Ask an Adviser: What’s the best approach to digital health?

Welcome to Ask an Adviser, EBN’s new weekly column in which benefit brokers and advisers answer (anonymous) queries sent in by our readers. Looking for some expert advice? Please submit questions to askanadviser@arizent.com.

This week, we asked Les C. Meyer, a healthcare strategist who also chairs the Informed Opinion Leadership Action Group, to weigh in on the following: There are so many digital health tools out there. What elements should we be looking for in our search for the right solution? 

There is no disputing that there’s an overwhelming amount of ineffective digital health offerings in the market. Many platforms lack robust capabilities to empower employees with personalized care support tools, or access to advanced practice primary care network providers.

However, there’s a better way forward. Digital health innovations are an inextricable link to improving employee vitality and productivity. They also significantly reduce the total cost of care and positively accelerate excellence in organizational performance.

Read more: Ask an Adviser: How can benefits best support a multigenerational workforce?

Digital health technologies build upon the trusted doctor-patient relationship. They’re designed to steer employees to high-value, personalized care support and evidence-based improvement programs. This produces better experiences for patients and clinicians alike, generating positive results on a macro level. They include improved population health, reduced healthcare costs and empowered workforces that thrive.

Employers that leverage the best digital health offerings are adopting a proven center-of-excellence strategy that includes high-value, advanced practice primary care providers. An example is Everside Health, one of the nation’s largest direct primary care providers whose more than 340 clinics in 33 states are conveniently located at or near the facilities of employers, unions and other clients.

Its technology-driven platform aligns incentives to benefit the employee, physician and provider, while reducing the total cost of care. Employees and their dependents receive frictionless access to low- or no-cost in-person and virtual care, as well as clinical self-care guidance 24/7, reducing the need for costly ER use.

Read more: Ask an Adviser: How can HCM technology benefit your business?

Particularly noteworthy is that the company’s clinical outcomes exceed Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) measures for commercial PPO benchmarks created by the National Committee for Quality Assurance. Employer clients typically reduce overall healthcare costs by 20%.

George Westerman, a research scientist and senior lecturer at MIT, nailed it in suggesting that, “when digital transformation is done right, it’s like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, but when done wrong, all you have is a really fast caterpillar.”