{"id":4619,"date":"2020-09-10T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-10T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/employers-its-time-to-talk-about-telehealth\/"},"modified":"2020-09-10T10:12:54","modified_gmt":"2020-09-10T10:12:54","slug":"employers-its-time-to-talk-about-telehealth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonusbenefits.com\/employers-its-time-to-talk-about-telehealth\/","title":{"rendered":"Employers, It\u2019s Time to Talk About Telehealth"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s been a hard year. For businesses, families, individuals, the economy, Australia—basically everyone but our pets. The strain on our collective psyche has worried healthcare professionals who are struggling to adapt to increased demand while trying to deal with disrupted delivery<\/a> of their services caused by the pandemic.<\/p>\n

In late July, the Center for Disease Control released a report<\/a> that showed 40% of adults reporting they were struggling with increased mental health difficulties and substance abuse coping due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n

The world of healthcare has seen a massive shift towards virtual healthcare or telehealth services in recent months. A study from the NYU Grossman School of Medicine<\/a> found that NYU Langone Health experienced a 683% increase in urgent virtual care visits and a staggering 4,345% increase in non-urgent virtual doctor visits.<\/p>\n

What does this mean for employers?<\/h3>\n

While employers have slowly been integrating teleservices into their benefits packages for some time, they may not have seen much enthusiasm towards the services until now<\/a>. And that increase isn’t expected to go away. It’s projected<\/a> that the telehealth industry will see a compound annual growth rate of nearly 40% over the next five years.<\/p>\n

So, what exactly does that mean for employers? That it’s well past time to ensure they are offering telehealth services to their employees, not just as a quick fix, but as a long-term solution. Because of the pandemic, most providers have successfully made the switch to offering virtual care, allowing those already with insurance to stick to what’s available to them.<\/p>\n

But that may not be enough. Employers must make telehealth services available to their employees—not just in the form of physical wellness, but behavioral and mental health.<\/p>\n

As the effects of the pandemic continue to wear on individuals and families, it will be increasingly less likely that organizations will avoid seeing these effects in their employees. They must take steps now to help prevent further harmful effects from manifesting in their employees by creating systems that can successfully address these issues as they arise.<\/p>\n

Where to go, and who to ask<\/h3>\n

There’s a lot of information about different services and how they’ve made a difference for employers. To get a handle on all of it, take these steps:<\/p>\n