Konovo Experts Advocate Human-Powered, AI-Accelerated Approach for Healthcare Panel Engagement

In a recent webinar hosted by pharmaphorum, senior experts from Konovo (search)Search term — a global healthcare intelligence company — made the case that while artificial intelligence is transforming healthcare market research, the most powerful insights still come from genuine human connection. The session, titled "Discover a new era of healthcare panel engagement: Grounded in people, accelerated by AI," brought together Becky Harris, senior vice president and head of product at Konovo; Wes Michael, president and founder of Rare Patient Voice (search)Search term (a Konovo company); and Danielle Schroth, vice president of panel operations at Konovo, with moderation by pharmaphorum web editor Nicole Raleigh.

The discussion addressed critical topics impacting today's healthcare market research industry, spanning effective panellist recruitment, robust validation, precision targeting, and enhanced engagement — all through a lens that prioritizes human expertise while leveraging AI-driven innovation.

What researchers should ask AI-powered panel providers

With many platforms now claiming to be AI-powered, Harris argued that this has become a baseline expectation rather than a differentiator. "It should be in their tech development, should be in their product strategy, should be in their general ways of working," she said. Harris encouraged researchers to probe deeper by asking providers about their AI policy, drawing a sharp distinction between being AI-driven — "where there's the algorithm and the technology doing the work" — and approaches where "people are verifying what's actually happening."

Transparency emerged as equally critical. "Are we being transparent when it's being used, how it's being used? Do they know, do they consent to it?" Harris asked. "Some of the best partners that I have seen out there, they're incredibly transparent when the technology is doing the work versus when the human is doing that work."

From the patient and caregiver perspective, Michael agreed that transparency aids evaluation. He urged researchers to ask: "How are they also getting their participants to be good market research contributors? What are they doing to empower and educate those individuals so that they make good decisions?"

Turning technology into insight, not noise

The panelists cautioned that the rapid pace of AI deployment must be matched with intentionality. "In truth, if you haven't actually been intentional around the problem that you're solving for, then it's going to be really hard to utilise the output from that," Harris warned. "You end up with noise."

Drawing a parallel to the data democratization movement of years past, Harris emphasized that context and research objectives must guide AI use. "We can speed up one element, but actually we should be really challenging ourselves to wonder how do we ask better questions or how do we use AI to be a thought partner so that we remove the noise and we can be a lot more intentional about how and when we're using it, not just put AI in front of everything as that badge."

Michael offered a practical analogy, comparing AI's role to that of a junior researcher who once performed the labor-intensive work of creating charts and graphs. "Instead of the junior researcher doing all the crunching, AI can do that, but it still needs to be turned into that insight, and AI can help us do that," he explained.

Fraud prevention and the human element

The conversation naturally progressed to fraud prevention, where Harris outlined key questions researchers should pose: "What is your policy if it's determined that a respondent has used AI in their participation frequency? And the tools surrounding quality checks and validation, what are those tools? How are they integrated? At what point does a human weigh in?"

Michael highlighted the particular challenges in verifying patient participants compared to healthcare professionals. "It's even more difficult with patients than with HCPs because at least you have NPI numbers to start with," he noted. "A patient, you know, the self-stated diagnosis, you've got to really be sure. Is it some bot in some foreign country?" His recommendation: "What we like to do is meet people in person; talk about old school, right? Go to the patient events or referral partners, patients, know other patients, the advocacy groups, know folks. If you get the right people to begin with, that solves most of your fraud problems right there."

Balancing speed with quality

Addressing the industry's relentless push for faster turnaround, Harris maintained that speed should not compromise data trustworthiness. "We shouldn't move faster in the things that really make the data trustworthy," she said. "We want to consistently expand our access, build more tools, but that can't happen at the expense of verifying the validity of the access."

Michael reflected on how far the industry has come, recalling his first online physician study in the year 2000: "What a surprise to get the data back in a day because we're used to having it come back a month later and using a month to plan the data analysis. Industry had to figure out how to take advantage of that speed."

Sustaining meaningful participation over time

At the core of the discussion was the question of what keeps HCPs and patients participating meaningfully over time. Schroth emphasized the importance of listening: "We're here to provide a platform for them to elevate their voice and get a seat at the table."

Harris framed the challenge in terms of serving two customers. "Without our HCPs and our patients feeling the same way, we're not going to have a happy customer because they're not going to want to participate with regularity."

Michael underscored the enduring value of direct human interaction: "There's nothing better because AI can transfer the information. Here's what the client wants, here's what we can do. You need to add that human touch on top of the wonderful stuff that AI does."

Konovo (search)Search term, which acquired Rare Patient Voice (search)Search term in February 2026, maintains a global network of 200,000 verified patients and family caregivers, along with millions of verified healthcare professionals worldwide. The company positions itself at the intersection of human expertise and technological innovation, aiming to deliver smarter, faster insights for better health outcomes.