Virtual Care Success: Top 7 Reasons Why Providers Fall Short

With access to convenient, high-quality healthcare, virtual care empowers employees to advocate for their health. But what does a good virtual care service look like? 

It’s important for employers to be mindful of what benefit solutions work best for their employees. To help consultants and employers evaluate a top-tier virtual care provider, we’ve rounded up the 7 ways virtual care companies fall short in their services. 

No Custom Employee Engagement Campaigns  

The key to virtual care success is getting employees to utilize the service. Dynamic, hyper-personalized and comprehensive employee engagement campaigns drive utilization of virtual care. From onboarding and education to ongoing awareness and reinforcement, employee engagement campaigns are necessary for virtual care providers and should be continuous, year-long initiatives. Plus, they should be funded and managed by the provider to take the lift off HR (Human Resources) teams.  

Tedious Registration Process  

When employees aren’t feeling well, they should be able to get the care they need quickly and conveniently. A tedious registration process deters workers from seeking care and it should take no longer than a few minutes to access their account with a virtual care provider. Employees should be pre-registered to remove barriers to care such as uploading insurance information, adding credit card details and lengthy questionnaires.  

Hands-Off Care  

Care should be continuous, especially for the management of chronic diseases. Employees should have access to high-quality doctors with no predefined limits on the number of visits or conditions treated. Virtual care must offer value-based care and providers should be committed to practicing great clinical and compassionate care to employees.  

Fees for Care  

Virtual care should be free for workers and their dependents to use. Consult fees should be available for employees on qualified HDHPs (High Deductible Health Plan).  

Claims Impacts  

Virtual care that runs independently from the group medical plan incurs no claims, ultimately saving employers and employees money in total healthcare costs. Virtual visits should not incur medical claims.  

No Performance Guarantees 

A virtual care provider should be willing to put their fees at risk with performance guarantees. Whether it’s meeting certain utilization or savings thresholds, virtual care providers should ensure that their services can enrich employee benefits programs.  

Limited Reporting 

Employers should have access to their average utilization, savings, deidentified population health data and more. Reporting should be robust and allow employers to see the success of virtual care in real-time.  

First Stop Health Virtual Care 

First Stop Health digital-first care is comprised of Urgent Care, Primary Care and Mental Health. With our virtual care, employers and their employees experience: 

1. Hyper-personalized, custom employee engagement campaigns that are managed and funded by FIrst Stop Health to drive our industry-utilization.  
2. Preregistration of all employees so they can get the care they need faster and easier.  
3. Hands-on, value-based care from First Stop Health virtual doctors with no limits on the number of visits for employees or their dependents.  
4. Cost-free care for employees and their dependents. Consult fees can also be implemented for employees on HDHPs.  
5. Fewer medical claims as First Stop Health virtual care runs outside of the insurance plan and does not incur claims for visits.  
6. Performance guarantees that are designed to ensure that what a client pays provides value. 
7. Robust reporting on custom dashboards to see the success of our virtual care in real-time.  

First Stop Health Virtual Care Solutions    

First Stop Health  Primary Care, Urgent Care and Mental Health solutions deliver patient-first, holistic care to members where and when they need it. Primary Care consists of preventive and chronic care to help coordinate and manage the many touchpoints of members’ healthcare journeys. With Urgent Care, members have access to 24/7 urgent care for episodic health concerns. Mental Health provides counseling to members, and in conjunction with Primary Care guidance and medication management, can lead to better whole-person health.   

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