Omnichannel healthcare strategy seems to be the buzz of the past years, together with omnichannel customer service strategy. Still, the concept has been on the agenda of various businesses, especially in retail, ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic and its implications regarding the mass digitalization of services.
1. Introduction
When did omnichannel start? The omnichannel concept was introduced in 2010 to describe the expansion of the customer experience beyond the multi-channel approach. The omnichannel strategy benefits for retailers were pointed out in a study back in 2017. So, what about the healthcare system? Is it now the right time to consider an omnichannel healthcare strategy?
1.1 Why do you need an intelligent omnichannel healthcare strategy?
Why would healthcare organizations and institutions make an effort to adopt a strategy devised primarily for retail marketing? The answer is in the healthcare system’s very Why: the customers’ well-being (in most cases, the patients). The benefits of an omnichannel strategy, no matter the industry, translate into a better customer experience. In healthcare, improved experience for beneficiaries and professionals has even more implications than in any other domain. It can translate into better health, safety, and improved quality of life.
2. Understanding omnichannel in healthcare
Before talking more about omnichannel healthcare strategy, let’s better grasp its meaning, the benefits of healthcare, and what to watch for.
2.1 Defining the concept of omnichannel in healthcare
Multichannel is probably a more familiar term, so you may ask yourselves how they differ. Both terms talk about a customer approach on several communication and distribution channels. An omnichannel strategy encompasses a multichannel approach. The omnichannel concept refers to a broader perspective, focusing on the entire customer journey.
What is omnichannel healthcare, more precisely? It refers to all the interactions between healthcare consumers and healthcare providers, comprising direct communication, information, and recommendations via in-person interactions combined with self-service experiences and digital channels.
2.2 What are the benefits of an omnichannel approach in healthcare?
Acting on so many fronts to meet healthcare customers requires a lot of time and finances. So, a natural question is why omnichannel is essential and why to invest in an omnichannel healthcare strategy.
Let’s look at the main benefits:
- Increased efficiency for healthcare providers
When the customer journey (patients are, in the end, customers of the healthcare system) involves multiple channels to serve the same purpose, you can easily distribute tasks between healthcare providers, algorithms, and customers. Therefore, you achieve more in less time.
- Reduced health risks
An omnichannel healthcare approach ensures more accurate and rigorous follow-up for patient engagement, especially after medical interventions. Close, real-time observation reduces the risk of complications, enforces preventive care, and can reduce the rate of readmissions.
- Smoother workflows
Access to data and patient information can ease flows within healthcare organizations, improving intervention times and saving precious hours for professionals. Self-service solutions for hospital admissions or paying the bills, for example, with online appointments, are important time savers, as trivial as they may seem.
- Happier customers
Let’s face it; when we talk about omnichannel marketing, healthcare is no exception in terms of general objective: gaining satisfied clients who will happily return to your services. The better experience within the consumer journey, the more likely they are to choose your products and services again. Medical omnichannel makes the medical experience smoother and friendlier, with better outcomes for all parts involved, not only the patients.
2.3 Challenges and considerations in implementing an omnichannel strategy
Still, we should stay grounded and not idealize the omnichannel healthcare strategy by completely disregarding its challenges.
First and foremost, we need to acknowledge that the greatest need for an omnichannel strategy in healthcare comes from hospitals. But hospitals are complex institutions known for their inertia to adopting new technologies. While the pandemic has accelerated change substantially, omnichannel health involves a new level of organizing workflows, and protocols, training staff, implementing hardware and software, etc., even for the first level of omnichannel medical communications.
As mentioned before, the very omnichannel strategy definition implies an approach that covers all channels involved in the customer journey. Thus, when it comes to omnichannel strategy, McKinsey warns about effective resource distribution: where to start? which channel to prioritize?
Another possible threat is the risk of losing focus on the value brought to the healthcare consumer while concentrating too much on the technical details. After implementing the digital solutions, this may become evident only in the end when it becomes clear that the investment does not translate into the expected customer/ patient satisfaction.
