Majority of digital health companies spend up to 30% of their total budgets on HCPs. For what? A new R2G survey gives answers.
Working with HCPs is of high priority for most of digital health companies (57%). Even after allocating substantial budget on HCP engagement strategies, very few companies perceive their strategies to be successful. New R2G study results.
The field of digital health is rapidly advancing, with Digital Health Applications (DIHAs) leading the way. Within this dynamic landscape, healthcare professionals (HCPs) hold a pivotal role in influencing its direction.
To gain a comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted HCP engagement, primary goals and objectives of engaging with HCPs, various engagement methods and more, R2G conducted a global online survey on How to engage with HCPs?
The findings of this survey, addressing key questions such as the importance and perceived success of HCP, most effective HCP engagement methods, best incentives for HCPs, and more are presented in our latest whitepaper titled: “How to engage HCPs for a successful DIHA-2023: Approaches, learnings, best-practices for how digital health companies successfully work with HCPs?”. (Get your copy of the whitepaper by clicking here)
Companies acknowledge the vital importance of HCPs and actively involve them for various purposes, across the diverse stages of the DIHA lifecycle. Even though most digital health industry stakeholders collaborate with HCPs, the collaboration doesn’t seem to work. There is a mismatch between the importance given to the engagement and the success rates among the digital health industry stakeholders.
A majority of 57% of digital health companies emphasize the significance of this engagement, deeming it “very important” for the success of DIHAs, while another 30% regard it as “fairly important”. Additionally, around 12% of the companies considered HCP engagement to be moderately or somewhat important.
When it comes to budget allocation for HCP engagement, a significant majority of companies (73%) allocate up to 30% of their total budget for this purpose.
However, what stands out is that around 8% of companies take a notably different approach. These companies prioritize HCP engagement and allocate a more substantial share of their budget, ranging from 60% to 90%. Their engagement strategies are multifaceted, often involving company sales teams to actively promote and sell DIHAs. Additionally, they actively engage HCPs in test panels and clinics to evaluate and validate DIHAs, and they provide comprehensive online support to assist physicians in understanding and effectively utilizing these digital health solutions.
Despite this widespread recognition of HCP engagement’s pivotal role in DIHA success, merely 12% of DIHA companies classify their strategies as “very successful”, and an additional 18% describe them as “successful”. This divergence highlights a significant gap between the companies’ acknowledgment of HCP engagement’s importance and the achievement of their anticipated success rates.
Moreover, around 60% of the companies perceived their strategies as “moderately successful” or “somewhat successful”, where around 12% of the companies considered HCP engagement to be moderately or somewhat important.
In summary, the majority of DIHAs are already involved with HCPs in various capacities, dedicating significant budgetary resources to HCP engagement, however with limited success. The whitepaper delves comprehensively into additional critical topics, including budget allocation for HCP engagement, primary objectives for engaging HCPs, optimal methods for HCP engagement, and the obstacles encountered in this process. To gain in-depth insights and access stakeholder perspectives, the whitepaper can be downloaded here!
R2G has been constantly monitoring the global digital health industry since 2010. We are happy to talk and share our experience! For more information reach out to [email protected]
