Patient Journey
Mapping the patient journey using real-world data allows life sciences and payer organizations to understand how patients actually move through the healthcare system, as opposed to how clinical guidelines say they should. This includes time to diagnosis, lines of therapy, treatment switches and discontinuations, specialist referrals, hospitalizations and gaps in care. Claims data, with its longitudinal breadth across payers and providers, is particularly well suited to patient journey analysis at scale.
TL;DR
The patient journey describes the sequence of healthcare interactions, diagnoses, treatments, and outcomes a patient experiences over time, from initial symptoms through ongoing management
CATEGORY
Life Sciences
WHO IT IMPACTS
Life sciences commercial and medical affairs teams, brand strategists, outcomes researchers, payers, and patient engagement teams
RELATED TERMS
DEFINITION
The patient journey (also called care pathway or treatment journey) describes the sequence of healthcare interactions, diagnoses, treatments and outcomes experienced by a patient over time – from initial symptoms to diagnosis through to ongoing management or resolution of a condition.
WHY IT MATTERS
- Shows how patients actually move through the healthcare system, which often differs from how clinical guidelines say they should
- Reveals time to diagnosis, treatment switches, discontinuations, and gaps in care that are otherwise easy to miss
- Claims data's longitudinal reach across payers and providers makes it especially well suited to this kind of analysis at scale
- Helps commercial and medical affairs teams identify where their product fits in the treatment sequence and who is driving therapy decisions
Example: A brand team preparing for a product launch in a new therapeutic area might map the patient journey for currently diagnosed patients – identifying where in the treatment sequence their drug is most likely to be used, which HCPs are initiating therapy, and how long patients typically remain on existing treatments before switching.