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COMMUNICATING CONNECTED HEALTH
Addressing emerging connected
health business challenges with
effective communications
Developed by
With contributions from
AUTHORS
The lead authors were Richard Moss, Director, and Ellie Dobson, Account Manager, at Proof
Communication.
Proof Communication would also like to thank the following for their valuable contributions:
Brian O’Connor
Chair
Madelon Kortenaar
Marketing Manager
European Connected
Health Alliance
Sitekit
Stephen McComb
Centre Leader
Mindy Daeschner
Director
Connected Health Innovation Centre (CHIC)
psHealth
Emmanuelle Pierga
Director of Communication
Sue Dunkerton
Co-Director
Orange Healthcare
HealthTech and Medicines Knowledge
Transfer Network (KTN)
Neil Woodcock
Healthcare Marketing Specialist
Collette Johnson
Business Development Manager
Mitel
Plextek Consulting
Dan Jones
Director of Communications
Association of British Healthcare Industries
(ABHI)
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CONTENTS
1
2
INTRODUCTION
ADDRESSING CONNECTED HEALTH CHALLENGES
2.1
2.1.1
2.1.2
2.2
2.3
Influencing multiple audiences
Buyers
Policy makers
Targeting new markets
Owning the solution
3
BEST PRACTICE COMMUNICATIONS GUIDE
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
4
Clarify the value proposition
Influence the influencers
Use the media to accelerate the market
Use industry networks to encourage collaborative
communication
CONCLUSION
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1
INTRODUCTION
As society continues to benefit from an increasingly connected way of life, the healthcare industry
has taken time to catch up. It is now moving in the right direction as the world of connected
healthcare, lauded as both an opportunity and a challenge over the last ten years, finally starts to
become reality.
The term ‘connected healthcare’ can mean different things to different people. In this report we
define it as the implementation of new technologies and processes that move healthcare and social
care from a set of linear activities, to an interconnected web of support that drives up efficiency,
quality and impact for both those delivering and receiving treatment or care. Fundamentally, we
see connected healthcare as more than just the implementation new technology; it will entail new
processes for healthcare and social care deliverers, moving them away from looking only at the
people immediately in front or behind them in a linear sequence of actions, to instead look across
an entire system of interwoven activity to ensure the best quality outcome for all stakeholders. It is
not just the technology that needs to cooperate harmoniously.
As connected healthcare moves from future vision to contemporary reality, there has been a boost in
the amount of literature on the subject but this has largely been focused on technical and commercial
considerations. The issues surrounding the way in which connected health is communicated, both
within and outside of the industry, have been somewhat neglected.
For those organisations pursuing opportunity within this emerging market, there are many challenges
ahead. From navigating regulatory restrictions to shifting perceptions of healthcare workers who
can often be cautious of, strategic communication, in its many forms, may be underestimated in its
ability to help overcome all of the major barriers to the widespread adoption of connected health
technologies, systems and processes.
This report identifies the most significant opportunities for connected health organisations to use
marketing and PR strategies to solve the business- and industry-level challenges they are currently
faced with. It also includes practical advice for organisations and healthcare communicators,
without being a prescriptive ‘how to’ manual.
Most importantly, it represents the views of some of the most active and influential players in the
sector today. It is a collaborative statement about what communicating connected healthcare
requires from us all.
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2
ADDRESSING CONNECTED HEALTH CHALLENGES
What are the key challenges currently faced by organisations operating in the connected health
space? This chapter identifies the most significant barriers, from the complex ecosystem of new
audiences to the reliance on a whole network of organisations up and down the value chain,
explaining why these problems persist and how they might be overcome.
2.1 Influencing multiple stakeholders
Perhaps the most significant challenge for organisations operating in the emerging world of
connected health is the sheer number of stakeholders within this complex ecosystem that need to
be influenced and, with it, the number of perspectives there are to account for.
In a developing sector such as this, organisations must consider stakeholders beyond the immediate
buyer, understanding who is actually driving demand and how the decisions of different groups,
from policy makers and regulators to patients,carers, and health professionals, might all affect the
viability of various business models. In short, one of the major challenges is how to accurately
recognise and cover all the bases.
2.1.1 Buyers
Many questions remain over who will be buying connected health services. Taking health monitoring
and care within the home as an example; will the healthcare provider or the individual make decisions
on which of these services to use, and how will they be paid for?
We still don’t know the answer to this but one cannot proceed without the other, so both audiences
must be equally educated on the benefits. This is made more complex given each has very different
motivations.