The adoption of healthcare omnichannel solutions by the medical and non-medical staff, as well as by the patients, is a relevant challenge. Like any novelty, you should consider the learning curve and the natural inhibition towards adopting a new tool and behavior. Otherwise, you might not meet the end purpose – improving the experience of the medical act for everybody – no matter how smart the technologies involved across all channels.
When we talk about ehealthcare strategy and trends, we inevitably talk about AI and processing large amounts of health data. This, in turn, raises concerns regarding transparency versus privacy. Compliance with government regulations is mandatory when the omnichannel strategy healthcare is involved.
3. Building a smart omnichannel healthcare strategy
The benefits are pretty clear when talking about omnichannel healthcare, but the path to getting there may seem complicated and overwhelming. As in the case of any change process, a smart, down-to-earth strategy is the key. So, what is an omni-channel strategy but an omnichannel strategy framework that sets the directions for how the patients, healthcare professionals, and organizations will interact across all channels with minimal effort but maximum benefit?
3.1 Key components of an omnichannel healthcare strategy
In short, the main components of a strategy are people, means, and processes. In healthcare, these elements can be further regarded from the specificity point of view.
- People
Who are the people in a healthcare omnichannel approach? The main focus is on patients – this is why such a strategy is considered in the first place. But to improve the patients’ experience across all channels involves improving workflows and experiences for all the other parties involved: medical professionals, health care personnel, administrative and support staff, and even the patients’ families. All these actors need to be mapped; their position and role in the “customer journey” has to be identified clearly and linked to all the interaction channels available.
- Means
In our case, the means are the channels we talk about, mainly interactive platforms that allow smooth interactions and task-solving for various medical service actors. We talk about telemedicine platforms, self-service apps for patients, real-time monitoring or cross-discipline data sharing within a hospital, and even pharma omnichannel platforms.
- Processes
Hospitals and medical institutions have spent a great amount of time defining protocols that would increase safety and improve the medical act. The same protocols need to be designed for the interactions involving the people and means (platforms) in the strategy.
You must prioritize these elements, however, and deal with them step by step, with clear objectives, omnichannel KPIs to measure success, and a realistic allocation of resources – people, money, and time.
3.2 How can you use technology to create an omnichannel strategy?
Improving patient healthcare experience within an omnichannel approach requires a consumer-driven healthcare model that is both cost-effective and patient satisfaction oriented.
The technology used in healthcare app development plays an important role in implementing an omnichannel strategy. Omnichannel communication is a challenge, but it is achievable thanks to the latest advancement in programming, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, or IoT. Some other examples of the use of technology for omnichannel healthcare are the automation of recurrent tasks, both on the patients’ and the medical staff’s side, online registrations and payments, chatbots, or digital education.
Digital health may go beyond consulting EMRs (electronic medical records) to establish the diagnosis, lines of treatment, or potential risks. They could use technology (AI in particular) to meet patients on social media or other channels patients prefer to assess care delivery: possible causes for illness and the best ways for healthcare delivery.
3.3 Case studies of successful smart omnichannel healthcare implementations
When it comes to implementing an omnichannel strategy pharma looks to be quite ahead of other healthcare areas. Pharma omnichannel engagement is one of the most used examples of healthcare marketing, with results that confirm its efficiency.
We have a good example of a healthcare omnichannel platform developed for a large German pharma company. It aimed to provide relevant information for professionals and the general public while improving their healthcare marketing and sales efforts. The omnichannel platform unified the roles that the existing website, web application, and platforms played, adding social sharing components as digital front doors.
The success of this healthcare omnichannel platform translated into a patient journey and an omnichannel engagement between medical professionals and their patients, thanks to the information sharing across all channels involved.
The search engine optimizations made it possible for medical information available within the platform to be much easier to discover and access, while the platform, itself, ranked higher in search results.
Another good example of a smart omnichannel healthcare strategy in a hospital is a post-intervention scenario.
