My Health, My Right – How Technology Supports Access and Empowerment in Occupational Health Programs

In today’s interconnected world, it often feels like we’re being bombarded with information about how various factors impact our health. From climate change to genetics and social determinants, there is a lot to consider. But within this sea of information, there is a critical issue that affects over half the global population. The growing threat to accessing high-quality health services. 

That’s why the theme for World Health Day 2024 is ‘My health, my right’¹. This theme highlights the importance of ensuring that everyone, everywhere has access to quality health services, education, and information, without facing discrimination². Employer’s Occupational Health services are pivotal in advancing this vision of health equity. In this blog, we’ll explore how Occupational Health technology can help organizations contribute to these goals. 

Understanding the Right to Health Within the Occupational Health Framework 

Ensuring an individual’s right to health rests on four elements: 

1. Availability: This means having enough functioning health facilities, goods, and services to meet everyone’s needs³. 
2. Accessibility: Healthcare access is easy to physically access, affordable, and includes widespread dissemination of information⁴. 
3. Acceptability: Upholding medical ethics, respecting cultures, and considering gender sensitivities ensures healthcare services meet diverse needs while following international standards⁵. 
4. Quality: It’s not just about surface-level care. Health equity includes basics like clean water and sanitation, and ensuring healthcare meets strict medical standards⁶. 

When considering Occupational Health goals, these principles are seamlessly integrated. Properly designed Occupational Health programs ensure:

1. Adequate facilities and resources
2. Essential services like workplace clinics and wellness training to all employees regardless of background
3. Diversity, respect workers’ rights
4. Quality to enhance health & wellbeing while preventing exposure to occupational hazards⁷.  

However, achieving these goals effectively and efficiently at scale can be challenging without the incorporation of technology. 

Addressing Challenges to Employee Health with Technology

Organizations frequently encounter common barriers that can hinder employee access to quality health services. Those challenges include:  

• Accessibility to the Occupational Health clinic: With increased remote and hybrid work, employees can struggle to access health services due to the distance between their home office and employer-operated clinics. Also, in companies with offices spread across different cities or countries, some locations may not have in-person healthcare facilities. This makes it challenging to coordinate flexible health options for staff. 

• Staying compliant amid regulatory changes: Staying compliant with changing regulations is crucial for businesses to avoid legal and operational risks. This means keeping up with regulatory updates, understanding how they impact the organization, and making necessary adjustments. 

Take the recent ONC Cures Act Final Rule⁸ in the United States. It aims to boost innovation in healthcare by making it easier for patients to access health information and personal medical data⁹. Meeting this rule will require companies to enhance patient access to health records through convenient methods like mobile solutions.  

• Engaging employees in Occupational Health programs: Encouraging employee participation in workplace health and wellness programs poses a significant challenge for many businesses. A key contributing factor to low engagement levels in health and wellness initiatives is convenience. Research indicates that over 70% of employees decline to participate in workplace wellness programs—ranging from voluntary health assessments to biometric screenings and vaccination campaigns—due to difficulties accessing services or scheduling time to attend on-site clinics¹⁰. However, studies show that employee participation rates in wellness programs can increase by 5% to 10% when these services are offered through digital solutions¹¹. 

Using Digital Solutions to Improve Accessibility and Empowerment 

Digitizing your occupational health program enhances efficiency and presents an opportunity to improve accessibility and empower employees to take control of their health. To help align with the goals of World Health Day 2024, here are some considerations to keep in mind when evaluating your Occupational Health program: 

• Virtualize your Occupational Health program: Nowadays, it’s crucial for occupational health experts to explore innovative ways to bridge the gap between clinicians and employees, regardless of their location. By investing in telehealth services, organizations can significantly enhance access to high-quality healthcare across a vast operational landscape, resulting in increased clinical efficiency, enhanced control over program costs, and ultimately, improved health outcomes. 

According to the ‘Large Employers’ Health Care Strategy and Plan Design Survey’ commissioned by the Business Group on Health, 57% of employers intend to incorporate additional virtual solutions into their occupational health programs by 2023¹². Moreover, 84% of employers recognize the integration of in-person and telehealth services as crucial for achieving their primary health and well-being goals.

Learn more about taking your Occupational Health program virtual with our blog How to Take Your Occupational Health Program Virtual.

• Provide instant access to health data: When workers can independently access and review their personal health information at their convenience, it empowers them to maintain or regain optimal health and well-being. This autonomy also allows clinicians to focus on value-added tasks such as patient consultations and care, and less on administrative tasks.

Opting for a mobile-ready Occupational Health solution enables employees to effortlessly visualize and monitor their health data in real-time. With the added convenience of downloading their complete employee medical record within seconds, regardless of their location. Additionally, a mobile-ready solution can help grant employees immediate access to personal wellness metrics and KPIs derived from data within their Electronic Health Record. Providing employees with a reliable tool offering anytime, anywhere access to critical medical history details, empowers them to make healthier decisions. 

Final Thoughts 

While World Health Day is celebrated once a year, the impact of organizations’ Occupational Health programs extends far beyond this occasion. Accessibility and empowerment within Occupational Health programs can impact not only employees but also their families and the broader community. This commitment upholds the right to individual health and contributes to building a healthier, sustainable, and resilient society. 

Sources

1,2 https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-health-day/2024 

3, 4, 5, 6 https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/human-rights-and-health 

7 https://www.ilo.org/safework/areasofwork/occupational-health/lang–en/index.htm 

8,9 https://www.healthit.gov/topic/information-blocking 

10 Blocker, T. February 13, 2016. ‘Why your employees aren’t participating in wellness programs.’  Wallace, Welch & Willingham. Accessed at: https://w3ins.com/news/why-your-employees-arent-participating-in-wellness-programs/ 

11 Harvey, M. Can Technology Drive Engagement in Wellness Programs? Accessed at:  https://hero-health.org/blog/can-technology-drive-engagement-in-wellness-programs/ 

12 https://www.ehstoday.com/ehs-outloud-blog/article/21250390/employers-concerned-with-affordability-of-health-care-and-medications