SUPPORTING EMPLOYEES THROUGH HEALTH EVENTS

Supporting your employees with health benefits is good for both your organization and your employees. A comprehensive employee benefits plan can support the treatment of health conditions, but what about when emergency situations strike? When it comes to health events or emergencies, an effective plan will not only support someone in a time of need, but also help prevent or minimize the occurrence of one.

Employee Benefits and Health Events

The good news is that many health events are manageable with the right treatment and coverage options. This is where your employee health benefits can come in. The right plan can support your employees in getting the treatment they need and offer solutions that can help worsening conditions.

Sharing the cost is a good decision if budget is a factor, but it’s also a good way to encourage employees to help keep plan costs under control. When employees are paying for a portion of their benefits, they’re more likely to be responsible consumers. This helps trim waste in plan spend and keep the plan affordable for everyone.

1. Employee and Family Assistance Program (EFAP)

Including an employee and family assistance program as part of your benefits plan is critical to provide easy access to mental health support.

An Employee and Family Assistance Program provides free, short-term counselling 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The program also facilitates longer-term counselling and provides a host of resources on its website. By removing barriers to getting help for mental health challenges, employees are more likely to get the help they need before their mental health deteriorates into a chronic disease.

An employee and family assistance program provides more than just counselling. Most plans have tools and resources for smoking cessation along with alcohol and drug abuse problems. Both smoking and excessive alcohol consumption can have a big impact on the development and deterioration of chronic disease. Providing this benefit can give employees the tools to treat and minimize these unhealthy behaviours, which impacts the instance and prevalence of your employees experiencing a health event or emergency.

2. Prescription Drug Coverage with Virtual Pharmacy

Prescription drugs are often an essential element of an effective treatment for chronic disease. The right medications can help slow down the progression of the disease and manage the symptoms.

Providing comprehensive prescription drug coverage means your employees are more likely to have their prescriptions filled. With no national prescription drug program, without coverage your employees will have to pay out of pocket for prescription drugs. Many people without coverage are unable or unwilling to have their prescriptions filled. This can impact their chronic disease, which then impacts your organization.

In addition to providing prescription drug coverage, providing access to a virtual pharmacy as part of your employee benefits plan can also help increase the probability that your employees with chronic conditions are getting the medications they need.

A virtual pharmacy means employees have their prescriptions filled via a remote, central-dispensing pharmacy and the medication is shipped to their door. The pharmacy can automatically ship refills, so your employees are less likely to run out of the medication they need. This is especially important for those suffering from chronic disease. Taking the right medication at the right time (prescription drug adherence) can lead to more positive health outcomes and better management of a chronic disease.

3. Virtual Healthcare and Access to Quality Care

The most important way that virtual healthcare supports the health of your employees is by improving access to quality medical care. It’s true that some General Practitioners (GPs) offer virtual healthcare as part of their practice, but virtual healthcare as part of your employee benefits package takes it further.

GroupHEALTH partners with TELUS Health to provide virtual healthcare as part of employee benefit plans. The service is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It’s an important tool to support an employee with a chronic disease.

Virtual healthcare removes barriers to accessing health services such as travelling to and from a healthcare provider. It can be exhausting for someone suffering from an illness to travel to a provider. With virtual health benefit employees can access care at a time and place that is convenient for them.

The very best way you can support the health of your employees is to give them better access to healthcare. Virtual healthcare benefits are the way to do it.

Good advice is key

Is your employee health benefits plan optimized to prevent chronic disease amongst your employees and effectively manage those that already have it? If not, it’s time to take a good look at your plan. Review your options with one of our licensed advisors on the phone or in-person or contact us for a comparison quote.

Whether you’re looking for extended health and dental coverage, disability coverage, or life and critical illness coverage, GroupHEALTH has affordable benefit packages that work as hard as you do.