Knowing your customer has never been more critical than in today’s Covid-19 environment. When selling or providing consulting services to the health care and life sciences (HCLS) industry, now more than ever, you need to understand the challenges they are facing. Being empathetic to your clients and prospects and identifying where you can help is critical to your success and theirs.
What Concerns do HCLS Companies Have for the Rest of 2020?
Health care and life sciences companies face many of the same challenges other companies face as they work to keep employees and patients/customers safe during these times. In addition, health care and life sciences companies face their own unique challenges.
Hospitals and other health care providers are struggling to meet the demand for medical services created by the rapid growth of Covid-19 cases. Providers are also facing severe financial pressure as:
- The costs to treat Covid-19 patients often exceed expected reimbursement
- Revenue has fallen significantly as providers and patients postpone routine medical appointments and elective procedures to avoid exposure to the virus
Biopharma and medtech companies are also facing severe disruptions, as social distancing requirements slow manufacturing operations and bring many clinical trials to a halt.
Private health care payers are cautioning investors that their financial results will likely fall as the recession forces employers to reduce staff and/or health benefits for their employees (leading to lower group health insurance premiums for private payers).
Despite the many challenges, Covid-19 is also creating opportunities for the industry:
- The growth of telemedicine creates opportunities for health care providers and other industry participants to redefine health care delivery
- Many biopharma companies are redirecting resources to develop tests, drugs, and vaccines for identifying, treating and preventing Covid-19 (there are currently over 150 treatments, 50 antivirals and 20 vaccine candidates being tested to treat and prevent Covid-19)
- Private payers have seen strong financial results during the early phases of the pandemic as providers and patients delay medical care, leading to lower provider reimbursements (and lower medical loss ratios) for payers
Not sure what some of these industry terms are or why they’re important to Health Care and Life Sciences? Get 30-days of free access to PSI’s Inside Health Care and Life Sciences ® Industry Wiki to deepen your industry expertise.
How Can You Help Your Health Care and Life Sciences Clients?
The impact of Covid-19 is creating sales and consulting opportunities for organizations that support the health care and life sciences industry. These opportunities include:
- Cloud computing, robotic process automation, and outsourcing services to help providers and payers reduce costs
- Devices, collaboration/communication tools, and analytics to support telemedicine and remote clinical trials
- Artificial intelligence and high-performance computing resources to support research & development in biopharma and medtech
- Cybersecurity services as organizations are at increased risk as they support remote workers and digitalize processes
Staying current on these issues and connecting them to your offerings requires a deep understanding of your client’s industry and business. If you want to be successful, you need to focus on where your health care and life sciences clients will invest their precious capital during this challenging time.
This article is excerpted from PSI’s Inside Health Care and Life Sciences Wiki, which is designed to be a game-changing, just-in-time informational tool that can help sales and consulting professionals get smart about the HCLS industry, the players, products and services, and sales opportunities.
About the Author
David Tompkins is a founding partner at PSI and has spent over 30 years providing training and consulting services for the health care and life sciences and technology industries.
Performance Solutions International
PSI is the leading provider of industry-focused training, custom learning solutions, and learning consulting services to empower your professionals with the knowledge, skills, and tools they need to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment.