How behavioural design is transforming the role and impact of life sciences in healthcare
Behavioural economics will become essential to the future success of life sciences companies.
The healthcare sector is undergoing a historic shift in the face of increasing pressures, which is, in large part, being driven by people’s behaviour. Non-adherence, for example, costs up to US$290m in the US alone, and studies estimate that up to 40% of deaths from top chronic diseases are preventable through lifestyle changes. Considering the size of this opportunity, the sector has been slow to invest, with behavioural change often being an afterthought for healthcare organisations.
Incentives to behave rationally are everywhere, from the way products are priced to how we are encouraged to behave at work, but the vast majority of these incentives assume that people are ‘rational agents’ who act in their own best interests. However, research has shown that when it comes to human behaviour, we often act instinctively and irrationally. The good news is that principles of behavioural economics can help us develop customer engagement strategies, services and solutions that overcome these impulses and irrationalities.