The healthcare system — in the U.S. and globally — is responding to the need to reduce costs and improve outcomes.  The foremost implication for manufacturers of pharmaceuticals, devices, and diagnostics is a drive to demonstrate the economic and clinical value of their products to all stakeholders… including patients.  This is an extreme shift in focus for a pharma industry that has historically been very successful with a strategy of winning the favor of physicians and selling them the next blockbuster.

As manufacturers scramble to adjust their market access and sales strategy to the shifting healthcare environment, many have focused their efforts on how to effectively market their products to relatively new stakeholders such as accountable care organizations (ACO), integrated delivery networks (IDN), and consolidated healthcare networks.  Organizations taking on this challenge are ahead of the game, and doing critical work to ensure their continued differentiation in an increasingly competitive environment.  But, while adapting your strategy for new groups of stakeholders, it is crucial to keep another core constituent group in mind — the patients who ultimately use your products.