More than two years since Covid entered our daily lives, we’ve become more accustomed to doing things at home. Telehealth use surged in 2020 and is holding steady, while working from home is preferred by at least 65% of adults.
And while the immediate threat of Covid has subsided a bit, we still want and expect convenience in every aspect of our lives. Now is the time for health plans and employers to seize the momentum around at-home healthcare.
One way employers can make care more convenient is by offering alternatives to in-person yearly biometric screenings and leveraging portable screening kits, which allow employees to get a snapshot of their overall health—including blood pressure, BMI, cholesterol and blood-glucose levels—from the comfort of their own home. At-home screening kits, when paired with an app that walks users through the screening process and helps them interpret results, are the most accessible way to get employees to engage in their own healthcare.
Providing convenient preventive care solutions is essential to closing gaps in care and empowering individuals with real data. As many as one in four millennials don’t have a primary care doctor to oversee routine screening, and home-based screening kits can serve as a wakeup call for those at risk for chronic disease (e.g., patients with signs of pre-diabetes and other chronic conditions) by providing immediate and actionable insights.
Here are 4 benefits of at-home healthcare that employers should consider.
- Time savings. It’s not actual health screenings that keep patients away from the doctor – it’s the hassle of making an appointment, taking time off work and the overall inconvenience. Many working adults cannot afford to take a day off work to go to the doctor. Even for those that can, waiting for an appointment with a primary care doctor could take weeks which keeps patients in the dark about their health status. At-home screenings allow working Americans to take control of their health on their own terms, with fast results delivered straight to their phone as soon as the screening occurs.
- Instant results. Reperio’s screening kits deliver actionable insights for users by way of the mobile app – alerting them in real time to readings that are out of range or require a doctor’s follow-up. Users are aware of exactly where they stand and don’t need to wait days for some hard-to-decipher blood test results to be delivered to a patient portal. Further, these insights are easy-to-understand for the average American user, eliminating the need to Google and self-interpret lab results.
- Employee satisfaction. Engaging employees in their health can be hard. But the good news is employees care about wellness more than ever and are ready to utilize tools to help them track and monitor their health status and progress. In a recent study with more than 1,000 full-time employed respondents, nearly 30% selected the at-home screening option over in-person options (doctor’s office, pharmacy, etc.) Because home-based health screening kits like Reperio’s are easy to use, and the accompanying app shares information in a relatable way, employees can feel comfortable completing screenings at home with app-based guidance.
- Cost savings. Aside from employee health and well-being, cost savings is one of the biggest benefits for healthcare stakeholders, especially health plans and employers. Heart disease, diabetes and hypertension are three of the most expensive chronic conditions in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), but these conditions are preventable. Early detection means lower spend on hospitalizations and chronic disease management.
Giving employees the option of using at-home healthcare services tells them that their preferences and busy lives are being considered—ultimately boosting employees happiness, health and overall satisfaction while saving costs.
