Putting Patients in the Driver’s Seat to Educate the Medical Community
// By Lisa D. Ellis //
Have you ever truly wondered what it’s like to walk in your patients’ shoes?
Many health care marketers today view patient experience in the context of how well a person interacts within the various touchpoints of his/her health care system, as well as by how satisfied the patients are with the care and information they receive on this journey.
But for Dan Bobear, president of the Patient Experience Project or PEP, the concept goes much deeper. In fact, in some ways, PEP turns the idea of patient experience on its head, putting patients in the driver’s seat to educate the health care community, advocacy groups, and pharmaceutical industry about what it’s actually like to be them, and what they are going through daily as they cope with their diagnosis or disease.
The Patient Experience Project
Dan Bobear, president of the Patient Experience Project
“The Patient Experience Project is a full-service, behaviorally based marketing and communications firm located in Saratoga Springs, New York,” Bobear says. “The fundamental belief that drives what we do is that ‘what’s good for the patient is good for business, too,'” he stresses.
Therefore, PEP serves as a broker or liaison that provides a strategic channel through which patients can share their own experiences and expertise with health care industry leaders and stakeholders who have the power to put the information to good use.
Many of the patients who interact with PEP have rare diseases, while many of PEP’s clients come from the pharmaceutical, medical device, and biotech industries that serve patients’ medical needs.