Creating communications excellence

The year is 2035 and innovation in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), genomics, biotechnology and personalised medicine has revolutionised patient care, enabling highly personalised treatment plans based on genetic makeup, lifestyle and environmental factors. The focus has shifted from treating illness to maintaining wellness, encouraging preventive care, personal health management, and access and equity. Healthcare communication platforms powered by AI offer personalised health information and interventions, transforming passive patients into proactive health participants. For healthcare professionals (HCPs), advanced analytics and predictive modelling tailor messages and educational materials to match specific interests, specialties and clinical needs. The emphasis is on providing value-based content and creating genuine partnerships with patients and HCPs.

2035 will have answered today’s unmet needs, but to get there the healthcare industry needs to ensure relevant communication can reach and resonate with the intended audience. HCPs are overwhelmed by promotional content and are reporting a lack of understanding of their specific needs, including treatment specialities and patient demographics, leading to less impactful communication and limited return on investment. Optimal healthcare decisions rely on accessible content based on recent, quality, non-promotional data. Healthcare organisations must provide evidence-based data and expert knowledge to support and justify a specific therapy, medication or technology. The value needs to be better communicated to stakeholders including insurers, HCPs and patients.

The future is already here – it’s just not evenly distributed
In this exciting digital age, AI is not replacing human intuition but enhancing it, and we need to embrace AI to translate vast amounts of data into actionable insights to unlock its true potential. We also need to navigate the ethical considerations of AI usage by safeguarding patient confidentiality, addressing unconscious bias and ensuring informed consent.

There are already many applications of AI in healthcare communication; using machine learning to identify primary opportunities to increase product sales, AI optimisation of marketing resources to reduce unnecessary localisation or unproductive channels, sentiment analysis to increase customer satisfaction and brand reputation, predictive analytics to forecast engagement and drive measurable behaviour change across distinct audience profiles, natural language processing to summarise medical research or clinical trial results for HCPs, and many more.

AI enables a future where every message, every interaction and every strategy is aligned with the ultimate goal: enhancing healthcare outcomes for all.

Paul Sarjeant is Product and Innovation Director at Page & Page and Partners