Medical device companies face significant challenges connecting all the healthcare providers, diagnoses, sites of care, and treatments involved in complex patient journeys. But finding their way through murky referral networks and tracking which patients have been referred by which doctor to which specialist may be the most difficult.

Companies bringing innovative, superior treatments want to educate primary care physicians (PCPs) and specialists, but find it difficult to know which providers they should target. Traditionally, Medtech commercial teams have relied on explicit referral data to see connections between PCPs and specialists, but this data is notoriously unreliable. Busy doctors frequently neglect to document referring physicians accurately, resulting in incomplete or misleading data. And even when they do record this data, the record only captures the last referring physician and not the entirety of a patient’s journey.

Despite these challenges, medtech companies must directly educate providers on their new innovations because it’s simply too difficult for providers to keep up with the incredible pace of technological development. According to a 2024 survey, 80% of physicians report being overworked. The volume of innovation can overwhelm providers who are already feeling strained by high case volume, staffing challenges, and administrative responsibilities. It is simply impractical for PCPs to find and learn all the latest treatment options for their patients, nor research the area specialists providing these new treatments and the outcomes patients are experiencing.

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This lack of clear guidance has left Medtech sales representatives relying on existing doctor relationships or pounding the pavement to build an understanding of referral patterns, a time and resource-intensive process that returns inconsistent results. Scott McKay, icotec Medical Product Manager, has experienced firsthand how challenging it can be to reach and educate the right physicians about their carbon fiber pedicle screw for spinal tumor treatment. “We needed to deeply understand referral networks and multidisciplinary cooperation because our technology benefits radiation oncologists, although it’s used by surgeons,” McKay said.

Anthony Parrillo, Teleflex Global Vice President of Marketing, also felt the pain. His team wanted to launch marketing campaigns and educational events to raise awareness of their UroLift technology, a minimally invasive treatment for the 14 million men who live with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) or enlarged prostate, but could not uncover the PCPs who were diagnosing BPH the most, or regions where patients were concentrated.

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“BPH patients often spend years moving through fragmented healthcare pathways, with their primary care providers frequently adopting a ‘wait-and-see’ approach as only a small percentage (3%) of patients elect to have a surgical intervention due to certain risks,” Parrillo explained. “This prolongs patients’ suffering unnecessarily when we offer a safer, less invasive option. Precise referral data could allow us to intervene earlier, improving patient quality of life significantly.”

When referrals rely on relationships, patients miss out

Typically, patients are referred for treatment based on either physician expertise, available specialized equipment, or – when in doubt – existing relationships. Ideally, a referring provider’s decision would optimize the right mix of expertise and equipment that leads a patient to the best possible outcome. But as noted, it’s a challenge for providers to be aware of all available options in their area, so many fall back on existing relationships for their referrals.

On the other hand, and compounding the challenge, treating specialists are often unaware of all referring providers in their area or even why they receive the patients who are referred to them. It’s a black hole, and it results in a specialist’s inability to reach more patients who could benefit from new forms of specialized treatment.

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Here is a real-life example of the serious impact of cloudy referral pathways:

A gastroenterologist referred a female patient living in San Francisco to a specialist in Los Angeles, a seven-hour drive away. Hoping to find a specialist closer to home, the patient researched and identified a specialist at Stanford, which was only 30 minutes away. Unfortunately, by the time her new referral came through, the Stanford clinic had stopped admitting new patients.

If the patient’s gastroenterologist knew where advanced specialty clinics existed – in this case, right in the patient’s backyard – he could have quickly referred the patient to where it was convenient. Further, the Stanford clinic was not aware of how many patients in the Bay Area had this diagnosis and therefore didn’t scale their available services accordingly. And, in this case, everyone lost.

Fortunately, new data-driven technology is changing the game.

Advanced commercial intelligence platforms now leverage longitudinal patient data that covers the entire care journey and capture both implicit and explicit referrals, to remove the historical referral blind spots and provide visibility into patient movement across care settings. With holistic data, Medtech companies can better understand referral patterns and more effectively support healthcare providers. In short, by being able to track the patient’s journey, companies gain a comprehensive, more reliable history of patient referrals.

It’s not just the data, it’s what you do with it

Today’s intelligence platforms harness massive amounts of patient encounter data, creating an anonymized token that makes a patient unique in the model while protecting personal health information (PHI). Once tokenized, all claims linked to that distinct identifier are captured, analyzed, and linked together as one patient record across all providers, diagnoses, sites of care, and treatments. Unifying patient data unlocks a wide array of impactful conclusions, including patient leakage from a hospital or system, intervention benchmarking, referral networks, and treatment modeling.

Now, Medtech companies can plug in any pair of events and understand patient behavior across time and geography for powerful decision-making.

For instance, Teleflex has utilized detailed data insights to inform targeted educational campaigns, including a mobile training unit touring across the country to deliver hands-on training and educational outreach. “With precise data, we are identifying high-concentration areas for both physician training and patient education,” Parrillo explained. “This approach ensures we maximize our reach and resources, educating physicians about minimally invasive therapies and increasing patient awareness.”

Icotec has also embraced data-driven educational initiatives, actively hosting multidisciplinary educational events designed to facilitate direct communication between surgeons and radiation oncologists. Scott McKay emphasized the transformative potential of these collaborative sessions: “Getting specialists out of their silos to discuss patient episodes holistically elevates the standard of care. Precise referral data enables us to pinpoint exactly which specialists should be collaborating, enhancing these educational opportunities and ultimately patient outcomes.”

These advancements are already driving substantial successes. At Teleflex, Parrillo reports tangible benefits in optimizing sales and marketing strategies. “Using precise data, we’ve been able to refine our outreach, ensuring resources target high-impact areas,” he explained. “We’ve optimized where our sales reps are deployed and enhanced the effectiveness of educational campaigns. The result? A clearer pathway for patients to receive timely, minimally invasive treatments.”

Similarly, icotec’s Scott McKay added, “We’re no longer guessing. We come to the table knowing exactly where the opportunities lie, helping our surgeon partners build stronger multidisciplinary teams around patients.”

Looking forward, Medtech companies that leverage these precise data capabilities stand to profoundly impact patient experiences. Visibility into referral pathways enables earlier intervention, optimized treatment decisions, and collaborative provider relationships. Furthermore, companies are now able to forecast and respond to market needs more effectively.

Ultimately, as companies continue embracing longitudinal patient data solutions, they are poised not only for market success but, critically, to drive meaningful improvements in healthcare delivery. The precision and depth of these insights provide a powerful mechanism to overcome traditional barriers, enhance interdisciplinary collaboration, and deliver patient-centered care.