Emmanuelle Pierga, Director of Communication at Orange Healthcare, outlines what she perceives
to be the main ‘buyer’ audiences that are becoming increasingly important to influence:
1) Healthcare professionals
For example, General Practitioners (GPs) and hospital staff
2) Healthcare technology professionals
For example, Systems Information Directors within hospitals
3)
Healthcare
Healthcare
technology
professionals
Healthcare
management professionals
Healthcare
management
For example, NHS procurement
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Patients
1
Healthcare professionals are often perceived to be technology averse, however this is
changing as the next generation enters the industry. These ‘digital natives’ are early adopters
of technology and will be critical for securing broader interest in a more connected sector. They
must become a higher priority target for communication campaigns. To engage them, Collette
Johnson, Business Development Manager at Plextek Consulting, says it’s important to speak
in clinicians’ language, “For example, while investors get excited about the idea of mass data,
made possible by remote monitoring technologies, clinicians want to know what happens
to that data and how it benefits them. How will it all be analysed? Where will the liability lie in
terms of the accuracy of data collected when you’re relying on the patient to comply and take
readings correctly?”
2
While technology professionals are largely open to introducing new technologies, they will have
experienced first-hand the internal resistance from healthcare professionals and will require the
means to communicate the benefits of a connected system up and down the chain. Neil Woodcock,
Healthcare Marketing Specialist at Mitel, highlights a lack of coherent strategies linking healthcare
IT investments to desired health outcomes, and current financial constraints on organisational
investment in IT, as key barriers that must be considered when engaging with this audience.
3
The buyers mentioned above are the individuals who ultimately control healthcare budgets.
The long sales cycles and evolving nature of connected health makes for a challenging sell to
this audience. Influencing them to buy into new connected services requires the communication
of benefits in terms they appreciate most - a focus on financial impact, process, resourcing
efficiently, and tangible health outcomes. Mindy Daeschner, Director of psHealth, suggests that
client references and case study examples provide useful evidence, and the business-use of data
can be attractive to this management layer. For example, the granularity of data offered by a more
connected healthcare system offers considerable visibility of both financial and care performance,
and outcomes for analysis in entirely new, quantifiable ways.
4
Patients are not currently empowered as the system dictates what needs to be done if they
are ill. Therefore, currently the majority of communication efforts do not focus on patients. The
rise of connected health technologies and services, and changes to the law through the Health
and Social Care Act 2013, will mean patients become increasingly empowered and their level of
influence will rise as the new care agenda takes hold. This will also open up entirely new revenue
streams for healthcare and social care business, targeting products directly at those receiving
treatments and care. But while health and care providers hope for shift towards long-term
‘wellness’ services rather than short-term reactive ‘illness’ services, the majority of consumers
are currently not motivated to change their long-term health outcomes. For them, it is about a
short-term solution to an immediate health problem. So ensuring patients recognise the benefits of
managing their own health and care, and making it easy and cheap for them to do so, will be crucial.
Mindy Daescher, Director at psHealth, a company selling technology and services to health and
social care organisations, believes that as the world of connected health becomes a reality we
must also start to look at emerging groups with the power to outcome, if communication is to have
greater influence over buying decisions.
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She specifically identifies the increasing role of Clinical Support Units, Clinical Commissioning
Groups and, to a certain extent, Local Authorities who are starting to contract-out health and social
care functions to private companies. These bodies are attracted by the promise of organisations
that have proven levels of commercial acumen, technical understanding and the skills and resources
to intergrate them effectively into existing systems and processes. In her view, the majority of
traditional buyers are fast becoming influencers for buying decisions, and lobbying the procurement
team is becoming less effective as the real power shifts to those who can outsource to private
suppliers.
There are common messages that all of these audiences should receive but, crucially, they will need
to be delivered in very different ways and take into account the variety of interests and behaviours
each group displays. Daeschner suggests that this fragmentation of budget, responsibility and
change to business processes currently means that the connected health sector is struggling to
maintain consistency of message as the dialogue has to alter significantly between different target
communities whilst maintaining some semblance of consistent messaging.
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Selling to the National Health Service
Engaging with the National Health Service (NHS) is notoriously difficult for private companies.
According to recent figures1, 60% of UK-based entrepreneurs from the health technology sector
claim there is resistance within the NHS to working with private sector companies. 85% identified
barriers such as excessive decision-making times and difficulty finding the right person to speak to.
Over 80% feel that NHS procurement processes are too complicated.
