My Mantra - Employees Need Healthcare Navigation!

Many navigate a health issue (or supporting a family member with health needs) with a sense of learn and ask questions as I go – this often requires time away from work, family, and attending to personal health in general. The experience from beginning to end can be overwhelming - we all know just searching for, making an appointment, and going to see a primary care provider can be time consuming, with outcomes that bring about more unanswered questions or leave us hesitating/avoiding the next step or the thought of going back.

I am fortunate, having consulted medium and large size companies in the space for almost ten years, to learn of outcomes where a healthcare navigation program made a tremendous difference in the life of an employee and their family.

A recent example involved an employee who needed assistance taking care of an elderly parent while facing a health issue of their own.

There were various needs at the onset of the journey, including:

- Finding a specialist to explore, understand and navigate the diagnosis

- Benefit education

- Search for an elder care facility for the parent

- Emotion support for the employee, their parent and family

You or someone you know may have experienced a similar situation – there are not enough hours in the day to address all that needs to be done. Having someone help you is significant….

I have always said “it’s not if they can help – it’s how they can help - a healthcare navigation resource often includes a health pro and medical ally team, who together help support both the administrative aspect of a the healthcare journey (benefit questions, billing issues, finding elder care resources) at the same time addressing clinical needs (finding a high quality, best cost provider, specialists, and understanding treatment plans). This team also includes folks behind the scenes such as a research team, benefit specialists and physicians. When employees and their families have this type of help it gives piece of mind and helps create positive outcomes.

Healthcare navigation will not only improve the employee experience and increase employee health outcomes and satisfaction, but also provides support for the human resources team and can save the organization money and time.

Ask your employer if your company offers a healthcare navigation solution and if they currently do not, encourage them to explore one!