The services go by many different names, but the result is the same: being able to see a doctor without having to go and see a doctor. Today, this can be done over the phone, a video chat on your smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop computer. There are many different vendors who provide these services, such as Tele-Doc and MD Live, and our local hospital systems even offer their own virtual visit programs.
As an employer, you might subscribe to one of these vendors, or you might rely on a benefit already built into your medical plan. Whichever avenue you take, if you do have a virtual visit program in place there are a couple questions you should be asking yourself to determine if it is worth it.
First, are your employees even aware of the program? This might sound a lot like calling for help with your computer and being asked if it is plugged in first. However, the fact is if you are relying mostly on your medical carrier or a few minutes at an open enrollment meeting to explain the benefit, the chances are most of your employees are missing out. A good strategy is one that entails frequent reminders, through email, posters, even payroll stuffers (if you still hand out paychecks). If you have a wellness or safety committee, have them be the “champions” in charge of getting the news out. Any new program is going to take time to be adopted, but you will get out of it what you put into it.
Next, is your virtual visit program cost effective for your employees? Does your program have a cost associated with it, and if so, what is that cost? If the cost for a virtual visit is roughly the same cost or higher than it would be to see a provider in person, than how many people are going to use it? I have seen copays for virtual primary care visits at $39 or $49 per visit. At those prices, while it might save the employee time by not having to drive to a doctor’s office, you are most likely not going to have individuals using the service.
Another question to ask yourself is what challenges your employees face that a virtual visit program could help alleviate. Explaining to employees that you can talk to a doctor over the phone to get an antibiotic or allergy medicine is a real benefit, however, nationally one of the most utilized virtual visit programs is for mental health. Does your program include access to mental health providers, at a low or reasonable cost? How about dermatology? This is one of the fastest growing segments since there can be extremely long wait times to get into a local dermatologist. If you are not sure what issues your employees are having or virtual benefits they would like to see, send out a quick survey and find out.
Lastly, you should develop some metrics in order to monitor how the program is working. If you are using a vendor, they should be able to provide utilization reports. If you are relying on your health insurance carrier, you might not be able to get a utilization report, but you can still survey your employees, formally or informally. Find out what is working and what is not.
With COVID-19 and our current stay at home orders, virtual visits are at the forefront more than ever. How much your employees will be benefiting from telemedicine now and in the future is determined by how much effort you put in when you implement and administer the programs.
Michael Stocker, Employee Benefits Strategist