However, there is evidence 2 that the NHS is increasingly outsourcing contracts to the private sector,
and The Healthcare Industry Barometer 2013 showed that senior figures in the private sector believe
an increase in the number of hospitals in financial difficulties will provide further opportunities for
them over the next few years.
Stephen McComb, Centre Leader for the Connected Health Innovation Centre (CHIC), explains that
the NHS looks for differentiation between offerings that present a ‘better’ service versus a ‘cheaper’
service, but ultimately organisations need to be able to offer both convincingly. This is extremely
difficult in a tender situation, and therefore influencing the buyer at the earliest point can be pivotal.
“If you can connect with a buyer before the tender is even written, you can educate them as to what
constitutes value, quality and impact.”
In the connected health space this is especially difficult; “Technology companies are making
a case for buying Y instead of X, rather than two versions of Y, so there is little evidence to support
a change in strategy to incorporate new technologies.”
A 2012 report from Accenture, Making the Case for Connected Health, asserted that connected
health is not simply a tactical intervention in an organisation or system, “Developing connected
health means carefully orchestrating change across the organisation that aligns directly to a mission
and a vision. This transformation should have a strong positive impact on culture, management
and clinical systems, behavior and patient-provider-payer interactions, well beyond the changes
required by technology alone.”
Brian O’Connor, Chair of the European Connected Health Alliance (ECHAlliance), believes this is
certainly true of the NHS in the UK, and for private technology companies targeting the NHS for
the first time this can be a seemingly impossible prospect. O’Connor warns that there is still not a
complete acceptance of the need for connected health technology as a whole. Resistance at such
a fundamental level means that selling individual technologies is an enormous challenge.
Accenture’s research showed that the top five barriers for healthcare IT adoption and HIE, according
to the international clinicians it surveyed, are that IT systems that can’t ‘talk’ to each other; concerns
about privacy and security of data; cost of the systems to their organisation; loss of productivity or
excessive time spent inputting data; and lack of financial incentives for adoption. These challenges
will have to be addressed if connected health is to pervade the National Health Service.
Collette Johnson of Plextek Consulting suggests that connected health providers will find it easier t
vices. She says consumer lobbying can help drive the NHS to open itself up to digital health adoption.
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2.1.2 Policy makers
The complexity of regulation and lack of qualification for new connected health services is currently
a major barrier to adoption. Connected health presents unique challenges for regulators and policy
makers because it unites a number of vastly different sectors and services for the first time and this
is new ground for most of the people policing the sector’s reputation and performance.
In the case of the communications infrastructure allowing devices to talk to each other, for example
the GSMA suggested in a 2012 report that the main regulatory challenge lies in striking a balance
between the very different regulatory motivations of the telecommunication and healthcare industries.
Influencing those that can help shape this regulation is a new and considerable challenge for many
organisations entering the sector, largely because it is very different to selling technology products.
As Emmanuelle Pierga of Orange Healthcare explains, “One of my main goals is to prove that
connected health works, and that it is the answer to society’s future healthcare problems. We are
lobbying and targeting the people in a position to influence the evolution of regulation in this industry
before trying to convince the buyers. We are ready to implement, but we cannot sell anything until
we prove the whole system works and until the regulatory bodies have adapted so as to integrate
connected health.
“This type of communication requires a very different approach. We publish lots of reports and
papers to gently bring the regulation round to allowing more technology into the heart of healthcare
services. Digital communication, in many forms, is absolutely key for influencing this type of
audience, as is communication of proof rather than just an assertion of value.”
Policy makers on the regulatory side are currently the most important connected health audience
for the Association of British Healthcare Industries (ABHI). Dan Jones, Director of Communications,
believes there is still room for companies to influence what the standards and technologies should
be. “There is a huge challenge surrounding the GS1 standard, for example.”
The GS1 standard is a system of barcoding to improve procurement data, stock control and patient
safety. This coding means there is an audit trail from the point of creation all the way through to a
product’s use on a patient and makes recalls a much simpler process.
Jones continues, “The NHS is committed to it, as is industry, but policy makers will still be leading
on how it is actually rolled out.”
Small companies may question their ability to influence policy makers in this space, but all voices of
industry are sought, and organisations such as the ABHI provide a platform for two-way engagement.
There are numerous ways that even the smallest outfits can have indirect influence on the evolution
of regulation and practice in this space.
