The patient communication crisis pharma can no longer ignore

A pharmaceutical company sends a patient a reminder to refill a prescription. A specialty pharmacy calls to coordinate delivery of a critical medication. A clinical research organisation reaches out about an upcoming trial appointment.

These interactions are essential to patient care. Increasingly, however, they are being ignored.

The problem isn't a lack of communication. It's a lack of trust.

Years of scam campaigns and increasingly sophisticated fraud have conditioned consumers to be sceptical of unfamiliar phone numbers. Rather than risk answering a fraudulent call, many patients simply decline calls they don't recognise.

For pharmaceutical companies, that hesitation creates a growing challenge. In healthcare, a missed call can have real consequences. A patient may miss a medication reminder, fail to receive an important prescription update, overlook information about a clinical trial, or lose touch with a patient support programme designed to help them manage their care. The industry's significant investments in patient engagement are only effective if patients trust the communication enough to answer in the first place.

AI-driven fraud is raising the stakes

The communications landscape has become even more challenging as fraudsters adopt artificial intelligence (AI), voice cloning, and automation to create scams that are increasingly harder to detect.

Illegal number spoofing is one of the reasons trust continues to erode. Criminals can manipulate caller ID information to make calls appear as though they are coming from legitimate organisations, including pharmacies, healthcare providers, and pharmaceutical companies.

The impact then extends beyond the individual scam. When bad actors repeatedly spoof a legitimate phone number, that number's reputation can deteriorate across communications networks. Over time, calls associated with that legitimate phone number may be mislabelled as spam likely, making it even harder for organisations to reach patients.

For patients, distinguishing between a legitimate healthcare call and a fraudulent one continues to become increasingly difficult. An incoming call from a specialty pharmacy coordinating a medication delivery, for example, can look nearly identical to a scammer attempting to steal personal information. Faced with that uncertainty, patients are left with an uncomfortable choice: ignore unfamiliar numbers and risk missing important medication or care-related information; or answer the call and risk exposure to fraud. Neither option supports the trusted, timely communication patients need.

The result is a vicious cycle. Patients become less likely to answer unfamiliar calls, while organisations delivering legitimate healthcare information find it increasingly difficult to connect with the people they're trying to help. Missed treatment updates, delayed medication deliveries, and unsuccessful patient support outreach can all undermine efforts to improve patient engagement and outcomes.

Building confidence through verified identity

For years, organisations relied on the phone number itself as proof of identity. That approach no longer works in an environment where phone numbers can be spoofed or their reputations compromised.

Instead, organisations and the patients they are trying to reach need greater confidence that every outbound call can be authenticated, monitored, and accurately represented.

Phone number intelligence helps organisations better understand and protect their engagement efforts by confirming call origination, monitoring how phone numbers are categorised across networks, and providing visibility into how outbound calls are presented to recipients.

Three capabilities are becoming increasingly important:

1. Stronger authentication and verification to make it more difficult for fraudsters to impersonate their trusted brands.
2. Better visibility into the reputation of their phone numbers. Even legitimate, high-volume outbound calling programmes can be incorrectly labelled as spam. Monitoring how numbers are classified enables organisations to identify problems early and take corrective action before patient engagement suffers.
3. Clearer way to recognise who is contacting them. When callers can more easily be identified as legitimate healthcare organisations, patients are more likely to answer with confidence.

For an industry focused on improving patient outcomes, maintaining a trusted communications channel has become just as important as delivering the message itself. Rebuilding confidence in those interactions is increasingly essential to effective patient engagement.

Trust is now a critical part of the patient experience

Pharmaceutical companies and other medical organisations have invested heavily in improving the patient experience through innovative therapies, personalised support programmes, and more proactive engagement. Those efforts depend on patients recognising and trusting the communications intended to help them.

When patients ignore legitimate calls, the consequences extend beyond a missed interaction. A refill reminder may go unanswered, a specialty medication delivery may be delayed, a patient support programme may fail to connect with someone who needs assistance, or a clinical trial participant may miss important information. In each case, communication breakdowns can directly affect engagement, adherence, and outcomes.

As AI-powered fraud continues to evolve, trusted communications is an increasingly important differentiator for organisations seeking to build stronger patient relationships. Those that authenticate their communications, monitor the reputation of their phone numbers, and make it easier for patients to recognise legitimate outreach will be better positioned to strengthen engagement and maintain confidence throughout the patient journey.

In today's environment, earning a patient's trust begins before the conversation ever starts. It begins the moment their phone rings.

About the author

Mike Schinnerer is VP of enterprise product management at TNS, with more than 20 years of experience in the banking and wireless industries. He provides strategic and tactical direction for the product team, overseeing enterprise and consumer services that support TNS’ vision to be the global leader in trusted calling experiences. Schinnerer first joined TNS in 2010, spending 12 years in call identification product management before returning in 2024 after a role at cybersecurity start-up Lookout (acquired by F‑Secure). Earlier in his career, Schinnerer was an early employee at Medio Systems and Unwired Planet, both successful start-ups serving mobile operators with big data analytics and mobile applications. He holds a BSc in Management Information Systems from California State University, Chico.