What if your company could see into the future? What if you knew things ahead of time that would prevent your business from losing money? That would be perfect.
The bad news is that no one has come up with a way to predict the future for businesses. But, in a way, there is a way to know what your employees' future health will be. It's called biometric screening, general health checks that can identify heart or nervous system problems. And it can do more than protect your employees' health. It could save you money on healthcare costs.
How biometric screening "sees" into the future.
Over half of the diseases Americans get can be prevented. These diseases include Type II diabetes and high blood pressure. And they are a major cause of high healthcare costs.
A biometric screening is a short health check. It figures out the chances that a person will get certain diseases and medical conditions by looking at a person's general health and condition, based on:
- Cholesterol levels for full lipid panel and glucose
- Blood pressure
- Blood glucose levels
- Measurement of height, weight, and body mass index
Biometric screenings can help find various diseases or health problems - especially the preventable ones. The tests show patients and their doctors what to work on to lower the chances of getting a disease.
Most biometric screening tests take less than 15 minutes. They can be done at a doctor's office or at your company. Screenings include all or some of these tests:
- Carotid artery ultrasound screening
- Blood pressure check
- Blood draw
- Diabetes screening
- Cholesterol screening
Biometric screenings teach the patient about his or her health at the moment. Also, they can point out an employee's risk for diseases including diabetes, heart disease, and asthma. The doctor or nurse can go over the results with the patient. Then, he or she can follow up to do more tests. Or, they can talk about a treatment or health plan for the employee.
How to screen your employees.
With a short screening, employees can learn if they're at risk for a serious disease. It can also help save them money. More and more companies are offering rewards to employees who are screened with good results.
Benz Communication lists these steps to getting a biometric screening program started.
Tell people about it early and keep it simple.
Let everyone know early on exactly what to expect and what will happen. Make sure that testing is easily accessible to all – all the time. Teach employees how to prepare for a screening so that they are ready and not surprised.
Talk about privacy concerns from the start. Let people know that no health or personal information will be shared.
Make the screening mean something.
Modern testing allows accurate and nearly instant results. It also gives the doctor the chance to teach patients about healthy living when they are paying attention.
A trained screener will explain the results in a clear way and give the patient steps to take to lower risks and improve their health. This kind of instant feedback can be very helpful in getting people to make changes in their lives.
Offer support
Screeners need to understand the long-term impact as well. They need to be able to clearly explain next steps. They should show employees how and where to get any help they might need. They need to make the reward system clear and simple to understand.
Build a strong foundation.
Finding the right way to collect and organize test results is a must for biometric screenings. It must be fast, accurate, and easy to implement and manage. More and more companies have more than one vendor providing healthcare-related services. This can make it hard to start a screening program.
Businesses should look for one company that can easily and bring on both screenings and incentive programs.
The future of biometric screening.
In some cases, employees can get expert help keeping up their health in their own home. The Intel Health Guide is a great way for a doctor to watch over a patient's health without an office visit. This type of service is often called "telehealth". It uses a machine that can monitor patient health information in the home and allows a doctor to check the results from his or her computer.
The Intel Health Guide allows patients to more easily manage their health. And it allows doctors to stay more involved in helping patients live healthier lives.
With the right information, people can avoid high-cost diseases. And businesses can take steps to lower their healthcare costs.
