Treating the human experience: Part 2, the provider journey

For years, healthcare professional (HCP) marketing was built around the clinic: pull an NPI list, match it to identifiers, and run ads during clinic hours. 

But a provider is more than a line on a list. They work across specialties and care settings, and their day doesn’t stop at the clinic door. Healthcare professionals exist beyond the context of patient records and white coats, and reaching them effectively starts with seeing the whole person.

Yet today, HCPs are more difficult to reach than ever – they have many more resources at their disposal, less time, and generally rely less on reps than in years past. Their channel preferences are changing too, with digital playing a growing role alongside in-person engagement. 66% of doctors actively use AI chat for treatment research, and 50% of HCPs have discovered treatments through CTV.

Identifying the provider is only the start. From there, HCP marketers need to understand which HCP specialties are driving the most claims and unique patients, and shift targeting investment there.

The advantage is reaching the right provider, wherever they engage. MiQ Sigma’s Healthcare Intelligence surfaces not only claims data, but 700T signals of watching, browsing, and buying behavior. In other words, we help brands reach providers according to who they are, not just what they do during clinic hours, all while maintaining cohesive messaging across channels. 

Same provider. A more coherent story, wherever they engage.

While there are tools that rank HCPs by deciles for the number of scripts written, ranking by volume isn’t the only consideration. Our HCP engagement funnel surfaces the prescribers responsible for repeat prescriptions, and our HCP specialty breakdowns reveal which specialties are driving prescriptions.

Two signals matter:

• Breadth or depth: Growth comes down to two factors: breadth (reaching more prescribers) and depth (increasing prescriptions among existing prescribers). When physicians prescribe competing brands at the same rate, the brand with the highest prescription volume is simply reaching more physicians. To drive growth, brands must either expand their prescriber base or increase prescription frequency among existing physicians.
• Prescribing velocity: A prescriber whose activity is slowing may be at risk of lapsing. For marketers, catching that deceleration early, before the script count falls, can make the difference between a timely re-engagement and a lost prescriber. MiQ’s Healthcare Intelligence helps brands move beyond static NPI lists to identify and reach doctors based on real prescribing behaviors, including those who haven’t written repeat prescriptions.

Lapsed physicians create a clear re-engagement opportunity across pharma. They already know the brand and have prescribed it before. Because engagement tends to pick up ahead of prescribing, campaign data can help identify when the relationship starts to cool, giving marketers time to act before the opportunity disappears.

Impressions aren’t proof. Marketers need to understand whether their media is reaching the right providers and influencing the outcomes that matter—while there is still time to act.

MiQ connects media exposure to real outcomes, helping teams understand provider reach, specialty and geographical performance, and where prescribing or referral patterns are changing. Once you understand where and how your priority patient populations are being reached, you can use that information to support in-flight optimization. 

Success in provider marketing isn’t about adding more cells to an NPI spreadsheet. It means reaching the right provider wherever they are, reading the signals that predict their next move, then proving they took it — so the brands that shape prescribing decisions are the ones physicians ultimately choose.

To read Part 1: The patient journey, click here.

References:

IQVIA, “From Preference To Practice: Understanding The Evolving Channel Preferences of Healthcare Professionals,” 17 November 2025. Link

IntuitionLabs, “What is HCP Marketing? A Guide for the Pharma Industry,” citing Viseven.  https://intuitionlabs.ai/articles/hcp-marketing-pharma-guide