On the other hand, there is also argument that suggests technology businesses mayhave greater
success going forward if they adopt an attitude towards innovation that is driven by health policies,
rather than the other way around.3 There is a balance to be struck between pushing for industry
change and working within the limits of existing healthcare regulation, at least in the short term, to
ensure greater numbers of early connected health offerings have a chance to get off the ground.
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2.2 Targeting new markets
Compounding the challenge of engaging effectively with multiple audiences, most organisations
exploring the connected health space will also be treading very different ground to that which
they are accustomed. Consumer companies operating in this space are confronting a very tightly
regulated environment and often selling to drastically different buyers, whilst medical device makers
must learn how to interpret consumer behaviours and buying motivations.
Consumer companies in the medical space
Generally speaking, consumer electronics firms are stronger in terms of branding and consumer
loyalty, and IBM suggests that they are also in a better position to create new markets for health
devices because of their large existing consumer bases.4
The marketis also ripening, with better-informed patients with a desire for more information, looking
for ways to make use of their data. However, when selling to healthcare providers, the market is
extremely challenging for new players and particularly so for those without a device to demonstrate.
Emmanuelle Pierga from Orange Healthcare says, “They have no idea what a telecoms provider
can do in healthcare and do not understand the power of data transfer in this industry. The main
challenge for us is to create an identity in healthcare; for technology companies without a new
tangible product, showcasing the relevance of a broad technology capability is not easy.”
Dan Jones from the ABHI also warns that consumer firms must not underestimate the difficulties
they will face in regulating their products within the medical space, “The regulation process is
considerably more difficult in healthcare than it is for standard consumer apps, for example, and
there is currently not a great deal of direct support available in terms of helping organisations to
navigate the regulatory minefield. I expect we will see the level of support improve further down the
line, but for now the healthcare sector is dealing with a number of more pressing challenges.”
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Regulatory challenges are impacting the nature of products currently in development, according to
Sue Dunkerton, Co-Director of the HealthTech and Medicines Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN).
Dunkerton suggests that, whilst the healthcare industry is regulated for good reason, many product
developers are trying to avoid the challenge; “Many are trying to stay on the consumer side so
as not to have to deal with it, which may hold them back, but I expect the market to change and
become more encouraging as the first big wins come through.”
Consumer organisations will also particularly struggle with distributing through healthcare
professionals because they lack relationships with this community, and the duration of the sales
process. Emmanuelle Pierga says Orange Healthcare has been talking about connected health and
influencing key audiences for ten years, “It is especially slow because it relies on public will as much
as professional buy-in”.
Medical companies in the consumer space
Medical device companies, on the other hand, have more credibility and experience working with
care providers and navigating the strict regulatory requirements, but there are challenges aplenty
in the emerging connected health space. The telecare proposition, for example, where increasing
numbers of services will be delivered in people’s homes, brings with it new aspects of risk and
vulnerability considerations for healthcare providers.
Perhaps more challenging still is the need to understand consumer needs and attitudes, particularly
buying behaviours, which has never been more important for medical device makers. Turning
these insights into products and features - with consumer-friendly interfaces – and marketing them
effectively poses further difficulties. Many organisations would benefit from the support of third
party experts in these fields.
Sue Dunkerton of the HealthTech KTN adds that organisations originating in the medical space will
also struggle to identify and measure success in a consumer world; “How do you know what’s a
good system and what isn’t? Listening to the consumer voice – reviews and frequency of use – will
be the only way to know”.
Dunkerton expects that connected health will follow a consumer model initially, which is already
sparking interest with the ‘worried well’ and the IT literate. She suggests, “The healthcare industry
is likely to be the follower in this sector as the consumers start to realise what is possible and help
create the demand in the more classic healthcare market.”
2.3 Owning the solution
It is unlikely that any single firm has all the capabilities required to offer a complete connected
health solution, so organisations should not consider themselves in isolation. Dan Jones of the
ABHI explains that success lies in the realisation that, in the connected health space, they are not
selling bits of kit or software, they are selling new ways of delivering healthcare differently, capturing
information, and managing data well; “It’s not about any one individual product, it’s about the whole
health delivery system. Industry needs to acknowledge this and respond by pitching technologies
accordingly”.
There is consensus on this view from many experts. Brian O’Connor from the ECHAlliance says that
manufacturers should be looking at where their device fits in the overall end-to-end service, and
identifying who is offering complementary services because small businesses in particular do not
have the resources to go out and sell the connected health idea on their own.
