How Can Investing in Preventative Health Tools

Drive Cost Savings?

The price paid for not preventing disease is immense – loss of income due to time off from work, escalating associated healthcare costs like copays, medications, and deductibles, and the psycho-social impacts on daily life are just a few examples. Businesses are also impacted by an increase in employee absenteeism and the rising cost of providing healthcare coverage for employees. Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that productivity losses linked to absenteeism cost employers $225 billion annually.

With so much at risk and national health data revealing that most chronic diseases are preventable, access to a smarter solution to help proactively prevent disease must be available. An ideal solution that can help drive cost savings while allowing individuals to take control of their health information, leading to more informed decisions in improving their health and well-being. This can be achieved with the use of preventative health tools – tools that work to proactively identify a potential health disease early so that interventions, such as detection screenings and lifestyle changes can be made. They are a powerful resource that can improve health and help change the course of a serious health condition by preventing disease and illness, improving outcomes, driving cost savings, and enhancing quality of life.

HealthBook+ is a preventative health solution. HealthBook+ allows individuals to own their healthcare data in a simple-to-use, digital-first care platform that guides an individual’s next best health action. All information is securely collected from a variety of sources, including data from wearables, self-reporting, remote monitoring, and various lifestyle habits. In addition, data from providers, including labs, imaging studies, appointment notes, and prescriptions, are also included in one easy-to-use platform. This secure, protected information can be accessed through a smartphone, tablet, or computer and is only accessible by the owner and whomever they have given permission to, including medical providers. Owners can lead their healthcare journey by taking control of their health information and making more empowered decisions to improve health outcomes.

The HealthBook+ secured platform also leverages advanced AI to help identify health conditions, early. The predictive analytics is the “+” in HealthBook+, as it aggregates all health data and provides the owner with early messaging and alerts to a potential health issue. This messaging can accelerate interventions early to help prevent the further deterioration of health and jump-start the next best health action – which could be an acute, immediate need to access care or it could also alert the user of a future, potential chronic health condition that can be avoided through early intervention.

Laurie C.’s story helps illustrate the importance of early messaging and interventions to improve health outcomes. Laurie is a seasoned ICU nurse working in a suburban hospital and has been at the forefront of the global pandemic. As an ICU nurse, she was one of the first nurses in her hospital to experience profound loss and suffering from the pandemic. There were so many unknowns: how to care for patients, how to protect yourself and your family, and how to respond to people within her community that were fearful of encountering her. She felt isolated, anxious, sad, and scared.

Laurie linked her smartwatch to her HealthBook+ account, as well as her medical records and other data sources. Her smartwatch data showed changes in her sleeping habits, variability in her heart rate, and body weight changes. Laurie also accessed the platform to keep notes on how she was feeling. All of her medical and health information was aggregated through HealthBook+ and the advanced AI features. Soon, Laurie received early messaging that her symptoms were at risk for developing depression and she should discuss with a care provider. This was concerning to Laurie, as she had never experienced depression, but knew she had to seek care. After receiving the early alert, Laurie accessed the AI-driven triage tools to learn more about available options for seeking care, including access to a secure telehealth partner that could help Laurie develop a plan to improve her mental health and get her life back. Through this early alert and early intervention, Laurie took her next best health action, avoided a more serious mental health crisis, and owned her healthcare journey.

Employers can also benefit from using HealthBook+ to help drive costs down and become better health partners with their employees. Although employee health information is never shared nor can it be accessed by an employer, general information on the overall health picture of employees can help guide employers to develop wellness programs to fit the collective needs of their teams. Programs such as smoking cessation, office yoga to reduce stress, or a walking club to get teams moving, are examples.

HealthBook+ also enhances providers experience and ability to provide the most appropriate, high-quality care. Access to important health information can help providers develop the most suitable treatment plan for their patients. Providers make the best decisions based on the data they have and with 1 in 20 people being misdiagnosed, the importance of quality, complete health data is essential. HealthBook+ has the entire health record in one place in an easily displayed manner. There is less effort to extract information as it is all there at their fingertips. Care is also more efficient and there is better management of overall resources, including a reduction in duplicative or unnecessary tests that only increase costs.

There is so much to gain in preventing chronic disease and illness – better use of resources and time, development of a more collaborative relationship with employees, providers, and health plans, better quality of life, and of course, reducing expenses.

The HealthBook+ team understands the critical importance of prevention and the tremendous responsibility of guiding people to their next best health action. The HealthBook+ vision is a world where everyone takes ownership of their health.Through this ownership, better, more informed healthcare decisions can be made that will improve health and overall wellness while continuing to drive cost savings.

For more information on HealthBook+, visit www.healthbookplus.ai