Rising healthcare costs are one of the most significant challenges facing employers today. With insurance premiums, chronic disease management, and employee absenteeism all contributing to additional running costs, many businesses are looking for solutions to help lower expenses without compromising the quality of benefits and care their employers receive.
Fortunately, telehealth and functional medicine offer two promising paths forward. By embracing these healthcare models, employers can cut costs, improve employee health, and foster a more productive workforce.
Understanding the Healthcare Cost Burden for Employers.
Healthcare costs aren't just about insurance premiums; there are multiple ways your employee’s health can affect your bottom line. Employer-sponsored health plans have high premiums, and those costs continue to rise, putting extra pressure on your finances. Employees managing long-term health conditions like diabetes or heart disease also make up a large portion of healthcare expenses. With the incidence of these conditions increasing annually, chronic disease management will need to be part of your business’s healthcare budget for the foreseeable future. Also adding to your expenses are lost work days and decreased productivity for employees who are sick or caring for sick relatives.
Reducing Healthcare Costs for Employers.
Telehealth is the use of technology, especially video calls, to provide healthcare services remotely. Through virtual doctor visits, remote monitoring, and creating digital prescriptions, telehealth providers allow employees to access care without needing to leave their homes or offices.
Functional medicine is a personalized, systems-based approach to healthcare that addresses the root causes of chronic health issues rather than just treating symptoms. It looks at the patient holistically, considering factors like diet, lifestyle, and genetics.
Combining telehealth and functional medicine allows businesses to maintain the highest level of benefits for their employees while also reducing healthcare costs for employers.
Telehealth with a functional medicine focus enables employers to save on healthcare costs while still providing accessible, high-quality care. While investing in functional medicine may have higher upfront costs, it leads to significant long-term savings by reducing the incidence of chronic diseases, hospitalizations, and other costly medical interventions.
Additional Strategies To Reduce Healthcare Costs.
While telehealth and functional medicine offer significant benefits, employers can further reduce healthcare costs by offering wellness programs and partnering with cost-effective healthcare providers, like Index Health for Business. By offering wellness programs, employers can incentivize employees to participate in fitness challenges, mental health workshops, and other wellness activities to reduce the risk of preventable conditions. Choosing healthcare providers that focus on preventive care, telehealth, and functional medicine allows employers to optimize employee health and reduce out-of-pocket costs for both the employee and the business.
Invest in Telehealth and Functional Medicine with Index Health.
Index Health for Businesses can help you get the most from your healthcare costs by letting your employees thrive as healthy, happy individuals. Inde Health can provide you with more than just a low-cost alternative benefit option for your employees; we can help with the following:
- Improved Employee Satisfaction — Telehealth and functional medicine offer more flexible, personalized care, which leads to higher employee satisfaction and engagement.
- Healthier Workforce — Functional medicine’s focus on determining the root causes of diseases and symptoms, paired with telehealth’s accessibility, results in healthier employees, reducing missed days from work and healthcare costs over time.
- Reduced Turnover — Offering innovative healthcare solutions helps attract and retain the best employees in the field, cutting down on turnover costs and time lost by hiring and training new employees.
- Better ROI on Healthcare Investment — Companies that adopt telehealth and functional medicine enjoy a higher return on investment in their healthcare spending, as healthier employees require fewer high-cost medical interventions and are more productive during working hours.
Reducing healthcare costs doesn’t have to come at the expense of quality care. By implementing telehealth and functional medicine with Index Health for Business, employers can save on healthcare expenses while investing in the long-term well-being of their workforce.
If you're looking to reduce your company’s healthcare spending while boosting employee wellness, consider partnering with Index Health. We specialize in forward-thinking healthcare delivery models and improving whole-person health.
Index Health offers telehealth appointments with functional medicine specialists, reducing healthcare costs for employers and improving health for employees. Reach out for a free business consultation today.
