A POV from Alliant | Fierce Pharma Week 2026 

Ask any healthcare marketer what they’re missing and data volume is rarely the answer. Most organizations are sitting on claims data, CRM records, and NPI files. What’s often missing is the people-based context around that data: a fuller understanding of the people behind the patients, members, and providers those records describe.

That gap shows up in the numbers. 91% of healthcare leaders say a comprehensive view of their customers matters, yet only 7% are satisfied with what their current solutions deliver. On the provider side, fewer than one in five HCPs feel outreach is personalized to them at all.

The industry doesn’t have a data shortage. It has an understanding shortage.

Providers are people too

Specialty, title, and NPI tell a marketer what a provider does. They say far less about who that provider is as a person. 

Are they a tech adopter or a late follower? Do they respond more strongly to quality-focused messaging or value-focused messaging? Are email and LinkedIn more likely to get their attention than other channels?

Treating HCPs solely as clinicians instead of as people and consumers is exactly why so much provider outreach still reads as generic, even when the targeting logic behind it appears sophisticated.

Provider-as-a-Person intelligence builds on the rich clinical and HCP data healthcare marketers already rely on by linking professional HCP attributes with broader consumer signal, including demographics, channel preferences, lifestyle interests, purchase behaviors, and the motivations that actually drive engagement. Specialty and NPI remain table stakes, they’re simply no longer the whole picture.

The result is a more complete view of the provider — one that can help marketers make HCP engagement more relevant, personal, and effective.

The same question applies to patients and members

The challenge also exists on the patient and member side, just with different considerations.

Clinical, claims, demographic, and lifestyle information can provide valuable signals about a person or population. But understanding what has happened is only part of the picture. Marketers also need context around the behaviors, preferences, motivations, and barriers that may shape how someone engages.

That’s where richer consumer data can add depth.

Combining known purchase behavior with predictive psychological insights can help marketers understand both the what and the why behind human behavior. Layer in social drivers of health (SDOH) and behavioral drivers of health (BDOH), and that understanding becomes even more useful — helping illuminate social, demographic, and structural factors that can influence access, communication, and engagement.

None of this works without trust

Depth without discipline is a liability in healthcare marketing, not an advantage. 92% of adults believe privacy is a right, and roughly two-thirds worry specifically about how their health information is handled. Any data approach that adds richness to an audience has to add privacy and compliance rigor at the same rate, not as an afterthought bolted on later.

That’s the standard this kind of intelligence has to meet: privacy-conscious, compliance-first, and built for regulated marketing use cases. Personalization only creates value when people can trust that information is being handled responsibly. In healthcare especially, compliance has to be built into the approach from the start.

The takeaway for Fierce Pharma Week

The healthcare organizations that pull ahead won’t necessarily be the ones with the most data. They’ll be the ones who can turn data into a deeper understanding of the people on the other end of it, patients and providers alike.

It’s a more human approach to healthcare marketing. And it creates an opportunity to make outreach more relevant, activation more precise, and every interaction more meaningful.

That’s the conversation we’re bringing to Fierce Pharma Week — on the show floor, in sessions, and one-on-one with marketers rethinking how they understand and engage healthcare audiences. Ready to bring more depth to your healthcare marketing strategy? Contact us to learn more.