Telehealth, telemedicine, and virtual doctors are terms that are not commonly used in the workplace, but very soon they will be. As businesses seek to place employee wellbeing at the forefront of their minds, many will soon turn to technology and embrace HR digital transformation, which ultimately helps employees with medical ailments.
You may be asking yourself, “What is telemedicine, and how does this affect employee wellbeing?”. Well if you are, you’ve come to the right place. This article will give you all the information you need about telemedicine, along with why you may want to start considering utilizing it soon.
What is telemedicine?
Telemedicine refers to offering health-related services and information through online or telecommunication technologies. It allows patients and doctors to connect over long-distance, removing the need for employees to visit the clinic over minor ailments.
The term telemedicine is also known as; telehealth, virtual doctors, online doctors, teledoctor, and doctor on demand. So, if you hear any of these terms, they all refer to the same thing.
Over the years, businesses have been adopting telehealth providers and using them as part of their employee wellbeing strategy. This shows no signs of stopping with the adoption of telehealth providers increasing by 340% in 2019 according to a recent survey of 800 physicians.
What are the benefits of telehealth?
One form of telehealth is virtual doctors. Virtual doctors often operate by allowing their patients to book appointments through an online app and host a live video consultation.
This is an extremely beneficial option for employees as many don’t get the time to visit the doctor during their normal working hours. Due to this, telemedicine is becoming more important to employees with 40% of US millennials stating that having a telemedicine option at work is “extremely important to them”. This trend isn’t just exclusive to individuals either, with large health organizations such as the NHS expected to embrace online doctors very soon due to the £7.5 billion savings they would make by implementing them.
Why virtual doctors are the next step in employee wellbeing
At the moment there are many fads when it comes to employee wellbeing, with perks such as egg freezing, cryopreservation, and nap pods being offered to employees. But in reality, many of us wouldn’t like to be frozen after death, or have children at an age where we may not be active enough to spend time with them? These fads, like many others before, will come and go again in the blink of an eye.
The reason why we think virtual doctors are here to stay is due to the continuous value it brings to employees. It’s not just a one-off benefit like those listed above, it’s something that employees can utilize anywhere, anytime and that genuinely makes a difference in their lives.
Virtual doctors are truly a win-win benefit for both employers and employees. Employers benefit from a healthier and more productive workforce, employees benefit from a convenient form of medical care. So why not look into virtual doctor providers today?
Free report: Discover the risks of employee absence on your company & benchmark against your industry leaders.
Katrina is edays' own People Director with significant UK and international experience in delivering people strategy and value-adding HR solutions across a range of organisations and sectors (including Arriva, Boots, Rolls Royce, the utility and charity sectors). Katrina has over 20 years of experience in Human Resources and is CIPD qualified.