HealthTech leader MyDoc launches MyDoc@Work to disrupt corporate health

Singapore-headquartered MyDoc has launched MyDoc@Work, a new corporate health digital service, to the Singapore market. With a fresh round of funding amounting to US$5.2m, MyDoc is now focused on pursuing the corporate health market more aggressively and providing innovative health solutions to create a healthier workforce.

A recent PWC study using MyDoc stats and usage information highlights the cost savings of using digital platforms like MyDoc for healthcare and this further corroborate ROI-focused studies on corporate wellness and healthcare.

MyDoc@Work will focus on providing an employee health-focused digital service to promote better workplace health and improve productivity for companies. The technology service will focus on providing comprehensive corporate health services that make it easy for employees to access their health and cover the entire healthcare process, making it more effective at improving overall employee health.

Benefits of a healthy workforce

The benefits of a healthy and motivated employee cannot be overestimated, though measuring the value and ROI on the programmes to initiative and drive healthy work practises has often been overlooked. There are a lot of benefits of improving employee health, and here are a few benefits of healthy employees.

  • Increased Productivity

Presenteeism is estimated to cut an individual’s productivity by at least one-third by affecting an employee’s concentration and alertness, as well as speed and office interactions. Feeling fatigued at a desk or overworked at a building site is not only a safety risk but also a financial casualty to the employer. Healthy employees are 3.1 times more productive, according to Rand Health, and being fully engaged in the workplace leads to better leadership, resilience and overall performance. The same research also shows that by reducing just one health risk, such as tobacco use or low physical activity, can increase productivity by 9 percent and absenteeism by 2 percent.

  • Lower Healthcare Costs

Employee absenteeism and compensation claims are often one of the reasons why employers are reluctant to increase healthcare privileges. Yet companies could start saving more than they spend by paying attention to “the distractible frame of mind.” Minute issues such as hay fever or stomach cramps that people take to work with them often go untreated and inevitably have indirect cost implications for employers. For example, lack of quality work, doing just enough to get by, and the speed it takes to finish tasks. A 2016 report by The Journal of the American Medical Association estimates that depression cost U.S. employers around $35 billion annually as a result of reduced performance at work.

  • Employee Retention

Having a culture of health in a working environment offers a competitive advantage against other businesses by attracting and retaining the best talent. According to the Rand Health study, 87 percent of workers consider health benefits such as flexible work arrangements, and both short- and long-term disability act a top priority when deciding to move on or stay with a current employer. This is a crucial factor for employers to consider as the millennial workforce—a group notorious for focusing on workplace benefits that extend beyond salary and growth opportunities—makes up more than one-third of the U.S. workforce.

By paying attention to the core of their workforce and workplace health, businesses can create a double-sided coin that not only reaps in benefits, it creates a profile of a sustainable, approachable and highly competitive business. The employees are what holds a business together, and no one builds houses out of straw anymore.

 

Resistance to change

However, two factors have some organizations questioning the value of high upfront and maintenance costs for digitally transforming their services. The complexities in defining and demonstrating the value from digital health investments, and conflicting perspectives in determining the return on investment (ROI) and how to measure it, contribute to their reluctance to invest.

This reluctance, despite the massive potential for digital technologies to contribute to improved health outcomes for millions of people, shows how crucial it is for technological innovations to clearly articulate their value proposition to decision-makers based on a risk versus benefit.

However, MyDoc believes that the benefits far outweigh any capital investment in the long-run. Using the findings from the PWC study, which showed that patients with abnormal results for diabetes screening were six times more likely to seek a follow-up via a digital consult compared with an inpatient visit to a general practitioner. A digital consult refers to a text follow-up with a general practitioner on a the MyDoc platform once the patient received an abnormal blood test result.

The increased follow-up and subsequent application of preventative healthcare measures translate to five times cost-savings from averted inpatient admissions due to complications from the disease.

When comparing the results for participants in cohort population of 100,000, the net mean cost-savings due to averted inpatient admissions amongst diabetic follow-up patients was S$2,912,150 versus S$560,097, assuming a 100 percent prevention of inpatient admissions due to detection from screening and follow-up. Even with half that prevention rate, the difference in savings was significant: S$147,403 compared with S$28,350.

Conclusion

Using technology to provide corporate health services, can potentially improve the employee experience and improve usage of the services. By measuring the health data and usage, MyDoc@Work can also help companies measure ROI, proving the value of the corporate health services and highlighting the benefits of the service.