With the recent launch of the MyCanopyHealth mobile app and member portal, your employees who opted into the Canopy Health network through one of our carrier partners can seek treatment from medical providers through a Video Visit. Since these consultations don’t require a trip to the emergency department or an urgent care center, your employees could save time and money while getting excellent care from the comfort of their homes or offices. Keep reading to learn more about the potential costs savings associated with a Video Visit.
What Are Video Visits?
As part of our approach to providing refreshingly clear, human care, we believe all our members deserve convenient access to compassionate and effective care whenever and wherever works best for them. To meet their needs, we developed a Video Visit function on the new MyCanopyHealth mobile app and member portal.
Video Visits are a telemedicine feature that allows Canopy Health members and their eligible dependents to access some of the top primary care physicians, specialists, and therapists in the country directly from their preferred device, regardless of their location or the time of day. If they have Wi-Fi, they have access to a medical professional.
When one of your employees is suffering from a non-emergency illness or injury, such as a migraine or twisted ankle, they can log in into the app or portal to consult directly with a skilled clinician. There is no need to schedule an appointment.
Once logged in, they will answer a few basic questions about their symptoms and might even have the chance to upload photos of their symptoms. They will then consult with a physician who will assess their condition, provide a diagnosis, and suggest follow-up treatment. Depending on the situation, the provider may even refer the patient to a specialist or prescribe helpful medication that can be sent to their pharmacy electronically.
How Video Visits Can Save Time and Money
The best part about Canopy Health’s Video Visits is that your employees will save a great deal of time when they have medical issues, letting them focus on their personal and professional lives. Traveling to and from a doctor’s office, emergency room, or outpatient clinic can eat up most of the day, especially when there’s paperwork involved or scheduling constraints. Video Visits eliminate physical and logistical barriers to healthcare and let patients avoid traffic, complicated public transportation, or lengthy commutes from rural areas. They are also a great option for individuals with chronic health issues, disabilities, and mobility problems.
Not only are Video Visits a more convenient consultation method for non-emergency care, but they can also be less expensive. The first and most obvious cost-saving element involves transportation costs. Many Bay Area residents rely on ride-sharing services and public transportation to get where they need to go. Depending on the length of the trip, traffic congestion, or the number of transfers on the BART system, their healthcare travel can become extremely expensive. Video Visits eliminate these unnecessary costs by bringing their care to them.
Additionally, the cost of Video Visits is typically less than traditional in-person care. A RAND study released in 2017 found that virtual medical visits cost less than $80 on average, while visits to an office averaged nearly $150. Another study, conducted by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, found that insurers saved nearly $90 when patients used virtual care rather than traditional care. The insurers can then pass this savings on to you, by offering lower premiums.
Video Visits can also eliminate missed time at work, depending on the symptoms and severity of the condition. Because your team can seek care on their own terms, they won’t have to use their valuable PTO or take unpaid time off for doctor’s appointments. That’s more money in your employee’s pockets and more productivity in your workplace.
Encourage Your Employees to Utilize All the Great MyCanopyHealth Mobile App and Member Portal Features
Telemedicine isn’t just the wave of the future—it’s our current reality. Consider these stats from a recent survey conducted by the National Business Group on Health’s Large Employers’ 2018 Health Care Strategy and Plan Design Survey:
- 96% of large employers are making telemedicine services available to their employees.
- 56% of large employers plan to offer telemedicine that covers behavioral health services.
- Only about 20% of these employers report that at least 8% of their employees are using telemedicine services.
While more employers are making telemedicine options like our Video Visits available to their employees, many individuals haven’t bought into the concept. But if you educate your staff about the convenience and cost benefits of Video Visits with Canopy Health, you could see major savings due to decreased in-person consultations and treatment.
Here are three simple and effective tips to encourage your employees to utilize Video Visits and other quality telemedicine features available through the MyCanopyHealth mobile app and member portal.
- Inspire trust in the system by educating your staff about the skill, experience, and credentials of clinicians and other providerswithin the Canopy Health network.
- Invite Canopy Health customer relations professionals to your office or worksite to provide in-depth instruction into how Video Visits and other telemedicine features work.
- Designate a room at work where employees can feel comfortable attending a Video Visit with a medical professional
To learn more about the MyCanopyHealth mobile app and member portal, you can contact Denise Vance-Rodrigues, Canopy Health Director of Business Development, by calling (415) 966-0806.
References:
Sammer, J. (2018, May 7). Telemedicine improves health and saves money, if employees use it. SHRM. Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/benefits/pages/telemedicine-improves-health-saves-money-if-employees-use-it.aspx
Schmitt, B. (2017, March 13). Do virtual doctor visits save you money? TribLive. Retrieved from https://triblive.com
