Primary healthcare is in the worst shape ever, with GP shortages, the pandemic effects and bulk billing issues being central to the problem, and it’s likely to get worse on the ground before it gets better.
Inflation, in combination with other competing, even essential, products and services that people need to live, means there is less income in households to spend on quality healthcare. To make matters worse, GPs struggling to run practices are abandoning bulk billing en masse and passing higher costs onto patients, which means much of the public is struggling to manage their essential health care needs, let alone specialist care and prevention.
Reflecting on our intimate understanding of how the health and wellbeing of our employees affects the business landscape in social and economic terms – anxiety alone costs the economy upwards of $200 billion per year – I believe there is clear evidence-based opportunity to offset, in part, some of the healthcare crisis, by taking responsibility for the health and wellbeing of their teams whilst also benefiting the business.
Offering an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) can go some way toward supporting the mental health of your team, and there are other practical and effective applications that SMEs can implement to make your business safer, supportive and compliant, as recommended by health experts. Think mental health days, team bonding and exercise sessions, and open communications and one-on-ones to check in regularly.
However, the real challenges for small businesses at the moment are reducing employee attrition rates, attracting skilled workers, and maintaining a winning culture in our hybrid work environments. So, beyond wage increases and off-handed perks, that’s where thinking innovatively can make a difference for you, your team and your business bottom line.
Offsetting the burden of increasing healthcare costs that individuals face accessing the public system through your business can enhance your workplace culture, increase the employee value proposition, genuinely improve your bottom line, both in the short and long term, and reduce pressure on the public system.
Notably, one of the AMA’s recommendations for improvement, as part of their vision for the future health of Australians, through technology, are where businesses can promote and support positive change all around.
Business-based, innovative, secure, and convenient healthcare platforms such as CU Health, provide an impactful, data-driven benefit to your employees who otherwise may just let their health deteriorate due to the increasing difficulties with the traditional public pathway.
Telehealth services increased during the pandemic and have become a mainstay in the medical landscape. Leveraging similar technology and facilitating a connection to a dedicated, multidisciplinary healthcare team when your staff need it – at home, in the office, or on the go, through a dedicated platform for businesses – is a real and viable option for workplaces.
GPs and allied healthcare professionals are already willing to partner with businesses, to take care of people through evidence-based care models that align with their training and expertise, to add value to the health of our workforce.
Technology, the future of health and the expectation that businesses support employee physical and mental health have aligned to unlock greater access to wellbeing services that benefit individuals and businesses and alleviate a substantial proportion of the burden on our primary healthcare service.
It’s a multi-faceted solution to a multi-faceted problem.
