Author: Thad Nowakowski, Senior Vice President, EHR Solutions
With targeted oncology treatments and next-generation cell and gene therapies representing among the most significant clinical advances in years, the science behind today’s precision medicines holds incredible promise. However, innovative science alone doesn’t guarantee commercial success. What distinguishes a breakthrough therapy from a widely adopted one is often dependent on how conducive it is to a physician’s electronic health record (EHR) workflow.
EHR is not simply a documentation system, but an operational backbone that moves a physician from point A to point B in their workflow, across the various steps of the patient journey, including:
For complex therapies, particularly in several oncology indications, the patient journey is not linear. Before treatment decisions are made in complex indications, the care team must consider the upstream workflow:
Given these potential friction points, the entire process must be laid out in the physician’s EHR so they can guide the patient through each of these steps safely and efficiently.
Unfortunately, what many launch teams learn too late is that workflow efficiency matters just as much as a treatment’s efficacy and safety. If a therapy is difficult to find, order, document, authorize, and monitor, those friction points accumulate, leading to lower widespread adoption among the patients who would benefit most. Given physicians’ demanding schedules, operational inefficiencies are a major barrier to prescribing, from every unnecessary click and manual step to systems that require them to leave their workflow and navigate to an external portal.
Rather than investing in more educational resources for physicians, such as medical liaisons, to explain how a drug works, pharma companies should invest in better tools for physicians. Physicians need more streamlined ordering, cleaner documentation workflows, fewer manual steps, and PA criteria surfaces directly to their EHR, not housed on a separate manufacturer portal.
What physician and other health system decision makers are asking about any new EHR-related initiative is straightforward:
If the answer to those questions is not obvious, adoption will stall, regardless of how strong the clinical evidence may be.
Operationalizing a precision therapy within the EHR requires two key capabilities:
On the clinical side, this requires staff who have done the work before, such as oncology pharmacists and clinical specialists who have worked at major academic medical centers and health systems and understand firsthand what it takes to bring a new therapy to life within a care team's daily reality.
On the technical side, this requires certified EHR builders who understand the architecture of major platforms and know how to configure a complex therapy workflow so that it is not only functional, but highly efficient for the end user.
By merging these capabilities, pharma companies can gain a clear blueprint on how to operationalize their innovative therapy, with a plan in place to deliver that blueprint to a health system and physicians with confidence and ease of use.
There is a meaningful difference between having EHR resources and having an EHR strategy. With an EHR strategy, your team can proactively understand the pre-launch challenges your customers will face. With these challenges in mind, your team can make deliberate decisions about which field roles to invest in and which systems to build, so you’re best prepared to address any roadblocks. That means asking the teams the right questions:
As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to evolve in the oncology space, there’s an increased appetite for its utilization. Two cases in particular hold significant promise:
As a result, pharma will see fewer denials, faster coverage decisions, and less administrative burden on care teams.
For pharma manufacturers, especially those launching complex precision therapies in oncology, it’s clear that the path to commercial success lies directly in an effective EHR system. The companies that understand this and invest in the clinical and technical expertise to act on it will be better positioned in the increasingly competitive market.
If you’re ready to improve access through efficient EHR workflows, connect with Precision AQ today.