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Sue Dunkerton of the HealthTech KTN suggests that this isn’t just down to capability and size,
“It’s also to ensure a secure system. Health is too critical to put in the hands of a single solution
provider; we want people to own their own data, with a connected world built around it. By enforcing
collaboration we also stimulate a healthy level of competition.”
Mindy Daeschner from psHealth suggests that this is also about recognising that technology is
simply an enabler for a more connected health and care system - that the bigger challenge is about
identifying ways to combine processes, infrastructure, skills and people with new technology to
deliver a usable outcome. 2It’s important that we use technology to obtain more rich data, “she
says. “But the real value lies in how you use it and that requires people, process, resources, and
skills.” Daescher believes the comination comes from across the sector, and that a collaborative
approach provides the fuel to intergrate the moving parts into a system that works.
Neil Woodcock from Mitel also points out that, “Rather than being limited to a single vendor,
healthcare providers must be empowered with the freedom to choose the best-in-class technologies
that map to their strategic aims. Open standards will be critical in realising this.”
Mindy Daeschner of psHealth, believes the most pressing need is to create a common dialogue
around more collaboration in the innovation process and data sharing. “To date, dialogue in this
space has been largely conservative. Organisations view each other competitively, and will only
change when forced to change. There is a pressing need for collaboration in order to define new
approaches for generating, receiving and accessing data, as this is the most important element of
the connected health proposition”.
Taking a contextual view of an organisation’s position within the overall value chain is an essential
part of building an effective business case and selling strategy. According to Mindy Daeschner,
new contracts are building in KPIs around joined-up performance benefits; and outcome measures;
collaboration is becoming a requirement, and the private sector needs a solution for this.
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Connected health technology specialist Sitekit uses an infinity diagram toexplain how connected health
elements must work together. Marketing ManagerMadelon Kortenaar says, “The infinity loop diagram illustrates
person-centricdata flow in a connected health world. On the left hand side, the traditionalworld view: personal
data is owned, controlled and shared by statutory organisations - NHS and government.
“On the right hand side, the new personal world view, made possible by smart consumer devices and cloud
services. Personal data is owned, controlled and shared by the citizen. In a connected world, as consented
by the citizen, data flows in both directions between the domains using Sitekit’s ‘Open Clinical Connector’
message interface.
“The purpose is to enable individual’s own consumer devices and apps to easilyconnect with NHS and other
statutory systems to improve continuity of care,improve communication, help individuals learn more about their
health, careand lifestyle and get involved in managing the care of themselves and those they love.”
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3
BEST PRACTICE FOR COMMUNICATING
CONNECTED HEALTHCARE
3.1 Clarify the value proposition
“Communicating the value proposition is the biggest challenge for most
connected health businesses”
Stephen McComb, Centre Leader for the
Connected Health Innovation Centre (CHIC)
With a vast number of audiences to communicate with, clarifying the value proposition of a
connected health product or service can be difficult. Communicating the offering clearly, succinctly
and, above all, with relevance to each audience, whilst effectively positioning it within the context
of the entire value chain of treatment and care, requires careful planning.
Communicators at connected health organisations should take the following steps:
Reconsider priority audiences
We have already seen how diverse the audiences are within connected health. The range of people
influencing buying decisions is more varied than they are for traditional healthcare products and
services. Identifying the right set of influencers, prioritising those that present the strongest route to
change, understanding what motivates them, and developing an approach that accounts for all of
these factors will define the success of any communication programme.
This report has indicated that it may still be too soon for many organisations in the connected
health space to sell effectively into a traditional healthcare market. Instead, a focus on driving
consumer demand and influencing policy makers, creating a ‘push’ effect from certain corners of
the community, will help to create a more fertileenvironment for selling to traditional procurement
teams.
These are broad audiences, however. ‘Policymakers’ for example is not a well-defined target in
itself; it is a starting point. Organisations must identify the specific policies they want to influence,
and then find the organisations and individuals in the best position to make that change possible.
Define your value in the context of the whole market opportunity
This report has highlighted that it is highly unlikely for any single organisation to own the connected
health proposition, and that it is imperative that the technologies and services that make up the
industry do more than simply coexist. As well as defining their own vision, organisations must
understand and communicate the entire connected health value chain and their position within it to
make target audiences act.
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They must also understand what keeps those audiences awake at night; how they can help
them improve their own performance; what language they use internally; and what motivates the
decisions they make. For example, healthcare budgets are strained because, even when annual
budgets remain static, there is pressure to achieve more with the same amount. This means that
new propositions must be communicated as a replacement for something lready in the system (be
that software, time, people or equipment), not an addition.
