Contributors: Jason Debasitis, Principal, Strategic Consulting, Envision Pharma Group; Lauren Wilkinson, Account Director, Patient Advocacy Strategic Consulting, Envision Pharma Group; Claire Long, Head of Communications and Patient Partnerships, Envision 90TEN
At this year’s Chief Patient Officer Summit in Boston, Envision Pharma Group delivered a bold but relatable message: In patient advocacy, more activity isn’t the answer. True impact comes from alignment across teams and strategies.
The presentation, “One Patient Advocacy Team: Driving Consistency and Impact Across Therapeutic Areas,” struck a powerful chord with attendees. Blending strategic insight, hard-earned operational lessons, and even a dose of humor inspired by “The Office,” it outlined a fresh and actionable framework for what modern patient advocacy can – and should – look like.
Framed around five core “Acts,” it unpacked the mindset, structure, and leadership behaviors needed to drive consistency, impact, and inclusion across therapeutic areas. Here’s how those themes reflected the summit’s focus and what they signal for the future of advocacy in the industry.
Act 1: The mindset shift
For years, patient advocacy efforts within the industry have operated in silos, with each team advancing its own engagements, communications, and partnerships. While this approach made sense in the early stages of advocacy, today's landscape demands more coordination, integration, and shared intent.
This shift signals a broader redefinition of what “impact” means in patient engagement. Success is no longer measured by the number of programs launched or stakeholders reached, but by how people work together to achieve meaningful outcomes for both the patient community and the company. Achieving this requires collaboration, consistency, and a seamless experience across teams.
Delivering on these standards requires several fundamental changes:
- Moving from “every therapeutic area owns its own world” to co-ownership of the patient engagement function
- Treating agencies and strategic partners as collaborators, not task executors
- Reframing time as a resource for insight, alignment, and learning – not just execution
- Redefining impact by strategic clarity and consistency, rather than by volume of activity
These developments mark a trend gaining traction across the industry: the evolution from patient-centricity to patient inclusivity. It’s no longer enough to consider the patient voice after decisions are made. True inclusivity means embedding those voices from the start by co-creating the strategy, not just validating it.
When teams operate from this shared mindset, the benefits are tangible: reduced duplication, unified messaging, and stronger, more authentic relationships with advocacy partners.
Act 2: Making strategy tangible and actionable
Patient advocacy teams often handle a high volume of activity, but that activity doesn’t always translate into alignment or strategic focus. Engagements, insights, advisory boards, and recaps can pile up, yet when senior leaders ask, “What changed because of this?” the answers aren’t always clear.
This is where strategy must evolve from concept into capability. Patient engagement efforts should be tied to clear objectives, captured insights, and measurable outcomes. That means making the approach visible, actionable, and easily communicated – especially across cross-functional groups.
A practical framework emerged from this discussion, one that any advocacy function, regardless of size or structure, can adopt to bring clarity to its work. The model focuses on five essential questions:
- What was the strategic objective?
- What insights emerged?
- What happens next?
- What human moment stood out?
- What changed as a result?
This simple yet powerful structure turns engagement summaries into decision-driving assets. It shifts conversations from “what we did” to “why it mattered” and builds credibility at every level across the organization.
Crucially, this approach supports a key industry need spotlighted throughout the summit: actionizing patient feedback. Gathering insights is not the end goal, but embedding them into the strategy and evolving the work based on patient perspectives is what drives progress. It ensures that patient voices are not just heard, but are actively shaping direction.
This strategic clarity benefits medical affairs, advocacy, and access teams as it cultivates better decision-making, more purposeful collaboration, and stronger alignment with both internal stakeholders and external partners.
Act 3: Whether it’s just you, or a team of 12
Every pharma company approaches patient advocacy differently. Some are lean, one-person operations managing cross-functional chaos with limited support. Others are larger, matrixed groups working across therapeutic areas, where misaligned handoffs and inconsistent messaging can easily creep in.
Regardless of size, the consistent challenge is … well, consistency.
That’s why structure matters – not as added bureaucracy, but as a foundation for transparency and trust. A few simple, shared practices can transform how teams operate:
- Use templates to standardize reporting, improve clarity, and reduce rework
- Establish rhythms, like recurring check-ins and shared calendars to keep workstreams aligned
- Maintain visibility into who is engaging whom, when, and why
- Communicate purposefully, connecting the dots instead of just pushing information
- And yes – inject some fun. Engaged groups are more collaborative, creative, and likely to build lasting partnerships
When these practices become routine, advocacy functions run more smoothly, scale effectively, adapt quickly, and make a stronger impact where it matters most: in patients’ lives.
Act 4: The awkward budget conversation
Budget shifts are inevitable. Whether due to organizational reprioritization, evolving pipelines, or broader market forces, advocacy teams are often tasked with communicating budget changes to patient groups, which can impact long-standing partnerships.
How these conversations are handled can define the relationship moving forward. One of the most resonant messages from the summit was that transparency is not a risk but a responsibility. Advocacy leaders aren’t expected to fix every budget constraint, but they are expected to approach those moments with honesty, empathy, and strategic clarity.
Five key principles can help teams navigate these challenging moments:
- Prepare thoroughly: Understand what’s changing, what remains in scope, and the rationale behind the shift
- Communicate transparently: Use plain language. No spin or corporate speak, just direct, respectful dialogue
- Show empathy: Acknowledge the emotional weight of the decision and the value of the relationship
- Offer tailored solutions: Ask what matters most to your partner this year and explore creative ways to maintain visibility, collaboration, or shared goals
- Follow up: Don’t disappear after the initial conversation. Reconnect, share updates, and reinforce trust over time
It’s not about having the perfect script but delivering a message that reflects respect, clarity, and an ongoing commitment to the patient communities we all serve.
Act 5: From 27 pages of activity to two pages of actual impact
Historically, advocacy teams have been measured by volume – how many touchpoints were made, events executed, and partners engaged. While these metrics offer visibility, they don’t always reflect value. Activity alone cannot tell the story of what changed or how patient voices shaped outcomes.
The conversation around measurement is evolving for good reason. Today, impact is defined by how well insights are absorbed, acted on, and sustained over time. It’s about actually showing a strategy influenced by patient feedback.
To move from reporting activity to demonstrating impact, advocacy teams are rethinking their key performance indicators (KPIs) through two lenses:
- Return on inclusion: Who felt seen? Were the right voices at the table?
- Return on integrity: Did we act on what we heard? Were decisions aligned with insights?
These new KPIs capture both the emotional and strategic complexity of advocacy work. They also align with another summit theme: viewing advocacy intelligence as a business catalyst rather than a compliance exercise. Done right, these metrics don’t just justify advocacy, they elevate it.
They build internal credibility in addition. As noted during the session, executive stakeholders respond differently and invest more readily when metrics tell a clear story of strategic value.
Sometimes the clearest next step starts with a simple question: What will you stop doing, and what will you start doing to bring your team closer to a unified, credible advocacy voice?
It’s a challenge that resonates. Transforming advocacy – especially across budgets, bandwidths, and therapeutic areas – requires intention, consistency, and the courage to make one meaningful change that leads to something greater, rather than trying to overhaul everything at once.
At Envision, we are committed to helping our partners take these steps strategically and sustainably. Advocacy today means being present with purpose. The future belongs to the teams that lead with clarity, alignment, and an unwavering focus on patients.
If you want to explore how we can help your team bring clarity to patient engagement strategies, reach out here.