How Employers Are Shaping The Future Of Healthcare - Corwin N. Harper, MHA, FACHE
“More employers are adding virtual care tools to their benefits packages, so more virtual care offerings are appearing in email inboxes and LinkedIn feeds.”
As a believer in connecting healthcare with the community, I always try to find ways to better do so. But to that, we would need a strong foundation from the inside first, where everyone is dedicated to a similar goal and strives to make healthcare accessible. I recently read an article published by Forbes, How Employers Are Shaping The Future Of Healthcare by Wei-Li Shao, and it pointed out what employers are doing on the inside to assist with making healthcare accessible for everyone.
In today’s society, it is undeniable that technology has made a lot of things accessible for us, whether it’s checking the weather, reading the lives, or looking up bus wait times, technology is all around us. Back in 2020, technology even made meeting doctors easier with the help of virtual appointments. As there are setbacks, it also has a high level of innovation when it comes to virtual care.
The article lists three truths about the innovations of virtual care:
1. Virtual care doesn’t replace in-person care.
“We all know Covid drove telemedicine forward out of necessity, and even prior to the pandemic, many believed telemedicine could be the path of the future, replacing in-person care altogether.”
Although convenient, some appointments are better to be done in person to make a better analysis of the patients. Therefore virtual care should complement in-person visits and not be a replacement for all doctor visits. It is best for an individual to make in-person visits when they can and virtual appointments when needing advice.
2. Better patient engagement and health habits are important.
“Virtual care empowers people to actively engage with care plans daily, creating better health habits.”
The most effective virtual care programs offer engaging peer communities and highly trained, certified health coaches and specialists available to patients asynchronously. Having multiple resources available to you and using them will help you achieve your health goals. It cuts down waiting time and quicker results when seeking the right plan according to their lifestyle.
3. Healthcare ROI is a long game.
“Healthcare is expensive, and it seems logical that employers might pursue immediate solutions for cutting costs.”
Would you rather pay $20 a month and be able to see a doctor/specialist with a low co-pay OR pay close to $50-$200 for every visit? Healthcare is expensive, there’s no doubt about that, but it is a long-term investment where with healthcare, you would have more resources opened up to you.
“The long-term value of supported patient engagement is clear: Healthier employees ultimately create a healthier bottom line.”
Employers are largely responsible for providing healthcare benefits to Americans. Although virtual care cannot replace human interactions, it certainly improves it with technology. As an innovative transformational healthcare leader, it is my duty to accept that change is all around us and that it is for the greater good. By utilizing resources that are available to help connect others with healthcare, it would set the bar for the healthcare industry.
Connect with Corwin on LinkedIn.
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About Corwin: An empathetic and authentic leader who champions improving humanity through healthcare, Corwin Harper has contributed over 35 years of experience in various areas, from healthcare systems to fiduciary and governance to economic development. Corwin’s strengths include analyzing and assessing situations to create multi-year strategy plans, and he has the vision to identify new business opportunities where others fail to see the potential. Through his innovation as a transformational healthcare leader, he aims at creating a more human world with a strong focus on social and educational equity to improve humanity for all.