If you have someone close who underwent surgery, you may be familiar with the post-up procedures upon discharge. Hospitals that still employ the classical methods send their patients home with an entire dossier and paper instructions and recipes for medication.
Then, it is up to the patient to run through those documents, understand and remember what to do, which pills to take first, from where, etc.
The risk of missing something is rather high, which implies calls to the doctor for reminders and further explanations and, in the worst-case scenario, readmission for failing to follow the proper post-op care actions.
Now, imagine a hospital that implements an omnichannel strategy.
First of all, the patient goes home with no paperwork. He can deal with the bill or insurance claim online, on the platform. The patient opted to communicate via text messages, phone calls, portals, and email.
Now, his data is converted into actionable insights across the entire care continuum.
It will go like this: a nurse calls to check on the patient the day after the surgery. A text message informs him that the prescription is ready for pick up. If our digital patient fails to pick it up, the nurse returns with a new phone call, explaining the importance of getting the medication on time. He receives instructions for taking the medication via email and reminders for following medical check-ups. He connects his email to the calendar, so the appointments are automatically registered in the calendar with respective reminders.
4. The role of AI in next-generation healthcare
The examples of the omnichannel strategy described above are just the beginning of what you can achieve in healthcare with the help of technology, an omnichannel strategy, and a serious healthcare development company. Next-generation healthcare will rely heavily on AI as an improved agent for virtual care. The first steps have already been made, looking very promising.
4.1 How is AI useful in healthcare?
As mentioned above, AI’s major role in healthcare is due to its ability to process large amounts of data. The better the data management and interpretation, the more understanding medical professionals have of disease causes, risk factors, and clinical outcomes.
AI is extremely important for consumer-driven healthcare. It helps to establish a correct diagnosis and customized lines of treatment. AI can also play a crucial role in prevention by analyzing big data sets that can indicate far in advance the risk of certain diseases or conditions.
3. Strategic value for healthcare organizations
Medical portal development is a strategic investment in how scientific information is shared, trusted, and acted upon. Because these portals are managed by medical affairs and are focused exclusively on non-promotional content, they directly support pharma’s broader objectives of credibility and meaningful engagement.
1. Building long-term trust with healthcare providers
HCPs are increasingly selective about where they access medical information, and portals that provide a single, unbiased source of truth stand out. Health professionals rely on these portals for quick access to reliable information, clinical guidelines, and educational content, helping them save time and access personalized resources efficiently.
By ensuring content is peer-reviewed, evidence-based, and verified by experts, healthcare organizations can position themselves as partners in advancing science, not just suppliers of products.
Over time, this consistency translates into deeper HCP relationships and stronger collaboration in areas like clinical research, education, and patient support.
2. Turning compliance into a strategic advantage
While compliance is often seen as a regulatory hurdle, medical portals demonstrate how it can become a competitive differentiator. By embedding guardrails such as role-based authentication, approval workflows, and audit trails, companies reduce risk while building confidence with both regulators and HCPs. Ensuring HIPAA compliance in all aspects of portal development is essential to protect patient data and meet regulatory requirements.
Beyond risk management, compliance-first design improves efficiency. Streamlined approval workflows accelerate content delivery and keep regional teams aligned. At the same time, visible transparency, like version control and validated sources, reassures HCPs that the information is reliable. In this way, compliance shifts from being a barrier to becoming an enabler of trust, speed, and market differentiation.
3. Generating actionable data-driven insights
Every interaction with a medical portal leaves a digital footprint. By tracking how HCPs access data — from which documents they prefer, what topics generate most inquiries, and where gaps exist — actionable insights can be extracted.
These patterns are more than just engagement metrics; they are strategic insights that allow medical affairs to refine communication strategies, anticipate HCP needs, and contribute to broader population health strategies by highlighting trends across regions and specialties.
In the future, combining medical portal insights with electronic health record data could provide a more comprehensive understanding of how scientific knowledge informs treatment decisions and patient outcomes.