Gather evidence
The experts consulted in this report have stressed the need to provide robust evidence to justify
change, but they have also suggested that the focus of that evidence needs to cover two important
areas. Organisations are now under more pressure than ever before to support claims that they can
deliver both financial and clinical impact.
This can be challenging and expensive for small businesses to do this themselves, but this is
another area where communicating collaboratively as an industry can be very effective.
The Technology Strategy Board-led dallas project, for example, is investing £23million to establish
several communities of up to 170,000 people in total the UK to show how assisted living technologies
and services can be used at scale to promote wellbeing and provide top quality healthcare. Its aim
is to unlock the connected health market and demonstrate that technologies and services can be
made available at a sufficient scale and cost to enable independent living.
Involvement in such projects provides further evidence that businesses can use to support their
claims about the viability and benefits of the connected health technologies and services they offer.
Be open and offer clarity about sensitive issues
Healthcare is an emotive issue, so proposed change is often met with caution. Until the market
matures, audiences will have questions and concerns about the connected health proposition rightly so given the technology and service providers themselves do not yet have all the answers.
Patients and healthcare providers must consistently address the balance between risk and reward
in their communication programmes to address this.
It is critical to be open about both. This is about building trust, educating audiences about the threats
and demonstrating that there are clear ways to mitigate them. It demonstrates understanding of
audience drivers and acknowledgement of their concerns.
Too many sectors have made the mistake of not offering total clarity on both risk and reward and
suffered the consequences of public conservatism as a result. Facebook’srecent change of its
image rights policy; the debacle over GM crops; andcountless data security breaches in the gaming
industry are all fairly recent examples where a more open approach to communicating both risk and
reward would have been highly beneficial. In healthcare, this is going to be exacerbated given the
sensitive nature of the subject. For example, the issue of data security is an ongoing concern What
happens to the data held in electronic patient records, or captured by remote sensing technologies?
Can it be compromised? How will it be anonymised for use up and down the healthcare system?
A balance between demonstrating an understanding of the risks and how to manage them, with
positive messages about the benefits for all parts of the healthcare system, builds the necessary
trust and understanding to achieve progress. It is this fine balance that communicators in this
environment need to strike.
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3.2 Influence the influencers
“Regulatory hurdles should not be underestimated. To control their own
destinies, device makers should get actively involved in establishing
standards for connected health devices
”
IBM
The complexity of regulation and a lack of formal certification for new connected health services is
a major barrier to adoption. This report has suggested it is also limiting the scope of innovation in
the sector. The issue is firmly on the agenda for Europe. The European Commission has published
an eHealth Action Plan for 2012-2020 acknowledging that healthcare service delivery significantly
lags behind other areas of IT innovation. To address this gap, the Commission has called for an
aggressive action plan for reform, and stakeholders should follow developments closely.
Organisations should be helping to set the rules within their own regions, informing and influencing
local policy makers and regulators as a way to encourage the right feedback to Europe. This is not
easy. Many policy influencers are difficult to connect with, but there are two main routes to consider:
Direct - Two of the most common ways of engaging with policymakers directly are via meetings
and written policy briefs. Not all organisations will be in a position to engage effectively in this way,
but working with bodies that represent the industry, or collaborating with similar businesses, can be
more effective. Emmanuelle Pierga, Director of Communication at Orange Healthcare, recommends
using online reports and papers to gently bring the regulation round and allow more technology into
the heart of healthcare services. “Digital communication is absolutely key for influencing this type
of audience.”
Indirect – Identify where or who your targets get their own information from and engage with
these influencers, encouraging them to become ambassadors for your message. For example, the
UK’s health policy makers engage regularly with the ABHI, which provides a platform for two-way
engagement between government and health organisations of all sizes.
The level of adoption of a more connected approach to healthcare delivery will only increase once
the political barriers to change are removed. It is up to the communicators in this space to influence
the right people about the decisions that will make that possible.
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3.3. Use the media to accelerate market adoption
“We are not seeing enough success stories covered in the press”
Mindy Daeschner, Co-founder and Partner of psHealth
There is consensus among the experts consulted in this report that connected health organisations
are not currently utilising the media to full effect. The press can drive consumer demand; influence
policy makers; and inform healthcare providers, but the opportunity is being underutilised because
not enough is being shared, and the stories organisations in this space do offer tend to be too
self-serving or too forward looking. To use the media as a mechanism for change, the sector must
provide content and present stories that demonstrate how connected health is already becoming
part of today’s medical environment, rather than simply a vision for tomorrow’s. According to Brian
O’Connor of the European Connected Health Alliance, people still assume that connected health
is something for the future, but the reality is your doctor could prescribe you an app today. “We
need to show people what technology is available now, and how people are benefitting from it.
