Digital Transformation: A Healthcare Imperative

It turns out that even as the delivery of healthcare went dramatically more digital during the pandemic, so did the way drug trials were conducted. Jackie Kent, chief customer officer at Medidata, a clinical trial software company, explained in a conversation with Jennifer Gottlieb, president of healthcare services and communications expert Real Chemistry. Using tech and home monitoring, remote administration and followup, and the use of local labs are part of what’s referred to as “decentralized trials,” as opposed to requiring patients to come to central clinics specially trained to administer and followup on patients in trials. Kent said the pandemic required such approaches: “The decentralized trial is allowing access to so many more patients,” she explained. “The regulators have thrown the doors open.”