Embracing telehealth benefits in the workplace
Here are steps employers and their advisors should take to encourage employees to take advantage of all that telehealth has to offer.
What a difference a pandemic makes. The “new norm” has millions of people staying at home, working remotely, and adjusting to the daily challenges created by COVID-19. For many of us, our entire world is different. However, there are still old rules at play; corporations continue to be coupled with the physical, mental health, and well-being of its employees.
Most people depend on their employers for health care benefits and employee health directly impacts productivity and, therefore, the bottom line. With fewer people going to the doctor’s office, employers are expanding health care plans to include telehealth services. This is the new norm governed by old rules.
Related: The future of telehealth is hybrid
Data shows that due to COVID-19, urgent virtual-care visits increased by 683%, and non-urgent virtual-care visits by 4,345% between March and April 2020. These stats are hard to ignore.
For employers, telehealth can help mitigate increasing health insurance plan costs. Virtual visit appointments generally bill for less than comparable in-office services, which means insurance companies do not have to pay providers as much for claims. These savings help insurers keep premiums affordable for employers and employees, lowering both parties’ premium payments. Fewer in-office visits also result in reduced absenteeism, and generally a healthier workforce with increased productivity. Additionally, millennials now comprise the largest percentage of today’s workforce and are more likely to adopt new technology, making them prime candidates for telehealth visits.
For employees, the benefits of telehealth are obvious. There are fewer out-of-pocket fees for urgent care or emergency room copays, and financial incentives offered by many health plans. Most important, it is far easier and safer these days to get treatment remotely than by going to a doctor’s office or hospital. This is especially true when seeking after-hours care, or trying to manage childcare, work needs, or live in a remote location.
The adoption of telehealth into our life has been accelerated by COVID-19, but it’s not nearly enough to ensure that employees are taking preventative care. There are steps employers and their advisors should take to encourage employees to take advantage of all that telehealth has to offer while also increasing adoption of virtual care services by all:
1. Providing simple telehealth systems that can be easily used in the home. Many employer health care benefits cover employees and their families. Telehealth is now available on the phone, computer and TV. If you share your work computer with your family and your family needs to see the doctor,they can use one of these many channels. Employers should consider expanding the family coverage plans to include simple-to-use devices as part of their plans to ensure access to health care services 24/7 to everyone young or old.
2. Educate and communicate with the workforce about preventative care using telehealth services. Everyone puts off addressing health issues until it gets too hard to ignore. This happens for multiple reasons, such as taking time off for appointments, the cost of health care and just human nature. In these challenging times, employers should invest in educating and encouraging employees to access telehealth services which have made preventative care simple. The loud and clear message should be, “we care about you.”
3. Encourage telehealth use. We are all in this together, (even though we are six feet apart), and one way to improve the employee’s health is by encouraging telehealth utilization as much as possible. While telehealth isn’t a perfect solution for every medical need, it can be an important resource in today’s environment for strategies like pre-screening a patient before they need to see a physician in person. Encouraging the use of telehealth technology can provide a safe and effective way to minimize the risk of exposure in today’s COVID world. And if the employee is infected and in mandated quarantine, they can still receive health care services in the privacy of their home, without exposing family and friends to their condition.
Adoption of telehealth by employers and employees alike continues to rise, and the benefits are clear: ease of use and access, more flexibility, and reduction in the cost of delivery.
There is no doubt that telehealth is the future. It has solved a huge challenge for businesses of all types and sizes, and for all Americans throughout the workplace.
Tom Conroy is CEO and cofounder of MedSign.
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