4. What are some key features?
Innovation in medical portal development is more about building a platform that is compliant, user-centric, and adaptable to evolving healthcare needs. Let’s discuss a few essential features for making these healthcare portals a strategic asset and a trusted resource:
1. Role-based identification and secure access
Not all users need the same level of access. By implementing role-based authentication, you make sure that only verified HCPs can view sensitive data, while administrators can manage content securely. Automating administrative tasks through advanced health portals also enhances efficiency and reduces errors, enabling healthcare professionals to devote more time to patient care.
This dual structure protects compliance, reduces risk, and reassures HCPs that the information they are accessing is intended exclusively for them.
2. Comprehensive medical content repository
At the heart of every medical portal is its content. A robust, well-structured repository makes it easy for HCPs to access:
- Peer-reviewed publications and clinical research
- Product dossiers and trial summaries
- Safety communications and risk management plans
- Educational materials tailored to specialties
Streamlined content creation processes are crucial for maintaining a current and compliant repository, ensuring that new information is added efficiently and meets regulatory standards.
When organized with taxonomy, tagging, and version control, this repository evolves into a living knowledge hub rather than a static library.
For example, an oncology-focused healthcare portal can categorize content by cancer type and treatment stage. This way, HCPs can instantly access trial updates specific to their patients’ health, reducing search time.
3. Advanced search and personalization
HCPs expect the same intuitive search experience they have in customer platforms. Advanced indexing and AI-driven personalization enable HCPs to quickly find the content they need, while also surfacing related materials they may not have considered.
This transforms a portal into a dynamic, personalized experience rather than a one-size-fits-all tool.
For instance, when a portal user searches for guidelines on hypertension management, the AI-based recommendation system can also suggest related case studies and safety updates.
4. Interactive elements for two-way engagement
The best medical portals include advanced features that go beyond one-way communication — enabling dialogue through medical inquiry forms, evolving FAQs, and even compliant advisory boards. This way, they become collaborative spaces that strengthen the relationship between pharma and HCPs.
Collecting user feedback is essential to continuously improve portal features and usability, ensuring the platform meets the needs of healthcare professionals.
5. Integration with digital ecosystems
No web portal exists in isolation. Integrating with existing systems, CRM systems, scientific databases, electronic health records, and analytics platforms ensures the portal becomes part of a broader ecosystem.
Integrating a content management system (CMS) streamlines content updates and ensures regulatory compliance, which is essential for meeting healthcare industry standards. This enables unified HCP engagement, keeps literature up to date, and provides actionable analytics on portal use.
By connecting a medical portal to the company’s CRM, you can discover that HCPs who frequently download clinical updates are also more likely to engage with discussion forums. These insights can help you prioritize outreach to highly engaged specialists.
4. Best practices
Success comes from aligning key stakeholders, designing for HCP needs, and embedding compliance at every step. By following these best practices, medical affairs teams can ensure their portals deliver both strategic impact and day-to-day usability:
1. Align medical affairs, compliance, and IT early
A web portal encompasses multiple functions, including medical, legal, regulatory, and technical aspects. When these teams work in isolation, delays and rework are inevitable. Engaging compliance and IT early ensures that innovation and compliance progress together, preventing costly setbacks later.
2. Design with HCPs at the center
Even the most advanced portal will fail if HCPs don’t find it useful. Incorporating HCP feedback through interviews, surveys, user testing, and user-centered design principles makes sure that the interface reflects how professionals actually search, filter, and consume medical information.
3. Implement structured content management
Scientific information changes rapidly. Without a dedicated content management system to handle taxonomy, tagging, and version control, portals can quickly become cluttered and outdated. Keeping information reliable and easy to navigate — ensuring that portals stay living resources rather than static repositories.
For example, a portal supporting multiple therapeutic areas implemented standardized tagging by disease, drug class, and trial phase. This reduces duplicate uploads and improves content discoverability across regions.
