Over the past 20+ years, 3Rock has reviewed and assisted with thousands of strategic plans in the pharma, medical device, and digital healthcare space. These range across every therapeutic area imaginable, from old-school primary care “blockbuster” therapies to the highly specialized diagnostics and treatments prevalent in rare oncology and orphan diseases today. In assessing and improving these plans – whether they be global, regional, national or territory blueprints – our goal is to help our clients prepare creative, effective, and useful plans that drive real societal value and motivate their teams to make the business succeed.
But especially in today’s rapidly evolving healthcare landscape, plans need to be specific, believable, understandable, and actionable. They need to be based on a deep understanding of their target therapeutic area, and solve real problems that matter to healthcare professionals, patients, and other stakeholders. Sadly, with ever-smaller commercial teams chasing ever-busier HCP’s, in most cases this is not what we see. Instead, all too many commercial plans wind up being one or more of the following:
◆ too general: simple, pro-forma analysis and surface-level recommendations, e.g. “go to the biggest facilities and deliver this basic message to everyone”
◆ too product-focused: no real consideration of patient and physician needs, but rather a strategy based on company strengths and sales targets only
◆ too activity-focused: an overly-detailed list of action items, with no real insight or understanding to inform those choices
◆ too disjointed: a hodgepodge of pretty template slides, with no compelling storyline or logical flow
Teams need to step back and remember that their fundamental challenge is to define and deliver true value to their patients and healthcare professionals (HCPs). To help our clients achieve this, at 3Rock we emphasize the Healthcare Crossroads approach — a framework that helps pharmaceutical teams develop a deeper, strategic understanding of the market and unlock new opportunities to add value.
Identifying Suboptimal Care: The Key to Adding Value
Suboptimal care exists wherever there is a gap in screening, diagnosis, treatment initiation, or ongoing management—leading to missed opportunities for better patient outcomes. But brand teams can’t solve every problem in the market – they need to find the right ones to address. How to do analyze, prioritize, and define a strategy in a meaningful way? The key is a deep analysis at the “Crossroads” of the therapeutic area, its specific stages of care, the character and type of treating physician and the specific needs of the patient themselves.
By pinpointing these critical crossroads—where patient needs, physician decisions, and treatment options intersect—pharmaceutical teams can shift from a promotional mindset to a value-creation mindset. This approach not only improves patient care but also strengthens engagement with healthcare professionals, fostering trust and deeper collaboration.
Unfortunately, most brand plans we see don’t drill down far enough to define these “needs”. A classic example might be a diabetes brand plan that defines market “needs” as “a desire to control HbA1c levels effectively”. Well, sure – all physicians and patients want that. Let’s play it out – from there the core brand strategy might come out as “convey efficacy to physicians treating diabetes.” Again, this is not incorrect – but it is far from helpful. Especially in a competitive market, you need to drive deeper to establish a positioning foothold relative to other options. Put an “edge” on your strategy by limiting your focus to specific prescribers and patients as they interact at various times during their treatment experience. By trying to be everything to everyone, you wind up being mostly irrelevant.
The 6-Level Patient Journey: Seeing the Full Picture
A traditional patient journey often focuses solely on clinical interactions—diagnosis, treatment initiation, and follow-ups. However, a more comprehensive approach is needed to truly understand patient behavior and decision-making.
Our 6-Level Patient Journey framework expands this view by incorporating:
1. Medical & Physical Condition – How patients physically experience their disease.
2. Diagnosis & Treatment – The key touchpoints within the healthcare system, including tests, treatments, referrals and prescription decisions.
Many patient journeys stop here, capturing the “what/where/when/who” of medical “transactions” touching the patient, but not the “why” of missed decisions, poor communication, and sub-optimal care which can be found in these other levels:
3. Social Influences – The role of family, caregivers, and peer networks in patient decisions.
4. Financial Considerations – The direct and indirect costs of testing and treatment affecting initiation, choice, and adherence.
5. Community & Environment – Regional disparities and structural barriers to care access.
Incorporating these factors will provide a much more realistic backdrop for a full understanding of the final level:
6. Decision & Action – The emotional, informational and psychological factors that can either drive or prevent patient buy-in, engagement and optimal treatment.
By analyzing all six levels, brand teams can uncover hidden barriers and develop strategies that align with real patient needs—whether through targeted education, enhanced support programs, or innovative engagement strategies tailored to influential stakeholders.
The Customer Experience Map: Understanding HCP Behavior
Equally important as patient insights is a deep understanding of the healthcare professional experience. Our Customer Experience Map helps teams move beyond broad segmentation and instead focus on the real drivers of HCP behavior.
Anticipating the moment that the “right patient” walks into an HCP office, this framework explores:
1. What They Know – Awareness and understanding of disease states and treatment options.
2. What They Believe – Their clinical biases, previous experiences, and confidence in therapies.
3. What Satisfies Them – Current standards of care they feel comfortable using.
4. What They Want – Unspoken gaps in information, tools, or system support.
By mapping these elements at critical decision-making points, pharmaceutical teams can tailor their engagement strategies—whether through peer-to-peer education, omnichannel support, or enhanced collaboration with medical societies. This ensures that HCPs are not just informed but empowered to implement optimal care at the moment they interact with the patient.
Market Shaping: The Long Game in Pharma Success
For many new therapies, particularly in specialized and underdeveloped treatment areas, waiting until launch to engage the market is too late. We see time and again that companies struggle with slow adoption, not due to product limitations, but because the ecosystem isn’t prepared to receive the innovation.
Market shaping must begin 2-3 years pre-launch, involving cross-functional collaboration between medical, market access, and commercial teams. This includes:
・Developing early disease awareness and screening initiatives.
・Partnering with medical associations to influence guidelines and referral patterns.
・Engaging with policymakers to optimize regulatory and reimbursement pathways.
・Strengthening HCP education on the evolving standard of care.
A well-structured market shaping strategy ensures that by the time a product is ready for launch, the right patients are being diagnosed, the right physicians are prepared to prescribe, and the healthcare ecosystem is positioned for long-term success.
At 3Rock, we help brand teams step back, take a strategic view, and ensure that their plans are built on deep patient and physician insights. Because when companies truly understand the needs of their customers, they don’t just sell products—they drive better healthcare outcomes. And that’s a win-win for everyone.