There’s very little coverage of successes that we’re already seeing; I believe this is more important
to communicate than future predictions of what might be possible one day.”
Organisations should resist the urge to tell the press stories only about themselves. At this stage,
the broader context is more important than individual technologies and services and, as we have
stated above, it is not yet understood. This comes back to a need for a collaborative effort by the
industry to tell the whole story together, rather than simply individual component parts.
Consider the difficulties faced by governments encouraging people to invest in pensions, and the
green movement trying to persuade people to live differently today in order to deliver a better world
tomorrow. The same collective cultural change is needed for the widespread adoption of connected
health, but it is difficult to deliver and requires a push from the industry acting as one. Dan continues,
“It will only succeed if it reaches a huge cohort of patients – millions rather than thousands.”
Any successful media campaign will have to consider the spread of outlets available as vehicles for
communication, the audiences they target, and the way they deliver information to those audiences.
National media
The national media has a huge role to play in shaping the perceptions of the patient audience. The
key to making connected health a topic for national media is to focus on the human interest element
of the story – leaning heavily on the benefit to patients rather than the technical capabilities of the
products and services themselves. It is also important to present it as an industry issue, and create
a package of content that covers the full spread of opportunities on offer from a more connected
system.
It is also important for organisations to recognise that negative stories in the media be can be
extremely damaging to public perceptions. An intelligent and united communications strategy
from the connected health industry is critical to maintaining control and ensuring there is a mature
debate on the topic. Sue Dunkerton of the HealthTech KTN says, “It is quite right to address areas
of concern, but it is industry’s responsibility to make sure a rational argument for connected health
is presented, and to inform the public about how we are making it safe.”
Rather than trying to convince everyone overnight, it would be beneficial for organisations to
begin by cultivating long-term relationships with select influential journalists in order to get them to
understand and buy-in to the connected health proposition.
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Trade media
Trade publications can be an excellent route for influencing specific audiences, from healthcare
provider buyers to policy makers. They are trusted implicitly by the markets they serve, and offer
a single channel to many influencers in one hit. Trade publications in the healthcare, technology,
business, and public sector spaces are all appropriate targets for engagement.
When working with the trade press, it’s important for organisations to tailor messages specifically to
each readership. Demonstrating an understanding of what is important to a publication’s readers,
providing information that takes account of these factors, and avoiding a focus on the company’s
own offering, are all important. Companies that offer credible thought leadership on the wider issues
at play will be the ones that generate a reputation as a relevant authority.
Social media
Social media is an increasingly powerful communications tool, and presents an opportunity to
engage with a huge number of consumers, healthcare buyers, peers, and policymakers. As Sue
Dunkerton from the HealthTech KTN points out, “Today people are already using social media to
drive social change, so connected health organisations must use these platforms to steer the digital
health conversation towards a positive outcome.”
Like any other medium there are a huge number of options for engaging over social media.
LinkedIn is an excellent tool for connecting with and influencing commercial audiences. Discussion
groups are widely used to drive industry debate and are a useful platform to facilitate new connections
– be it through organisations creating their own groups or making valuable contributions to an
existing one.
Twitter is a perfect way to identify real influencers in the sector that can offer a trusted channel
to the existing online debates about future healthcare. This is an essential rule of thumb in social
media activity – influence the existing conversations, rather than attempting to build new ones from
scratch. Twitter is also often associated with the more tech-savvy population and therefore its users
may be more receptive to becoming early connected health adopters.
YouTube represents one of the most powerful ways to get connected health on a more mainstream
agenda. It removes the barrier of trying to visualise how a connected healthcare environment
looks and how it benefits different audiences – using video and animation to increase people’s
understanding of what connected healthcare services might look like for them. Microsoft has done
this extremely well, for example, with avision of the future workplace through its OfficeLabs videos.
If audiences can see the benefits, they can understand them more clearly and advocate them
through their own social channels using such shareable video content.
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3.4 Use industry networks to encourage collaborative communication
“It’s too big for one company to own ‘the solution’,
therefore collaboration is key ”
Sue Dunkerton, Co-Director of the HealthTech and Medicines KTN
As this report has highlighted, it is unlikely any single firm will be able to offer a fully connected
health solution and therefore each organisation needs to decide the role it will play in the evolving
ecosystem. Strategic partnerships will be essential to success, from utilising multiple technical
skill sets or revenue share arrangements, through to collaborative communication of the industry
proposition.