4. Integrate with CRM and scientific databases
A medical portal is most valuable when it connects to broader ecosystems. Linking with CRM systems ensures a unified view of HCP interaction, while integration with scientific databases keeps content current and relevant. This makes the portal part of a company’s omnichannel strategy.
For example, integrating PubMed feeds into a healthcare portal can make sure that HCPs always have access to the latest peer-reviewed studies. Engagement with external literature can position the portal as a go-to resource.
5. Take a security-first approach
With sensitive data at stake, data security must be central; portals must implement robust security measures, from encryption to regular vulnerability testing.
Secure messaging, as a HIPAA-compliant communication method within medical portals, is also essential for protecting patient information and facilitating safe interactions. A proactive security strategy not only prevents breaches but also reassures HCPs that their access is safe.
6. Support adoption with training and onboarding
Even the best-designed healthcare portal can fail if HCPs aren’t guided on how to use it effectively. Onboarding campaigns, video tutorials, and live training sessions accelerate adoption and demonstrate the portal’s value.
5. Overcoming common challenges
Even with the right strategy, medical portal development in pharma comes with hurdles. From adoption struggles to complex compliance workflows, companies need to anticipate obstacles and design solutions proactively.
| Challenge | Solution | |
| Driving adoption among HCPs | Many portals fail not because of poor content, but because HCPs don’t adopt them. If the portal is difficult to navigate or doesn’t fit into the existing workflow, usability remains low. | Many portals fail not because of poor content, but because HCPs don’t adopt them. If the portal is difficult to navigate or doesn’t fit into the existing workflow, usability remains low. |
| Managing complex content governance | Medical, Legal, and Regulatory review processes can slow down content updates, leading to outdated information on the portal. | Automate governance workflows, integrate with data management systems, and create clear version control processes. Centralized dashboards allow medical affairs to see where the content is in the approval cycle, reducing bottlenecks. |
| Preventing information overload | Automate governance workflows, integrate with data management systems, and create clear version control processes. Centralized dashboards enable medical affairs to track the progress of content through the approval cycle, thereby reducing bottlenecks. | Use advanced search filters, tagging systems, and AI-driven personalization to surface the most relevant content. Tailor recommendations to specialties, geographies, and user behavior. |
| Balancing compliance with innovation | Medical affairs teams are often cautious about adopting new features due to concerns about regulatory risk. This can limit innovation and make portal feel outdated. | Medical affairs teams are often cautious about adopting new features due to concerns about regulatory risk. This can limit innovation and make the portal feel outdated. |
By anticipating these challenges and addressing them strategically, healthcare organizations can ensure that their medical portals are not just compliant repositories, but living platforms that HCPs rely on daily for scientific exchange.
6. Conclusion
Medical portal development in pharma has evolved beyond being a digital convenience. These portals are a strategic asset that enable medical affairs teams to build trust with HCPs, safeguard compliance, and deliver scientific content in ways that are accessible, personalized, and globally consistent.
When designed with the right features and best practices, a medical portal becomes more than a repository for information. It transforms into a living platform for scientific exchange, where HCPs can find evidence-based answers, engage, and stay aligned with the latest clinical insights.
For pharma companies, the opportunity lies in transforming compliance into a differentiator, turning data into insights, and leveraging digital innovation to create lasting partnerships with healthcare professionals.
4.2 What are some applications of AI in your omnichannel strategy?
Within an omnichannel strategy, the benefit of AI is mainly its capacity to leverage data. This, in turn, enables scaling and fast information distribution across omnichannel systems.
You can get real-time, accurate insights into patients’ expectations, preferences, or behaviors to improve your healthcare offer. You can meet patients on digital channels with relevant information and reminders that will boost engagement in healthcare.
For example, by employing AI and machine learning in healthcare, you can learn which patient prefers an in-person approach and who is more comfortable with online communications.
With AI, some patients can check their symptoms online before talking to a medical professional. When this interaction eventually occurs, the patient will have a clearer understanding of what happens and what needs further discussion. On the other end, the medical professional has already received a first assessment of the patient based on an online symptoms check.
