Julian Flannery is the Founder and CEO of Summus Global, the leading virtual specialist platform.
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By all accounts, there’s room for improvement in U.S. healthcare and ample opportunity for all stakeholders to contribute. Surprisingly, no one’s doing more to drive reform than patients themselves.
Evolving as consumers and showing remarkable resilience in a pandemic, patients are a major force behind data sharing, value-based reimbursement, virtual care and higher satisfaction rates. As the leader of a virtual specialty care platform, I believe it important that HR leaders from companies of all sizes should be aware of the implications of these trends. Here's what HR professionals need to know about how patients — their very own employees — are changing healthcare and how these leaders can better support employees in 2022.
Support employees with personalized care.
Patients have educated themselves on the importance and ownership of their health records and are more willing to share their personal health information with providers and payers. In exchange, patients expect more information in return: They want their clinician not only to diagnose and treat them, but to educate them about their condition so they can contribute more fully to their well-being. Patients are increasingly demonstrating their eagerness to take charge of their health, using devices and online tools to monitor their activity, vitals and symptoms.
Employers and HR leaders can support their employees by implementing comprehensive solutions that include high-quality virtual care, tools to support personalized engagement, and data and information tools to help their employees feel more powerful in healthcare.
Refocus the care process on value.
Patient-clinician encounters often disappoint. A patient is likely to spend more time in the waiting room and billing office than speaking to the doctor. Documented population health inequities speak for themselves. And who hasn’t left a doctor’s appointment feeling like they just got off an assembly line?
Expecting more, patients are increasingly demanding timely, easy access to clinicians for any health concern. They also insist on quality in both their provider and the health system where they receive care. That’s because no party values outcomes (versus visits or procedures) more than a patient.
So it makes sense for HR to follow the employee’s lead. If an employee needs a specialist, they should quickly see a specialist who can deliver an accurate diagnosis and a clear picture of their treatment path. If an employee needs a multidisciplinary team, let them have a team. Aligning healthcare delivery with the employee’s concerns refocuses the care process on value.
By focusing on solutions that meet the level of care needed, HR professionals can firmly place their health benefits package in the “quality” category that is so important to employees.
Ensure your virtual solutions meet employees' needs.
Knowledge workers have recently discovered that they can operate quite effectively while working from home. Similarly, Covid-era patients have found that virtual care is wholly consistent with quality, not just cost-effectiveness.
Telemedicine unequivocally exceeded expectations during the pandemic, spiking exponentially in use and involving new waves of clinicians. Telehealth as a practice evolved as well. It was initially a channel for routine primary care. Still, it has matured to deliver more personalized patient interaction, including second opinions and disease-specific portals.
Telehealth and virtual-first care are here to stay and have become an expected benefit for employees. Employers need to apply new expectations and measures of success as they incorporate more virtual solutions into their benefits to ensure they will not only see higher levels of engagement among their employees, but real return on investment and outcomes that come with high-quality programs and providers.
Healthcare is changing for the better, and HR has a role to play.
Although healthcare is much more than a transaction, patients are consumers who seek intuitive, convenient experiences like those typically associated with retail and online banking. Why shouldn’t healthcare encounters be easy, frictionless, engaging, timely and integrated throughout the continuum of care? Healthcare systems get it: 86% of hospital CIOs say that improving the patient experience is a strategic priority.
So while we look to policymakers, payors and providers to improve U.S. healthcare, don’t underestimate the patient as a force for progress. Patients are more than passive recipients of healthcare; they demand it, drive it and determine its optimal form. Today, your employees are coming to the system with more information, higher expectations and greater openness to innovation than ever before.
The world for employers and employees has changed dramatically and irrevocably since March of 2020. People are generally more conscious of their health and well-being than ever before and are looking for work environments and cultures that support flexibility. HR leaders need to prioritize fast access to high-quality care and benefits programs that support their employees' individual and family health goals. Human resources teams are now expected to play an even bigger role in helping their workforce to reach their best level of health.
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