“Pharmaceutical companies need to interact with patients more often. That’s how you gauge the success rate of a medication.” – Heart failure patient.
Recent Konovo research reveals which healthcare professionals shape the patient journey – and why pharma needs to engage the wider care team.
For years, pharmaceutical research and engagement have largely centred on the physician – as physicians are central to diagnosis, treatment decisions and prescribing. But the patient journey is more complex. However, the patient journey continues beyond physician interaction. Conversations with nurses, nurse practitioners (NPs), pharmacists, physician assistants, care coordinators and other healthcare professionals – all help patients understand their condition, manage treatment and navigate questions and challenges that arise between appointments.
Recent research from Konovo and Rare Patient Voice suggests that patient influence is broader and more complex than a physician-centric model would suggest. Surveying 352 U.S. patients across seven disease areas, the research explores who patients interact with, who they trust and where influence is built throughout the patient journey. The findings point to a clear message for pharma – if we want to understand patient influence, we need to look beyond the physician.
The patient journey involves an interconnected healthcare team
Healthcare is increasingly delivered through integrated teams rather than isolated interactions. 76.8% of patients had interacted with at least one non-physician healthcare professional in the previous six months, highlighting how much of the patient experience takes place beyond the physician relationship.
These wider care teams provide different but complementary forms of support. Healthcare professionals may help patients understand treatment recommendations, answer medication questions, manage symptoms and navigate their condition. For patients managing chronic or complex conditions, these interactions can continue over months or years, creating repeated opportunities to build trust and confidence.
Prescribing authority isn’t the same as patient influence
One of the most important findings is the distinction between who prescribes treatment and who influences the patient experience.
Physicians were rated as the most influential healthcare professionals in managing patients’ conditions, with an average influence score of 4.18 out of 5. But nurse practitioners ranked closely behind at 3.81, followed by physician assistants at 3.63. This suggests that patients do not define influence by prescribing authority alone. They also value the healthcare professionals who explain treatment recommendations, answer questions, reinforce guidance and remain accessible when they need support.
Influence is built through relationships not simply through decision-making authority.
The growing influence of nurse practitioners
The role of nurse practitioners stood out particularly strongly. Patients described NPs as trusted clinical partners who help them understand treatment recommendations, reinforce physician guidance, answer medication questions, monitor disease progression and navigate day-to-day disease management.
The research also found that patients who see both physicians and nurse practitioners interact with them at similar frequencies, with no statistically significant difference in visit frequency between the two. That repeated contact creates opportunities to answer questions, address concerns, reinforce treatment understanding and build confidence.
Accessibility appears to play an important role in this relationship. Nearly 23% of respondents reported difficulty accessing their physician during the previous year. Among those patients, the proportion identifying their nurse practitioner as the provider who best understood them nearly doubled, from 11.7% to 23.0%.
Accessibility can shape trust and for pharma, this raises an important question: Are our research and engagement strategies reflecting the healthcare professionals’ patients are actually turning to?
The moments between appointments matter
Some of the most important moments in a patient’s treatment journey happen outside the consultation room when a new symptom appears, a side effect raises concerns or a patient simply needs reassurance.
The research found that nearly half of patients do not contact their physician first when concerns arise between scheduled visits. Instead, they may turn to other members of their healthcare team, including nurse practitioners, nurses, care coordinators, physician assistants and pharmacists.
The specific mix varies by disease area, but the pattern is consistent that patients seek guidance from the healthcare professionals they believe they can access when they need it. The patient journey is therefore not a series of isolated physician encounters, but an ongoing relationship with an integrated care team.
What does this mean for pharma research and engagement?
The answer is not to move away from physicians. They remain an essential stakeholder and a critical part of treatment decision-making. Instead, the opportunity is to expand the research remit.
If patients rely on a wider network of healthcare professionals, pharma needs to understand that network too. For market researchers, this means looking beyond prescribing influence to consider measures such as trust, accessibility, continuity and relationship quality. For commercial, medical affairs and patient support teams, it means recognising the complementary role different healthcare professionals play in treatment understanding and patient confidence.
The goal is not simply to identify another stakeholder to engage. It is to understand how the different members of the care team work together to shape the patient experience.
A more complete picture of patient influence
The healthcare ecosystem is changing. Growing chronic disease prevalence, physician workforce pressures, expanding responsibilities for advanced practice providers and increasing expectations around access and continuity are all contributing to a more collaborative model of care.
For pharma, this creates an opportunity to rethink how patient influence is understood. The physician remains an important part of the equation, but they are not the whole equation. Patients are telling us that the wider network of healthcare professionals involved in their care also plays an important role in their treatment experience.
The question for pharma is no longer simply, “Who prescribes?” It is “Who influences the patient, when and how?” Understanding the answer means engaging with the wider healthcare team and building research strategies that reflect the reality of the patient journey.
Explore the full research
Want to find out what this means in more detail?
Read Konovo’s white paper based on, Unlocking the Patient Care Equation Market Signal, for the full research and deeper analysis of the healthcare professionals influencing patients throughout their care journey.
Our infographic, Beyond physician research: engage the missing stakeholders shaping patient experience, also provides a snapshot of the key findings or get in touch with the Konovo team to discuss how a broader view of the patient care ecosystem could strengthen your research and engagement strategy.
