Consumer-driven healthcare has put more decision-making power into employees’ hands. While making employees
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Not all employees have the same level of medical understanding or health literacy, so one important part this toolkit is education. One
To help employees increase their healthcare literacy, employers can work with their health insurance providers or other consultants to develop easy-to-understand, evidence-based resources and decision aids that employees can access confidentially online. Potential topics to cover include:
- Preventing and managing common chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes, asthma and depression.
- Basic information on the diagnosis and treatment of serious illnesses and conditions such as cancer, heart attack and stroke.
- Guidance on how to choose a healthcare provider or specialist.
- Health and wellness strategies to lower the risk of conditions like diabetes, obesity and back pain.
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Which tools help employees make better healthcare decisions?
There are three key elements employers should include in their informed decision-making toolkit:
A support team: Providing employees with access to a support system to guide their decision making and care choices can help them more effectively navigate the complexity of the healthcare system and lower the risk of them making choices that may not yield the best outcomes and may come with unnecessary added costs. The role of patient advocate can be filled by nurse navigator programs many health insurers already offer as well as independent firms that provide one-on-one patient support and guidance. This support team can be especially valuable for employees or family members experiencing a serious illness or injury that requires care from multiple specialists and who may face a long period of treatment and recovery.
Access to second opinions: There are many times that providing employees with access to second medical opinions can impact their diagnosis, treatment plan and outcome. Second opinions can inform employees’ healthcare decisions when they are diagnosed with a serious or life-threatening condition, when their physician can’t reach a definitive diagnosis, when there are several appropriate treatment options and when they are diagnosed with a rare disease or condition. To make using this tool as easy as possible, employers should offer a second opinion benefit that provides both in-person and virtual second opinions. Another advantage of virtual second opinions is that employees can tap the expertise of specialists at centers of excellence all across the country, giving them access to a wider range of experienced physicians.
- Comprehensive medical records management: Informed medical decision making depends on accurate information. When employees see several specialists and receive care at multiple offices and medical centers, there’s an increased risk that their medical records are not complete and up to date. Both employees and their physicians need accurate medical records to make medical decisions. Employers can offer a medical records management service to meet this need. The service should include review of the employee’s records from all providers, consolidation of the information into a single medical record and regular review and updating of the record. Records should be digitized in a secure format so they can be more easily shared with any healthcare provider who care treats the employee.
As employers build a toolkit to help employees make more informed medical decisions, it’s important that they ensure that these tools are easy for employees to access and use. Regular communication about when to use the tools, where to find them, how to access them and where to get help with accessing and using them can increase both use and employee satisfaction with this benefit.