We are already seeing an increase in the number of networks that have been established to promote
partnerships for solving commercial and technical challenges. In the connected health space
particularly, these networks are increasingly focused on achieving practical progress and producing
tangible outcomes from events, rather than simply hosting discussion for discussion’s sake. This
means they can be extremely valuable in terms of knowledge building and encouraging industry
progress.
The European Connected Health Alliance, for example, runs specific workshops based on finding
solutions to specific problems voiced by healthcare professionals. When a Chief Pharmaceutical
Officer expressed a problem with medication compliance that was costing the Northern Ireland
authorities £112 million extra per year in additional treatments, the ECHAlliance held a roundtable
that brought him together with connected health organisations to discuss potential solutions. As a
result, he went away and wrote an informed tender, which the ECHAlliance believes saved him up
to two years in research.
In the UK, the HealthTech and Medicines Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) plays a similar role,
providing a multi-disciplinary networking platform. Since there are KTNs in multiple sectors, the ability
to bring together representatives from different communities is a huge benefit for the connected
health industry, which relies on collaboration between many types of technologist, healthcare
and medical organisations, academics, and healthcare providers themselves. Co-Director of the
HealthTech KTN, Sue Dunkerton,also highlights the need to bring a patient perspective, “People
often say the patient must be at the centre of connected health, but the patients aren’t actually in
the room. We’re currently looking at involving patients in discussions much more”.
These networks are one of the most powerful ways to meet and collaborate for the benefit of the
entire connected health industry, and the challenge now is utilising partnerships to get the industry
communicating with a single voice on the value of connected healthcare.
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4
CONCLUSION
This report has highlighted that perhaps the most significant challenge for organisations operating
in the emerging world of connected health is the sheer number of audiences within this complex
ecosystem that need to be influenced and, with it, the number of perspectives there are to account
for. It makes clarifying the value proposition of a connected health product or service succinctly
very difficult, and requires careful consideration, planning, and collaboration.
Whilst the complexity of regulation and a lack of formal certification for new connected health
services is another major barrier to adoption, this report has highlighted how communication
strategies can also help in this area. The issue is already firmly on the agenda for Europe; the
European Commission has called for an aggressive action plan for reform and stakeholders should
follow developments closely. At the same time, organisations should also be helping to set the rules
within their own regions by informingand influencing local policy makers and regulators.
The experts consulted here have also drawn attention to the ‘ownership’ challenge; it is highly unlikely
for any single organisation to ‘own’ the connected health proposition, and the technologies and
services that make up the industry do more than simply coexist to succeed. Instead, organisations
must understand and communicate the entire connected health value chain and their position within
it, and strategic partnerships will be essential to success not only from a technical standpoint but
also in terms of collaborative communication of the industry proposition.
We’ve already seen an increase in the number of networks that have been established to promote
such partnerships for solving commercial and technical challenges, but the challenge now is using
these partnerships to get the industry communicating with a single voice on the value of connected
healthcare. Communication must begin to feature on the agenda at existing networks, and there
may also be value in connected health communicators forming a dedicated network of their own in
order to drive significant change in a strategic, united way.
Above all, this report has demonstrated that thoughtful communication, in its many forms, can help
connected health organisations overcome all of the major barriers to the widespread adoption
of connected health technologies. From demonstrating evidence to healthcare buyers, driving
consumer demand, securing strategic partnerships, through to shaping new regulation and
influencing governments, today’s healthcare communication leaders will play an enormous role in
securing the success of the connected health industry.
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REFERENCES
1‘The
NHS must keep its pledge to embrace tech entrepreneurs’, The Guardian,
November 2013 http://www.theguardian.com/healthcare-network/2013/nov/25/nhspledge-tech-entrepreneurs-start-ups
2‘Arms
race over £5bn in NHS work’, Financial Times, July 2013 http://www.ft.com/cms/
s/0/6424b29e-f60a-11e2-a55d-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2lr8VGEER
3‘Enhanced
policies on Connected Health are essential to achieve accountable social and
health systems’, European Journal of ePractice, 15, February/March 2012
4‘The future of connected health devices’, IBM Global Business Services, March 2011,
http://www-05.ibm.com/cz/public/pdf/The_Future_of_connected_health_devices_
GBE03398USEN.pdf
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