Employers should consider offering a Telehealth benefit to their employees. Why? It offers many advantages to both the employer and employees. Common names for this important benefit include Telemedicine and Virtual Office Visits, and many know it by the name of their Telehealth provider. Regardless what you call it, Telehealth technology means patients no longer need to visit the ER or urgent care clinic for common ailments.
Virtual Office Visits save employees time from having to drive to a clinic or schedule a doctor’s appointment and is typically available at a fraction of the cost of regular office visits and in-person treatments. Both the
employer and employee save money on unnecessary, costly visits; plus, employees do not have to miss a day of work to see a doctor. This reduces the undue stress of having to miss a day of work to receive a medical consultation.
How it Works
Telehealth is usually the most readily available, quick, and cost-efficient method to get medical treatment. Once employers purchase a Telehealth plan for their employees, they simply register online or via a downloadable app. When the employee or dependent needs to visit a doctor, they just call the nurse line or log into their Telehealth account and request a consult. There is no travel and no waiting rooms—just one-on-one communication with a physician.
This technology provides quick access to U.S. board-certified internal medicine, pediatrics, and family physicians via telephone or video feed. Most Telehealth providers offer unlimited service 24 hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week, 365 days-a-year. These doctors can send prescriptions to the pharmacy or directly to the employee’s house for basic ailments such as sinus infections, allergic reactions, and rashes—and for more complicated medical conditions, such as bronchitis, tonsillitis, strep throat, MRSA, and flu.
Benefits Administration
Benefits Administration firms like Web 
Benefits Design make it easy to offer this fantastic benefit. For instance, Web Benefits Design provides an integrated benefits administration system that seamlessly accommodates Telehealth benefits, wellness programs, and other work site programs into the employee enrollment process. In addition, Human Resources can create custom communications that market and promote the Telehealth benefits to gain a high employee participation and utilization rate. Most importantly, however, the Web Benefits Design Human Resources administration system will efficiently administer Telehealth and other worksite programs as employees’ access and use their Telehealth benefit—increasing employee health and productivity.
Telehealth is becoming an increasingly popular employee benefit that offers employees quick access to non-emergency medical care at cost-effective rates. However, although it is becoming a more popular option for patients to access medical care, many employers are not aware that their existing insurance carriers have a Telehealth option, and if they do offer it to their employees, do not promote the product effectivly for employees to understand it and take advantage of it.
It is essential to make sure employees know and take advantage of their Telehealth package. Educating employees on this benefit is beneficial to both them and their employer. As employees obtain and use their Telehealth benefits, firms see employee health and productivity increases, creating a win-win for everyone.
