What is Relationship Centricity?
Relationship Centricity means centering the relationship
that is created by patients and providers by designing and deploying solutions for shared
clarity, trust, and impact.
The Patient Centricity Paradox
Pharma often likes to promote an idealized version of patient centricity as key to their business model–
one that implies patients' voices, values and needs are given primacy in the decisions that impact their experiences and outcomes with medication.
Unfortunately, pharma operates in a reality in which commercial, regulatory, evidentiary, and operational constraints make this ideal difficult to achieve.
Complete Open Communication
–engaging in the exchange of honest and authentic information, ideas, and opinions
Patients As Full Partners
–meaningfully incorporating patients' experiences, perspectives, needs, and priorities into drug development and evaluation
Coordinated & Integrated Care
–barriers are minimized as care systems prioritize patient well-being over other drivers
Misunderstanding the Term
–there's confusion and lack of consensus of the definition and how it's applied to services
Conflicting Priorities
–the industry is driven by conflicting priorities including profits, shareholder demands, and averting risk and liability
Inconsistent Scholarly Foundation
–the scholarly literature on the topic varies considerably across applications
Sources: •FDA (2025) FDA patient-focused drug development guidance series for enhancing the incorporation of the patient’s voice in medical product development and regulatory decision making. https://www.fda.gov/drugs/development-approval-process-drugs/fda-patient-focused-drug-development-guidance-series-enhancing-incorporation-patients-voice-medical?utm_source=chatgpt.com Retrieved 10/2/26.
•Robbins DA, et al. (2013) Defining patient-centricity: Opportunities, challenges, and implications for clinical care and research. Ther Innov Regul Sci. 47(3):349-355.
•Yeoman G, et al. (2017) Defining patient centricity with patients for patients and caregivers. BMJ Innov. 3(2):76-83
An idealized model of patient centricity is limited in its ability to help pharma achieve their primary goal of motivating patients to access and adhere to medication.
This is because it requires TWO PARTIES –both patients AND providers– to successfully engage in the type of relationship-centered communication and decision-making that lead to starting and staying on a medication.
A DIFFERENT PARADIGM
Moving Beyond Patient Centricity with Relationship Centricity
Relationship Centricity means understanding that there are two journeys–the patient's and provider's–both with challenges and motivators that influence attitudes, experiences, and decisions.
Pharma can better serve both audiences by centering the relationship that is created by these two separate but symbiotic journeys to include messaging and services that meet the SHARED values and needs where the journeys intersect and decisions are made.
Patient
Doctor
POSITIVE EXPERIENCE
NEGATIVE EXPERIENCE
NEUTRAL
Tx = treatment PA = prior authorization AE = adverse event
Nurse
Educators
Patient Access Liaisons
Pharma is perfectly positioned to implement relationship-centered principles by leveraging the different types of
patient engagement specialists
Hub Services Agents
Patient Ambassadors
Wellness &
Adherence
Coaches
that connect with and support patients and providers at
journey intersections
Field Reim- bursement Specialists
Go to the Relationship Centricity section of The Plucky Patient Blog to learn more about this topic.
The Value of Relationship Centricity
and how it can transform pharma's engagements with patients and providers
Pharma invests a lot of time and money to understand the journeys and beliefs of patients and providers so they can support identified motivators and address barriers to access and adherence.
Surprisingly though, pharma invests little time or resources in exploring the needs and journeys of their patient engagement specialists who support these patients and providers. This creates gaps in understanding the intersection of these journeys—the patient's, the provider's, and the specialist's—and can weaken the relationships that are created among them.
Notably, research links patient-provider trust and communication with important care experiences and treatment behaviors*. Relationship centricity asks pharma to consider how its own services and communications can strengthen rather than disrupt those relationships. That is why The Plucky Patient is here. We assist pharma in effectively applying a relationship-centric approach to patient engagement services.
*Tan Z, et al. (2026) How physician communication style shapes patient trust: A systematic review. Health Commun. 6:1-19.