by Emily Smith
During the COVID-19 pandemic, my 65-year-old father-in-law decided to schedule a virtual telehealth visit in lieu of an in person visit – something he wouldn't have agreed to in previous years. And he’s not alone. These past few years have ushered in an entire host of digital health solutions, making access to care easier. Telehealth is just one of them, as are wellness apps, monitoring solutions, and a wide range of condition or solution specific applications.
Technology has elevated many operations to the digital platform, including the health sector. As a result, employees can access medical services from different platforms on the phone, computer, or any mobile device. According to reports by Deloitte healthcare trends, venture funding for health care innovations superseded $14 billion in 2020 when COVID-19 struck. All indications point to this trend being a long-lasting, significant one.
“When it comes to health and benefits solutions, there’s no shortage of options. In the last decade, digital health offerings have grown exponentially, and HR teams have hundreds of different vendors vying for their attention every day as they struggle with competing priorities,” shares Jennifer Gamboa, Sustainable Health Index’s managing partner.
Under the benefits umbrella, offering digital health solutions in an on-demand, personalized platform can incentivize staff in caring for their own health and also play a significant role in their retention. No wonder, employees feel safe working with an employer promoting digital health solutions. We’re seeing this trend play out especially among employers who strive to maintain an “employer of choice” status or who want to attract top talent within a competitive industry.
Digital Health Benefits for Employees
Work influences health and wellbeing in ways that have long been understood as well as ways that are more recently recognized. Gamboa shares, “We all want to take care of our people; the way we are going about it right now is costly and ineffective because we treat health, safety, and wellness separately and as individual endeavors. In addition to pursuing value-based care for those who already need care, we need to better understand employee distress as a collective problem in order to build healthy corporate habits that support healthy workers.”
Digital health solutions are not meant to replace, but complement, the typical medical provider by filling in existing gaps. They offer support in four notable areas:
1. Accessibility
Digital means the service is available online, and anyone can easily access it from anywhere in the world. Employers can provide the same service to marginalized employees or those who don't work in the physical office. Because the vast majority of Americans own a digital device with internet access, these solutions have a broad appeal to a wide range of diverse employees – and even their dependents.
2. Autonomy
People are more in control of personal issues on a digital platform where everyday life can be lived out from financial transfers to shopping, and from education to entertainment. Healthcare services are now in the same space, which helps people access solutions for their families or for their own personal needs online.
3. Increased self-awareness
Access to digital healthcare solutions helps people recognize when they need to seek help. Mental health is a concern because few people know and acknowledge that they need such support in this area. However, access to digital self-care helps people to become proactive in monitoring and managing their health not only physically, but mentally as well.
4. Healthy Habits
The ability to monitor personal health is a proactive measure that keeps employees healthy. Digital healthcare solutions can also minimize employee absenteeism because they can help individuals address problems early on, before escalating. Tracking, incentives and rewards are often utilized in digital tech platforms focused on wellness as a way to help solidify positive habits in employee health and productivity.
Factors to Consider When Choosing the Right Digital Innovations
Before incorporating a digital healthcare solution into your organization, employers and brokers should ensure that the service on offer benefits employees while supporting the company's growth strategy.
A platform like Sustainable Health Index has direct correlation to the goals of both the individual employee and the entire organization. “SHI operationalizes Total Worker Health by connecting the dots between work and health. Beyond raising organizational self-awareness, we partner with employers to build more substantive and enduring foundations for Total Worker Health and, ultimately, operational effectiveness,” explains Gamboa. “We help organizations assess 3 key cost centers of health, safety, and wellbeing; identify essential opportunities to build healthy corporate habits through integrated policies, programs, and practices that improve Total Worker Health and decrease the severity and incidence of claims.”
Here are three factors the employer should consider before settling for a specific solution.
- The platform should be evidence-based.
- The solution should have continued and measured employee engagement.
- The program should align with corporate objectives to address pain points connected to the health of the employee population.
However, Gamboa warns, “Many of these digital offerings frame health and well-being around self-care, and fail to provide accountability, strategy or a business model that directly addresses the root causes of high claims. The only thing that will ultimately decrease healthcare costs is to decrease severity and incidence of claims.”
The Granite List is proud to feature Sustainable Health Index as a benefits solution on our site.