August 26, 2020

The Value of Longitudinal Data During the Pandemic

By IntrinsiQ Specialty Solutions

Longitudinal patient data provides an understanding of a patient’s (or many patients’) treatment over time. It is the access to a wide variety of data that provides a more complete picture. Going beyond typical claims data and patient attributes like gender or age, data related to a treatment regimen like dosage, number of administrations, time to treatment and time between administrations, as well as supportive care use can help Life Sciences with their business questions.

Longitudinal data can also vary by geographic region. It is not uncommon for providers to follow specific treatment regimens dictated by health insurance carriers, or even follow those regimens suggested by their state specialty society. Breaking out those regional differences to understand patterns of care can provide a real-time snapshot of clinical use patterns. The data set must also be large enough to represent the patient population to make those informed business decisions and improve patient care.

To make a significant difference in patient care, leveraging the information and generating specific insights around therapeutic use and effectiveness of a treatment with rapid communications is essential.

The COVID-19 pandemic illustrated how patient data over time has helped providers and researchers with identifying new and common symptoms, demographic information like geography for tracing, and other comorbidities and risk factors. That data is providing researchers with a more complete picture for treating patients and predicting potential sites for surges in positive tests.

When patient level data is linked across disparate sources, Life Sciences companies can gain insight into how specialty patients are faring in the pandemic. Several health agencies and medical societies are noting that time to treatment may be extended as cancer and other health screenings have been postponed.¹

The insights provided by longitudinal data during the pandemic can identify that time to treatment, as well as potential barriers to how and why a specific treatment is being utilized. That data can help with information when reassessing physician education programs, especially as contact with providers has changed since the pandemic. Very few practices will allow those in-office visits to discuss the management and treatment of patients.

Understanding how to reach each practice on a tailored and highly personalized message in a safe and effective manner will be a top priority for Life Sciences. Ultimately, it is all about improving patient care.

For more information on delivering differentiated education to physicians, email analyticsales@intrinsiq.com