Why Brand Planning Matters for SDoH

Why Your Brand Planning Should Incorporate Social Determinants of Health

The new year is still six months away, but brand planning has already begun at many pharmaceutical companies. As your manufacturing plans take shape for 2025, it’s also the perfect opportunity to address social determinants of health, says Elisa Remoundos, Senior Vice President, Group Creative Director at Entrée Health.

“Too often, addressing social determinants of health falls by the wayside as other priorities demand attention,” Remoundos says. “But brand planning is a great opportunity to incorporate SDoH and all your business priorities—before the deadlines draw to close.”

Remoundos lists 4 key considerations to keep in mind to help you incorporate SDoH into brand planning.

Educate payers on how benefit designs can negatively impact intended populations: “Reminding payers that there could be unintended consequences from the product is crucial,” she says. “Help payers see alternative approaches to coverage policies that don’t exacerbate health inequities.”

Address health literacy challenges in your patient support programs: “It is crucial for patients to understand their disease, treatment, and decision-making processes, advancing health equity and patient advocacy,” she says.

Target all key decision makers: “Communications tend to lean more toward payers but should include those who make decisions within large hospital systems and are putting together clinical pathways and protocols that help define exactly what the end result will be.”

Expand traditional value frameworks to include SDoH and humanize aspects of treatments? “The traditional payer communication framework is no longer enough to determine the value of new, high-priced therapies coming to market,” she says. “Additional elements that could impact SDOH should be incorporated, such as equitable access to proposed interventions to improve health outcomes along with patient-reported outcomes that help humanize the value of a product.”

Learn more here and let us know if we can support your planning in any way: www.entreehealth.com