

What often holds progress back is structural. Patient engagement and support is siloed and treated as a discrete project. Regulatory constraints add complexity, and meaningful metrics are hard to capture. The result is initiatives that look good on paper but are under-used in the real world.

Designing for difference

Closing this gap demands a different way of working; a set of core design principles that can be applied to elevate every healthcare experience. That is where specialist partners come in.

Agencies that understand both the patient world and the pharma world can help to:

• Uncover nuance by exploring beliefs, barriers, and motivations, and co-creating solutions with patients, caregivers, HCPs and advocacy groups
• Create experiences that connect by blending clarity with imagination, and storytelling with practicality, in ways that are emotionally intelligent, culturally aware and accessible
• Foster lasting behavior change by shaping positive choices, reinforcing confidence and supporting people to adopt and maintain healthier behaviors
• Measure success by creating frameworks that link support to outcomes that matter for patients and for the business

Pharma brings the science, the scale and the responsibility. Partners like us bring the human touch, behavioral insight and design discipline that help engagement and support work in the real world.

When human understanding meets creativity, patient support becomes more than communication, it becomes positive change.