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What is digital healthcare?

Digital healthcare is essentially the use of digital technologies for diagnoses, medical assessments and treatment of health conditions. There are lots of different types of digital healthcare, but all are designed to make healthcare more accessible and efficient for people. Some examples include:

• Mobile health apps: Any app that provides people with access to healthcare services and treatment. In the UK, these include:
  • NHS App
  • Patient Access
  • Babylon Health
  • AXA
  • Fertifa 💜
• Electronic health records: Complete, digital medical records of an individual’s medical history. Visit this NHS page to learn more about why these are so important.
• Wearable devices: Technological devices that we can wear such as the Apple Watch have not only revolutionised the ways we are able to complete tasks and communicate with each other, but also how closely we can monitor our health. Examples include:
  • Smart patches
  • Drug delivery devices
  • Biomarker tracking devices
  • Glucose monitoring devices, for people with diabetes, for example.
• Telehealth and telemedicine
  • Telehealth refers to electronic services that enable long-distance or at-distance health support and services.
  • Telemedicine is slightly different, referring specifically to (often remote) clinical services.

The benefits of digital healthcare

Digital healthcare has already had several benefits by improving patient outcomes and the overall efficiency of healthcare systems. With technology always advancing and developing, we can expect this trend to continue, and digital health technologies to have an increasingly big impact.

There are many different advantages to digital healthcare – too many to list in one article! Here are some of examples of where digital health technologies have had a particularly significant, positive influence on people's physical and mental health.

1. Improved access to care: Telemedicine and mobile health apps make it far easier for patients to access medical care, especially in remote or underserved areas. We're able to provide over 150,000 employees with access to Fertifa because of our incredible Patient App. You can view how it works here 💜
2. Better patient engagement: Digital tools, like patient portals and health apps, allow people to access health records, track progress, and communicate instantly and more effectively with healthcare providers.
3. Better quality of care: With digital healthcare, data analytics and artificial intelligence can be used to provide more accurate diagnoses and more appropriate treatment plans for both physical and mental health issues. 
4. Remote monitoring and management: Game-changing digital technology such as wearable devices and remote monitoring tools allow for continuous tracking of patients' health conditions, enabling early intervention and better management of chronic diseases. This reduces hospital readmissions and improves overall health outcomes.
5. Improved coordination of care: Electronic health records (EHRs) and health information exchanges facilitate better coordination among different healthcare providers. This ensures that patients receive consistent and comprehensive care across various settings.
6. Cost savings: Digital tools can reduce healthcare costs by minimising unnecessary hospital visits and preventing medical errors. Remote monitoring and telehealth services also decrease the need for expensive in-person consultations.
7. Enhanced data security and privacy: Advanced digital technology, like blockchain, can improve the security and confidentiality of patient data, ensuring that sensitive information is protected from breaches.
8. Scalability and flexibility: Digital health solutions can be easily adapted to accommodate larger populations and meet the specific needs. This makes them highly versatile and adaptable.
9. Improved public health surveillance: Digital tools can collect and analyse vast amounts of health data, providing valuable insights for public physical health services, mental health initiatives, and disease prevention strategies. This helps in identifying trends, managing outbreaks, and improving population health.
10. Continuous learning and improvement: Digital health technologies facilitate ongoing learning and improvement by providing access to up-to-date medical information, best practices, and clinical guidelines.

The impact of digital healthcare in the workplace

If you live in the UK, you may well have been impacted by the cost-of-living crisis, or the record waiting times for access to NHS services seen since the covid pandemic. Unfortunately, there’s no way of knowing when the NHS will recover and be able provide healthcare solutions more quickly.

As an alternative, employer-funded digital healthcare platforms have been the most effective and reliable, and least disruptive to their personal and professional lives. At Fertifa, we offer diagnosis and treatment, clinical advice, educational support, financing, and ongoing healthcare for employers across the UK, Europe, Asia and the US. You can find out about our digital healthcare solution here.

Speed of service

‍Digital healthcare platforms allow patients to consult healthcare professionals much sooner. One study, which gathered data from a number of digital healthcare providers, found that 96% of patients were seen within 8 hours of making a booking!

Virtual consultations

In recent years, many of us have benefited from remote working options and how they have enabled us to balance our professional and personal obligations more easily. In a similar way, virtual consultations which allow people to receive medical advice, guidance and even treatment from home are minimising time spent travelling to and from appointments. We offer employees on-demand access to our in-house clinical team, who will support them through all reproductive health challenges, until they no longer need us. Through the Fertifa app, patients will get access to personalised and expert clinical support, from anywhere in the world.

