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10 Feb 2021
by Dawn Lewis

Digital health: Laura Jackson of Credit Suisse on doing things the right way

The impact of Covid-19 on digital healthcare services through the workplace has been unprecedented. The take-up of such services – from telemedicine to virtual GP sessions and apps – has seen this area of the healthcare market develop rapidly and at a much greater pace than previously anticipated. This growth has not only been from necessity – due to restrictions in accessing healthcare in more traditional ways – but also through increased confidence in using these types of services.

 

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The importance of digital health was raised during REBA’s recent webinar on using risk benefits to underpin a strategy built on data and prevention. Laura Jackson, global head of wellbeing and benefits strategy at Credit Suisse, highlighted that although digital health has a role to play within employee benefits it has to be done in the right way.

The pandemic’s impact on digital health benefits

There has been a gradual adoption of digital benefit solutions, but this has accelerated over the past few months. Aon’s UK Benefits & Trends Survey 2021 revealed that there has been a surge in popularity of digital GP offerings, both as a standalone product and when offered as a value-add service with insurance products. Aon’s 2020 survey showed that less than half of employers provided this benefit. However, this year’s survey has shown that figure leap to more the two-thirds of employers and it is a trend that it expects will continue.

Jackson agrees that the pandemic has certainly had a positive impact on the adoption of digital health services. She explained that Covid-19 has encouraged people to get over their reservations about telemedicine and to more readily embrace digital services.

“Telemedicine is, for me, going to be a future enabler because people are a lot more comfortable now talking in this virtual way,” she says.

The study Telemedicine Adoption in the Age of Covid-19 and Beyond (2020) by Doctor.Com revealed that this type of digital health service is certainly here to stay, with 83% of patients surveyed expecting to use telemedicine after the pandemic resolves. Key to this change lies around the convenience of a digital appointment over a physical one.

Digital benefits

Other than convenience for employees, there are further advantages to digital health solutions. Jackson highlighted that one such benefit is the ability for employees to feel more at ease with virtual conversations. 

“I was talking to the mental health first aider group…they said, very interestingly, that virtual conversations were easier because somebody is talking in their home. And so they felt much more relaxed. If their child came in and interrupted you could lead it to a conversation about how they’re coping with the children at home. So they were getting to the nub of the issues from a mental health perspective much quicker – so digital/virtual does have a part to play,” she says.

Employers also benefit from greater use of digital health tools in the workplace. The depth of health data that these tools generate can help to shape and inform wellbeing strategies. Workplace health apps range from those focusing on mental health through to activity monitors, and broader health and wellbeing tools.

However, despite the benefits these can bring, Jackson believes that these do not always offer a one-size-fits-all answer. “People have a natural allegiance to health apps that they are already using – so the question is: do people naturally move from one to another just because their employer introduces it? [If they don’t], unfortunately it means that we can’t necessarily harness all the data.” she adds.

Getting the balance right

With many different solutions on the market, plus employee benefit providers and insurers offering digital tools and solutions as add-ons, deciding what to offer and promote is not always straightforward.

Yet, what is clear, is the need for balance. Not all employees will appreciate or want to use digital health solutions, while the delivery of some health services can be more effective in the ‘real’ world.

As Jackson notes: “I worry that if we did do everything digitally we’re all on our phones, on our screens, it’s constant, all digital. And actually sometimes the best thing we can do is move away from a screen. I’m not saying digital health doesn’t play a part, because it absolutely does. But it has to be done in the right way.”

For more on this topic, watch the full webinar on how to create a robust wellbeing plan – using risk benefits to underpin a strategy built on data and prevention.

The author is Dawn Lewis, content editor at REBA.