Benefits to employers
How offering access to both telehealth and telepsych benefits companies and employees.
Whether you offer access to both telehealth and telepsych services through your group health insurance plan or through supplemental benefit accounts, there are immense benefits to your company in doing so.
Lower costs
By providing your employees with access to both telehealth and telepsych services and encouraging that they do so, you can lower the cost of your health insurance premiums and the overall cost of employment.
- Telemedicine saves employees between $300 and $1,000 per year.
- Telemedicine can save payers $300-1,500 per ER visit. This lowers the amount of claims against your insurance plan, which lowers your insurance premiums.
- Patients of telemedicine avoid unnecessary tests, saving an average of $118 per episode of care, which lowers claims against your insurance plan and lowers your premiums.
- Telepsych helps employees deal with financial stress. Financial stress results in a 34% increase in absenteeism, and tardiness at work which results in lower productivity.
- Better mental health among employees leads to lower turnover rates. Employee turnover costs companies between 1.5-2x the employee’s salary.
of savings per year
Telemedicine saves employees between $300 and $1,000 per year.
of adults use telehealth
According to a CDC survey of US adults in 2021 about telehealth usage.
expansion in telehealth
70% of healthcare providers have expanded the use of telehealth since 2020.
Improves productivity
Did you know the average 20-minute in-person doctor appointment takes 2 hours including transportation, wait times, paperwork, interacting with non-medical staff? This means every medical need requires employees to do a cost-benefit calculation of receiving the care they need vs. staying at their desk to complete their work and “be present”. Telehealth enables them to do both, especially for employees that work remotely all or part of the time. This leads to a healthier staff because they’re more likely to receive the care they need, which leads to fewer sick days and increased engagement and productivity at work.
Increasing access to mental health services via telepsych benefits can help employees manage and resolve mental illnesses such as depression which interferes with a person’s ability to complete job tasks 20% of the time and reduces their cognitive performance 35% of the time.
Improves recruitment and retention efforts
The use of, and satisfaction with, telehealth and telepsych services has been growing nationally.
- According to the CDC, 37% of US adults reported using telehealth in the previous 12 months.
- 70% of healthcare providers have expanded the use of telehealth since 2020.
- 95% of patients surveyed by the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) reported being highly satisfied with the quality of telehealth care they received and the ease with which they received it.
This is a benefit that people want. They like the convenience of the care and they appreciate the cost savings. By offering employees this benefit, you’re not just giving them a benefit they know they want, you’re also widening their choice of providers which can increase their satisfaction with their benefits package and the company overall.