Ten facts about how patients are really making treatment decisions today
The recipe was pretty easy for years when it came to pharma DTC ads. Put out TV spots. Educate the market on the disease. Remind them to “ask your doctor” about the medication. Pray some of them did. That model still works, except when it doesn’t. A patient can now be watching a drug ad on the nightly news and Google that drug within minutes. They can see what other patients think on Reddit. They can find a TikTok talking about their disease. See how much the drug costs. They can look up drug facts and even have a chatbot tell them how the drug compares to its competitors. They may ask their doctor about it. They may not. That’s not the journey most pharma DTC has been centered around.
1ne. Patients increasingly expect to participate in treatment decisions.
MD Analytics asked 1000 Americans and 1000 Canadians whether they feel they have a say in their treatment decisions. About half said yes: either I make the decision or my doctor and I decide together. Patients said they ask for treatment on average once or twice a year. When a patient sits down with a doctor, they aren’t just going to take what they’re told. Many patients have come into that appointment with questions, and some may even know what they want.
2wo. More than half of Americans use social media for health information.
KFF found that 55% of U.S. adults use social media to find health information or advice at least occasionally. Among younger patients, the influence can be even greater. Among TikTok users ages 18-29, 54% said at least some of the health information they encounter there is trustworthy.
That doesn’t mean TikTok has replaced the physician. It means pharma no longer controls the conversation simply by buying television reach. The conversation is happening everywhere.
3hree. AI has entered the patient journey remarkably quickly.
Here is a stat that pharma marketers need to take note of. According to Rock Health’s new study, consumers are turning to AI chatbots for health-related questions at an alarming rate. The number of US adults who used AI to ask health questions has doubled from 16% to 32% in the past year. They’re not only asking AI what their rash could be, but also learning about treatments and medications.
This can have a big impact on DTC. Your ad tells them to speak with their physician about taking Drug X. They will ask AI what other options there are besides Drug X. A shift in power when it comes to information.
4our. Social media can influence actual medical decisions, not just awareness.
A national study involving people with cancer and caregivers found 65% were likely to use social media when making decisions involving lifestyle changes, screening, vaccination, cancer treatment, medical testing, or choosing a provider. That’s far beyond simple disease awareness.
Patients are bringing information from outside the traditional healthcare system into serious medical decisions. The quality of that information is another issue entirely — and potentially a major opportunity for pharma, healthcare systems and physicians.
5ive. Digital healthcare is becoming normal healthcare.
Rock Health reported that 58% of Americans used virtual care during the previous year, 53% owned at least one wearable or connected device, and 54% digitally tracked at least one health metric. Patients don’t necessarily think about these things as “digital health” anymore. They’re simply healthcare. That matters because pharma marketing still too often separates the “digital patient” from the “traditional patient.” They’re increasingly the same person.
6ix. Convenience can influence who treats the patient.
Deloitte found that 24% of consumers would be willing to switch doctors specifically to gain access to virtual visits. Among millennials, that number reached 43%.
Where patients receive care can influence which physicians they encounter, which treatment protocols they experience, and ultimately which medications they are offered. Access itself is becoming part of the treatment journey.
7even. Online reputation is influencing healthcare choices.
Tebra’s patient research shows how consumer-like healthcare behavior has become. Its research reports that 79% of patients read reviews before choosing a provider, while 69% say positive reviews are very or extremely important. Separate Tebra research found 30% of patients had avoided or dropped a physician because of a negative online review.
Twenty years ago, patients largely selected physicians through referrals, insurance directories and geography. Now Google reviews can influence the decision.
Healthcare is becoming a consumer marketplace whether the industry likes the terminology or not.
8ight. Cost can overrule almost everything marketing accomplishes.
Pharma can spend hundreds of millions of dollars convincing patients that a therapy is innovative. Then the patient reaches the pharmacy counter. GoodRx reports that among surveyed consumers who used its service to save on branded medications, 61% said they would have skipped or delayed filling their prescription without the savings.
That’s one of the biggest weaknesses in the traditional DTC model. Advertising can generate demand. It cannot guarantee access. A patient can see the commercial, visit the website, ask the physician, receive the prescription — and still never start therapy. From the patient’s perspective, the treatment decision isn’t finished when the physician writes the prescription.
9ine. Doctors still matter enormously.
This isn’t to say patients don’t trust their physicians. It just contradicts the “empowered patient” storyline a bit. Doctors are still trusted sources of medical information and, for many, the final say on prescription medications.
What has changed is that patients are coming to that doctor conversation with more information gathered from other sources. They aren’t always going to their doctor as the first source of information. More often than not, the doctor becomes the one who pieces it all together.
10en. Pharma is still spending billions on DTC — even as the economics become more challenging.
Here’s the paradox. QVIA reports that pharma companies spent more than $6 billion on DTC television advertising in 2024, with 75 brands spending at least $10 million each. So DTC clearly isn’t disappearing. And it still works. KFF’s 2025 research found that among people who talked with their physician about an advertised medication, half reported receiving a prescription for the advertised drug.
But IQVIA also says something pharmaceutical executives should pay attention to:
DTC advertising ROI at launch is declining as markets become more saturated and advertising costs rise.
DTC isn’t irrelevant. The old DTC model is.
It’s not that TV isn’t effective for Pharma marketing.
It can be.
But it’s just that first couple of steps in the process.
They learn about the drug from a commercial.
Learn more about it on Google.
See people talk about it on Reddit.
Humanize the condition on TikTok.
See videos of others on YouTube.
Ask an AI about other options.
Consult their doctor.
Find out if it’s covered.
Find out how much it will cost at the pharmacy.
Maybe see another patient’s opinion on if they should take it or not.
All while Pharma tries to spend as much money as possible on one step of that process.
Pharma needs to stop thinking in campaigns and start thinking in decision ecosystems.
You should be asking:
What happened after they saw the ad?
What did they look up?
What did they ask an AI?
What did they read on social media?
What did they hear from other patients?
What other options were there?
What did their doctor tell them?
Did insurance cover it?
How much did it cost?
Did they fill it?
Were they taking it 6 months later?
These are all questions you need to ask when marketing pharma.
Maybe we aren’t even at that point anymore. Maybe it’s what happens after someone sees an ad for the next 10 minutes. They reach for their phone and start trying to verify if they believe it or not.
I think DTC will play a role, but maybe that role is to initiate the journey. Not to steer it.
Which leads me to think about how we market.
