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The State of Healthcare Marketing 2026
Most healthcare marketing leaders are confident they can improve ROI. But Freshpaint’s data shows that only 1% can connect more than half their spend to patient outcomes. That mismatch is exactly why Freshpaint commissioned this report. Drawing on survey data from 200 senior healthcare marketing leaders and Freshpaint’s proprietary data, this report maps the measurement gap and shows exactly what separates the organizations closing that gap from those still flying blind.
The Patient Next Door: Meet the New Healthcare Consumer
Healthcare consumers are making decisions differently than they did just a few years ago. Rising costs, fragmented access points, digital health tools, and changing expectations are reshaping how people choose when, where, and whether to seek care.
Drawing on findings from the Q4 2025 wave of the BPD Research Initiative, The Patient Next Door explores the forces influencing healthcare decisions today and what they mean for health systems focused on growth, access, and patient engagement. The findings reveal a significant shift: consumers are taking a more active role in evaluating care options, weighing tradeoffs, and researching solutions long before they engage with a provider.
Healthcare’s Long Walk Toward the Patient brings together lessons from nine years and nearly 500 episodes of the Touch Point Podcast to examine the evolution of healthcare’s digital transformation. Authors and podcast co-hosts Chris Boyer and Reed Smith look back at the ideas, challenges, and changes that have shaped healthcare marketing, digital strategy, and patient engagement—and what the industry has learned along the way.
Organized around key themes from across the podcast, the free ebook explores topics including digital access, healthcare consumerism, marketing, content and social media, data, trust, patient experience, and AI. Throughout, it returns to a central question: Are healthcare’s strategies and technologies ultimately making the experience better for the patient?
Humanizing Brand Experience: Healthcare Edition Vol 9
Now in its 9th year, the Humanizing Brand Experience: Healthcare edition report is a data-driven roadmap leveraging insights from U.S. consumers to build stronger, more human healthcare brands.
The data in Vol. 9 tells a story of two realities: consumers more engaged in their health than ever, and a healthcare system struggling to keep pace with their expectations. Engagement has surged past its pre-COVID peak, but even the most invested consumers are avoiding traditional care, turning instead to AI, wellness brands, and alternatives that are earning the loyalty health systems aren’t. Trust is eroding, and the gap between where people are putting their energy and where health systems are showing up has never been wider.
The $1B Growth Engine Health Systems Are Missing, a report from Digital Health Strategies, examines a significant and often overlooked opportunity for health system growth: helping existing patients follow through on recommended care. The report explores the clinical, behavioral, and organizational barriers that contribute to missed screenings, delayed referrals, and incomplete treatment—and the impact those gaps can have on both patient outcomes and health system growth.
The report introduces an evidence-based, human-centered approach to patient activation that brings together clinical and consumer insights, personalized engagement, and greater collaboration between marketing and care teams. It also outlines practical strategies for identifying where patients are falling out of the care journey and helping them take the next step toward needed care.