Improved job satisfaction and productivity

The correlation between companies that provide healthcare benefits and the satisfaction and productivity of its employees is well-founded. 45% of employers say that they have seen an uplift in productivity since introducing health and wellbeing programmes, and 56% report better job satisfaction rates. The fact is that employees who have access to fast, free (and virtual if they prefer) healthcare services are more likely to feel that they are valued and be genuinely happy in their roles.

Reduced absenteeism

Absenteeism is currently at a ten year high, and a major pain point for HR teams across industries. The speed with which digital health technologies allow employees to access services means they often don’t have to take any time off work at all!

On average, companies with successful health and wellbeing initiatives see reduced annual absenteeism – 1.8 days fewer per employee.

Encourage employees to seek help

In the UK, less than half of UK adults (48%) report that they turn to a doctor first for advice, with many looking to the internet for answers instead. Clearly, our reliance on technology is impacting the way we seek out healthcare as well! The speed of service and user-friendliness of digital healthcare platforms will encourage people to seek a GP when they need to, and not sit and wait for health issues to get worse.

Saving businesses money

Digital healthcare platforms can help businesses save money in the following ways:

1. Absenteeism – As we’ve touched on already, employees with access to digital services and digital health technologies can book an appointments wherever and whenever they need to, and fit them around their working schedule.
2. Employees can begin their recovery sooner – With digital healthcare, employees can book an appointment, receive a diagnosis, and begin their treatment all within the space of a day! For more serious issues, this will mean employees can get back to their best selves sooner!
3. Higher levels of productivity! Businesses that implement digital healthcare into their employee benefits package often experience higher levels of employee engagement due to its popularity.

Alleviating the burden on the NHS

Although this may not have a direct impact on business, companies which offer their employees digital healthcare do and will continue to help ease the strain on the NHS.

What changes can we expect to see in the future?

Clearly, digital healthcare is already revolutionising how employees are able to access and receive treatment, and excitingly we have only seen the start. Although we can never know what the future holds, there are changes and additions to digital health technologies that are set to transform how efficient and effective it is in the coming years. According to Aon, who recently conducted research in this area, the following transformations are going to take place in the next five years:

• A single provider that covers all areas of healthcare: As things stand, employees often have to seek treatment from a range of providers depending on the type of health issue they are experiencing (whether that be physical, emotional, mental wellbeing…). This may be replaced by a single, centralised healthcare provider that can offer specialist advice and treatment for all health concerns.

• Easier access to healthcare services: Companies that offer both digital and in-person care will be commonplace and accommodate people’s treatment preferences.

• Artificial intelligence and wearable devices that enable in-hospital testing to be done at home: AI is starting to be used to assess health symptoms, delivering accurate diagnostics and quicker response times. One example of this is in the treatment of diabetes, where data from glucose monitoring and insulin pumps is taken to accurately predict future insulin needs, and so essentially people can receive check-ups and medical plans from the comfort of their own homes!

In a similar way, other areas of patient care such as lab testing and other hospital outpatient services will be done at home using data gathered (for examples from more advanced wearable devices).

• Companies will be able to tailor their benefits to be more cost-effective: Using engagement data, technology will soon be able to predict future cost drivers, and help companies create a benefits programme within their budget.

• Artificial intelligence will enable companies to better understand their employees behaviours and needs. AI will help companies understand why employees make certain choices, and tech tracking will gather data about their needs better than surveys can. This will inevitably affect which benefits providers companies choose to work with

Combining human-led and digital medical care

As is the case for so many healthcare providers, our patients have benefitted from our digital healthcare platform and the quick access to treatment it enables. Through our patient app, Fertifa patients get fast-tracked access to specialist doctors and nurses so they can see the right people as soon as they need to.

Despite this, we know digital healthcare and AI can never fully replace human-led medical care

Some providers are exploring the option of fully automated digital healthcare, where AI will lead consultations and devise treatments plans, without the input of a doctor or specialist.

The issue with this approach is that AI doesn't have the capacity to empathise with whatever specific, personal challenges someone might be facing, or the experience to know that there is not a one-size-fits-all solution to treatment plans. This could lead to standardised treatment plans being laid out that might be too demanding for someone who is particularly vulnerable, for example, and this may lead to unwanted mental, emotional or physical health impacts.

To avoid this from happening, Fertifa will continue to find ways to accommodate and benefit from digital healthcare without deviating from the human-led treatment that works so well for our patients 💜

Implement digital healthcare at your company

Hopefully, this article has been a valuable and exciting reminder of the potential of digital healthcare to change the physical health and mental wellbeing of employees for the better!

At Fertifa, we provide specialised guidance, support and treatment to employees for all of their reproductive and neurodiversity health concerns. Through our patient app, patients have fast-track access to our best-in-class clinical team of specialists so they can get the support or treatment they need as soon as possible. Reach out using the button below to discover how Fertifa helps companies build happy and healthy workplaces, reach out using the button below.