Terri Clevenger is a Partner on Westwicke’s public relations team. She has extensive experience in corporate communications, product marketing, and advocacy relations. She has a BA in biology/human development and sociology from Colby College.
In a search for a healthcare communications partner, one public relations agency’s proposal begins to look just like another’s. Smiling headshots, decades of experience, strong communications skills, great media relations programs, all promising great results for a low fee. With so many similarities, how are you supposed to know which one is the best fit for your company?
While layoffs in the technology sector haunted 2022, the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) and all things digital in healthcare continue to gain traction in the quest to improve patient care and reduce healthcare costs. In fact, AI and ML in healthcare are expected to surpass $20 billion in 2023 due to increasing adoption at record pace. Its application spans from drug discovery/development, a competitive race comprised of both the pharmaceutical and technology industries, to actual clinical use as evidenced in algorithms now used in identifying and better managing disease and in particular, neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease and Alzheimer’s.
Patient advocacy is a part of public relations that has always held a special place in my heart. It’s easy for us in the healthcare industry to get so caught up in our day-to-day to-do lists that we forget the reason (namely who) we are actually working for. Patient advocacy is the piece that brings it back home. I’ve been in the industry long enough to have seen a lot of change in how healthcare companies include patients in what they’re doing, and I’m proud to say that we’ve made huge strides and are continuing to advance toward the place where patients are full partners.
As the rock ‘n’ roll generation begins settling into their senior years, the “Baby Boomer factor” is wielding its heavy influence on healthcare as it has on other industries. Healthcare spending has grown substantially over the past few decades, and demand will likely remain strong as the number of Americans aged 65 and older will more than double by 2060. At the same time, technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, software-as-a-medical-device and other advances are transforming the healthcare industry and threatening the status quo through rich networks of connection, collaboration, and interdependence.