4.3 Ethical concerns in using AI in healthcare
As in the case of all AI implementations, there will always be ethical and legal concerns. Dealing with data, in general, is a sensitive matter; leveraging data in healthcare is even more delicate.
Before starting your research on implementing artificial intelligence in your omnichannel healthcare strategy, check the compliance requirements and regulations you must abide by. They may differ from country to country. In the U.S., for instance, there is HIPAA compliance in place. In Europe, the privacy of data is protected by GDPR compliance. There is also a comprehensive guideline on “Ethics and governance of artificial intelligence for health” issued by the World Health Organisation.
Having access to private, sensitive data and giving access to it to various parties raises legitimate, ethical questions. Although the purpose is to serve people to improve their health and quality of life, things can always go wrong and have the opposite effect. Denying technology because of this risk is not a solution, though. Taking all the precautions against negative outcomes is the only way to make AI work in an unharmful context.
5. Challenges and opportunities in implementing an omnichannel strategy
Any new business approach comes with plenty of opportunities, but it equally brings some challenges. Once you are aware of them, you can easily concentrate on seizing the opportunity and overcoming the challenges.
5.1 Common challenges faced in omnichannel healthcare strategies
- Data synchronization and sharing
Just like in other omnichannel experiences, the strategy’s success depends much on how well data is transmitted, in real-time, across all the channels. It is not easy for simpler organizational models such as retailers; imagine how complex it becomes for a clinic or hospital. Still, if the processes are well thought-through and prioritized, it can be done successfully.
- Adoption inertia
Healthcare is a system that relies much on traditional ways of doing things, despite all the technological advancements in medicine. Some basic activities involving the patients have been conducted in a particular manner for decades. It will take time and patience to determine healthcare staff and even patients to switch to digital tools involved in omnichannel communications.
- Logistics
Thanks to the omnichannel customer service strategy, some actions will develop quickly: self-service admissions and payments, online check-ups and prescription orders, etc. The logistic chain should also be ready to deliver at a similar pace so it doesn’t become pointless to speed up processes through digital solutions only to wait for the corresponding offline reaction.
5.2 Opportunities and how to maximize them
An omnichannel healthcare strategy adds value to the entire patient experience, transferring value to the healthcare provider.
- Integrated family experience
What is the omnichannel strategy but a way to reach people in environments where they feel more comfortable. AI tools can boost patient engagement, also for their families, so the entire healthcare delivery process works at its fullest.
- Closer connection
The use of text messages, emails, notification apps, and even chatbots can get patients and care providers into closer contact without the need for in-person interaction. It may sound counterintuitive, but the less effort, the higher chances for positive responses on both sides.
- Savings from self-service solutions
Even when the interaction is in person, time can be spent more efficiently focusing on providing support and care. Other administrative tasks, which are time-consuming, can be done by the patients or their families with simple digital health solutions. All that time wasted on paperwork can be redirected to adding value to the medical act and improvements to the patient.
6. Conclusion
6.1 Key points to remember
An omnichannel healthcare strategy needs to be focused on improving the patient experience.
A step-by-step approach with good prioritizing and focus on care delivery is the key to successful implementation in complex organizations like hospitals.
Data privacy and regulations compliance are very serious issues.
What may seem frightfully complex can be solved by working with a reliable healthcare development company that knows a thing or two about customized omnichannel solutions.
Omnichannel strategies and marketing have been in place for over a decade in many sectors of the economy. The healthcare industry needs to keep up.
6.2 Future outlook on the potential of a smart omnichannel healthcare strategy
The development of AI, IoT, and machine learning means more devices connected and communicating on various channels. This is an excellent opportunity for healthcare providers to go deeper into patient journeys through omnichannel strategies. Healthcare wearable devices are an excellent example of integration for such a strategy. They are already in use, and there is still much to develop. There is still much room to optimize clinical processes and treatment by implementing a healthcare omnichannel strategy.
