Revolutionizing Healthcare Research: A Q&A With Industry Experts

In this Article

• The exciting future of healthcare research
• Healthcare research and the world of AI
• Challenges in the field
• Equitable healthcare access
• Industry trends

Last week, Sago announced the launch of Sago Health and had the privilege of doing so at the Intellus Summit. It was an insightful event filled with warm interactions and genuine connections. As a follow up to this exciting industry event, we sat down with our experts, Shannon Childs, EVP of Healthcare and Ash Wade, EVP, Sales Manager, Healthcare, to uncover the trends, challenges, and future of healthcare research. In this Q&A, our experts provide valuable insights and answer crucial questions related to the latest advancements and perspectives in healthcare research. Here’s what they had to say:

Q: As you think about the future of healthcare research, what excites you most?

Shannon Childs: Hands down, it’s our ability to use data to more quickly find solutions and ultimately get treatments in the hands of people suffering from different disease types faster. Our industry has had access to significant sources of data for many years, but it has been hard to capitalize on this information as quickly as other industries for various reasons. Now, with AI and other tools at our fingertips, enhancing the speed of bringing drugs to market is within our grasp. Our part in supporting the market research function to help inform patient journeys and accelerate this process is not only cool to see, but we know it can also be life-changing for patients and caregivers.

Q: How will healthcare research successfully navigate the world of AI, as it relates to compliance and regulatory concerns?

Shannon Childs: Teams are already leaning in heavily to test and validate AI-generated information. In healthcare research, we have a strong track record of learning from other industries to see what works, what obstacles could surface, and how we need to incorporate additional measures to ensure compliance in our regulated world. Our clients are testing many approaches with AI to validate what it can do and where it makes the most sense to inform decision-making versus broadly launching without considering the nuances of different therapy areas.

Q: In talking to different companies/agencies/providers, what are the biggest challenges and how is Sago Health helping to address them?

Ash Wade: One of the biggest challenges facing market research has been how to solve for latency in the data to insights to impact the funnel. The influx of AI tools for automation and data analysis that eliminate latency was a hot topic at Intellus and something Sago Health is actively discussing with clients. Data points and insights (qual and quant) summarized by AI at a blistering pace are speeding the data > insights > impact funnel and are minimizing redundancies. And truly, who doesn’t want to get from data to impact faster? It’s one of the age-old healthcare questions and market research pain points. Sago is leading the market with our global AI transcription offering via the QualBoard platform, ultimately making work easier and more efficient for clients.

Q: How can healthcare research contribute to more effective and equitable healthcare practices?

Shannon Childs: One size does not fit all when trying to ensure equitable access in healthcare. For Sago, when conducting research, it is important to invest time and resources to broaden access to as many patient types as possible, especially those that have historically been underrepresented. In addition to technology and finding different ways to reach participants, we also have to go back to the basics with boots-on-the-ground type of recruiting to build trust and access for those less educated, or less comfortable with the English language. This includes going to food pantries for lower-income areas or bringing ads to help collect information in a non-traditional way to give voice to those audience types. This is important to who we are at Sago Health and even though this may take some extra steps, it is well worth ensuring we are broadening our reach as it relates to opinions and needs of a variety of patient types.

Q: Are there any upcoming trends in healthcare research worth keeping an eye on?

Ash Wade: We’re seeing greater implementation of market research Centers of Excellence (CoE’s) across our pharmaceutical partner organizations. It’s no secret that most pharma companies’ market research teams are siloed by therapeutic area or drug. This nested matrix often stifles innovation, the dissemination of best practices, and a model of knowledge excellence that can scale. In response, CoE’s are surfacing and acting as white glove spotters and facilitators of change to scale what market research teams are doing and better focus processes around the right KPIs/OKRs that drive toward better patient outcomes.

The ability to utilize data and advancements like AI holds immense potential for accelerating the development and delivery of treatments to patients in need. As the industry embraces innovation and focuses processes on better patient outcomes, the future of healthcare research looks promising, driven by advancements, collaboration, and a focus on making a real impact on people’s lives.