health & wellness
We know that wellness programs save companies
money. Research has shown that companies that
take their employees’ health seriously outperform
the S&P 500 by a whopping three to one.
When leadership recognizes that their greatest asset is their
people, they create a culture that reinforces health and wellbeing.
And employees respond with higher levels of engagement, pro-ductivity
and satisfaction. But what are the new ways businesses
can ensure their workplaces adopt and maintain thriving cultures
of wellness?
TAKE THE GUESSWORK OUT OF MEDICATIONS
WITH PRECISION MEDICINE
Pharmacogenomics (PGx) is a growing field and could funda-mentally
improve the rate at which employees match with the
right medication and recover from illness. Physicians often need
to prescribe medications by trial and error in order to find the
most effective treatment for a patient. A single PGx test can help
patients find the right drug for their individual genetic make-up
and metabolism. Just compare the time and costs associated with
a hospital stay as a patient endures medications being tried and
tested versus the one-time genetic test to get the patient on the
right drug with outpatient management. This is particularly true
for mental health. This PGx process increases the patient’s adher-ence
to treatment, decreases risk of adverse drug reactions and is
a third of the cost.
OFFER ONLINE AND IN-PERSON MEDICAL CARE
AND COUNSELING
Employees with digital access can receive quick, personalized sup-port
from a primary care physician, registered nurse, psychologist
or wellbeing coach. Virtual care has been shown to be effective
for patients presented with non-acute health concerns, such as
musculoskeletal, skin, cold, flu or straightforward neurological or
cardiac issues. Medcan is currently studying the impact of video
visits and – around 90 per cent of the time – clients don’t require
janews / Shutterstock.com
Making Employee
Health Personal
A HEALTHY WORKFORCE IS A PRODUCTIVE WORKFORCE – AND HERE’S HOW YOU CAN HELP
By Dr. James Aw
HRPROFESSIONALNOW.CA ❚ JANUARY 2018 ❚ 33
/HRPROFESSIONALNOW.CA
