Benefits of Biometric Screenings
There are several benefits associated with a healthcare screening process. These include:
Initiates Health Awareness
Health issues do not just develop overnight. Worksite screening helps to identify the health issues affecting the employees, thus, creating health awareness. If three or more measurements exceed the average range, employees may be considered at risk for heart conditions, etc. Armed with the knowledge of potential health risks, employees are able to make better decisions about their health.
Helps Alleviate Healthcare Costs
Medical screening decreases employees’ rising health plan costs and can lower insurance premiums. The CDC announced 75% of the nation’s healthcare spending is toward people with chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes, etc. A 2018 study also revealed that increased glucose and cholesterol levels are the leading causes of rising healthcare costs at the workplace. Fortunately, most chronic conditions can be prevented or minimized if caught early. Medical screenings could potentially save employees millions of dollars if they undergo routine screening of the lungs, heart, kidney, white and red blood cells, thyroid, pancreas, and liver.
Offer More Time to Discuss Health Plan
A worksite screening can help employees make their annual physicals more productive. The process enables every employee to discuss their health status over time and consider a comprehensive health plan. In addition, instead of spending more time ordering tests, screening promotes good relationships with doctors, particularly employees that may be timid.
Promotes Valuable Physician Coaching
When employees are able to bring their health screening and blood tests to their frequent health visits, they make the appointment process more comprehensive. This gives your employees the opportunity to receive a list of personalized recommendationsfrom their doctors on how to lower their risks and be given a health coach.
Creates Urgency for Healthy Living
Health screening allows employees to receive health data immediately after screening, which can inform them of their overall wellness and any lifestyle changes that need immediate attention. Physicians can also help identify any risk factors or major health concerns that the data presents so that employees are more likely to take action towards better living.
While physicals are important and often covered by a company’s insurance, individuals do not always go annually, as they should. A screening process at work increases employee health awareness to your employees that they are in more need of a checkup than they thought, a scenario that promotes healthy life choices.
Enhances health data availability
While companies cannot see the individual’s personal screening results, they make the information accessible to employees. They also receive the aggregate results that indicate the overall health of the workforce. The overall health information of the workforce empowers organizations to decide which health programs to offer. If many staff are showing prediabetes or hypertension symptoms, for example, the company can offer nutrition classes regularly.
Enables Employers to Remain Competitive
The corporate significance of screening is in the numbers. Offering screening to employees enables an organization to have an aggregate data of their workforce in order to understand the potential costs of health risks. This data does not, however, offer a comprehensive analysis of immediate costs, but what the organization should expect in future. The aggregate data not only equips the organization with needed healthcare data, but also helps in coming up with a culture that promotes health and wellness.
Organizations that rely on screening data to offer on-demand wellness programs are able to witness positive return on investment (ROI) over time. The increased ROI is associated with high productivity and reduced costs of illnesses among staff. Additionally, studies indicate that improved resilience always becomes part of the comprehensive wellness program.
Features of a Healthcare Screening Program
The process for screening includes:
Appointment Scheduling
The corporate organization (employer) first needs to schedule an appointment with a chosen healthcare provider for employees to access the screening services.
Choosing the Screening Option
Employees will choose their preferred screening option, depending on their availability. Offsite screening is always the best option for remote employees or those who are unable to attend an onsite procedure. An offsite option will include a lab voucher, a test kit, and a physician form.
Secure Data Capture
The screening provider then captures the screening data electronically usingelectronic data capture (EDC) technology.
Screening Results and Education
The screening results are kept confidential to ensure that the health data of employees are kept confidential. The healthcare provider informs employees of the measurements, including those that are above normal range and offer coaching, education, and recommendations to lower the risk.
Reporting
The healthcare provider then offers de-identified data on the health of the participants. This stage also involves sharing employee engagement statistics and tracking of incentives to evaluate the success of the screening program.
Ways to Administer Biometric Screening
The three ways to administer health screenings to employees:
Onsite Screening
This is a screening process in which a health vendor comes in at the workplace tocollect biometric data for all the employees at once. This approach is usually possible when the employees are situated in one geographical location and can easily present themselves for the screening. The screening method costs between $45 and $70.
An onsite screening involves full lipid panel, blood glucose, blood pressure measurement, results review, immediate referral for health response, and reporting. The screening process maximizes the participation of employees while minimizing the loss of work productivity and time.
Benefits of onsite screening:
• An extremely convenient approach — The screening process can be done while employees are on their break, without taking work leave.
• Onsite screening works best for corporations with large offices because it is cost-effective.
• Employees are able to access immediate health coaching once they get their screening results.
Offsite Screening
In this screening approach, participants visit their care providers or designated healthcare center for a blood draw or biometrics screening. Similar to onsite screening, this method includes lab results in the automatic data integration and reporting.
Offsite screening can be conducted in 3 options:
• Lab voucher— In this approach, healthcare providers partner with national labs to provide blood screening services. Employees can register online with the healthcare providers to generate a map to locate the lab and take screening tests. The results are then emailed directly to the employees.
• Physician Derived Results—In this case, employees may visit their primary care physicians to obtain their screening results. The screening forms are accessed through a registration portal, downloaded, and taken to the physician where results of the screening are recorded and returned to healthcare providers through secure fax.
• Home test kit— This approach gives employees a private option of administering medical screening using a home test kit. The participants register for a kit, which is then emailed directly to them. They then conduct a fingerstick test and mail back the kit to their healthcare practitioners.
Benefits of offsite screening:
• Offsite screening is a flexible method as it allows companies with remote offices and employees to obtain the screening services.
• The screening method enables organizations to work collaboratively with screening partners and labs to collect the employee results. Lab-corp and local pharmacies such as CVS also offer offsite screening services.
Physician Fax Form
Employees may also use physician fax forms to get screening tests from their personal physicians. In this case, participants go for screening then fill in medical information in a fax form and forward the data to their provider. The provider in turn, completes the biometric and body measurement results and signs the form.
This approach provides flexibility as employees are able to take the screening test whenever they have the chance. It is also considered cost effective because most medical plans include one physical every year. Also, the screening method encourages a relationship with primary care physicians.
Screening Measurements
During medical screening, the following measurements will be taken:
• Blood Pressure
• Cholesterol
• Triglyceride levels
• HDL and LDL levels
• Blood Sugar
• Height and Weight Measurements
• Tobacco usage
In summary, healthcare screening forms a significant aspect of every corporate organization. It helps employers to assess the potential health risk costs as well as come up with wellness programs that suit the needs of employees. As screening provides employees with health data and essential education tools, the population is able to predict their health concerns and work around them for their well-being. Overall, employers and employees get to increase productivity and remain motivated because of better health.
