Healthcare Trends for People-first Organization in 2023

Prevention From Upcoming Covid-19 Variant

We are witnessing a new Covid-19 variant every year. Since it does not seem to become an endemic yet, organizations have to be cautious and use all kinds of safety measures to keep their employees secure from the virus.

Organizations can take safety measures such as making the wearing of masks mandatory, checking the temperature at the entry gate, calling different teams in the office on alternative days to maintain social distancing by keeping a lesser number of employees under one roof, etc. Also, the employer should take the healthcare of their employees seriously and design better employee benefit programs.

Rising Role of Healthcare Programs

While employers are pondering on creating good employee benefits programs, employees are becoming equally active about the kind of wellness benefits their employer will provide. Everybody has become more health-conscious nowadays and employees would appreciate healthcare benefits more than they ever have.

• Many big organizations are using preventive healthcare programs such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Accenture, etc.
• Also, after the outbreak of Covid-19, the Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority of India has made it mandatory for all employers to offer group health insurance policies to employees.
• Many organizations have also realized the importance of employee-first organization as everybody is more cautious nowadays when it comes to their health and healthcare benefit programs make them feel their importance in the company.

Technology has played a huge role during the initial period of covid and the employers need to have a mechanism that would incorporate the technology-led healthcare transformation. In the coming years, technology will play even a major role and the innovative approach of the employers towards making it easier for the employees to utilize their healthcare benefits.

Healthcare Trends For People-first Organizations

Here are a few healthcare trends that employers started in 2021 and will be vital in 2023.

1. Comprehensive GHI With Customization Option for Employees

Before the covid-19 employers used to consider group health insurance as one of the perks that would attract more employees to their companies. In the health plan, they offer basic features that provide insufficient coverage. This results in healthcare plans staying in the papers as the employees do not even consider using them.

However, after the outbreak of Covid-19, they have understood the importance of offering group healthcare plans to the employees so that it can provide them financial aid for the specified diseases along with mandatory covid-19 coverage. Hence providing a comprehensive insurance plan with customization options available is the need of the hour. So what should employers do while purchasing a Group health insurance for employees?

• Purchase an insurance plan that comes with a higher sum insured amount and provide coverage to the spouse, children, grandparents along with in-laws.
• Employers should avoid purchasing a plan that they consider would be enough for every employee instead they should opt for the insurance company that would let the employer customize the insurance plan as every employee has different requirements.
• When you give your employee the option of increasing the sum insured amount and room rent or even can purchase a top-up plan then this makes them feel empowered as well as an important part of the company.
• Employers should choose a company that has a good history of quick claim settlement with easy and transparent services.

2. Tele-consultations & Better Remote Care

The pandemic made everyone stay inside their house due to fear of getting exposed to the coronavirus. It was necessary and preferred by almost everyone over going out in public and getting infected. Tele-consultation came as a trend.

Tele-consultation helped people take medical advice from the doctors as it was safer for both patients as well as doctors. Since fever, cough, and cold which used to be minimal health-related problems turned out to be symptoms of Covid-19.

Even the old age people who used to be reluctant to accept technology agreed to consult with the doctors via Google Meet, Zoom, and other such platforms. Here is a report of a survey done by Practo.

• More than 5 Crore people accessed online healthcare between March 1, 2020, and May 1, 2020.
• There was a rise of 500% in doctor consultations that took place since March 2020.
• More than 80% of the users of teleconsultation used it for the first time.
• There was a decline of 67% in in-person consultations with doctors.
• Around 44% of teleconsultations took place in non-metro cities.

As it is clear that the Indian healthcare industry is going digital and helping people connect with doctors living in rural areas. Hence, making teleconsultation one of the features of the group health plan will be a good idea.

3. Era of Precaution

During the times of Covid-19, we have learned how taking certain precautions such as wearing masks, keeping social distance, etc. can prevent us from getting infected. Since every organization is prioritizing preventive care hence including it in the employee healthcare would be beneficial.

• Blood screening and other fluids should be done after a particular interval of time for all employees.
• Also, putting up sessions related to the healthcare plans and other diseases would make employees realize their importance in the company.

Conclusion

After the covid-19 outbreak, we have understood that life is uncertain, and staying healthy should be our number one priority. To stay ahead of the curve, organizations should take employee healthcare as a priority. Employers should keep the above-mentioned points in mind while designing healthcare benefits programs and group health insurance plans so that they do not miss anything important.