Digital health interventions for employees : Are digital health interventions able to improve a company’s performance?
Myyrä, Niko (2016)
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2016100514831
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2016100514831
Tiivistelmä
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of digital health-interventions in improving a company’s workforce. Due to increasing medical expenses, employers are finding it worthwhile to invest in the health of their employees. Implementing a health intervention (a program that encourages participants to make healthy behavioural changes) often reduces medical costs and improves productivity. New technology allows interventions to be delivered digitally.
An exploratory method of gathering secondary data was applied. This qualitative approach was well suited for gaining a broad understanding of the subject in order to assess current digital health interventions and the most significant challenges to industry.
The results show that digital health interventions are capable of reducing employee health risks and medical expenditures, especially for high risk health groups. Significant challenges to the industry remain. An effective digital health improvement service is technologically complex and requires the incorporation of physician input and behavioural change theory. From a legal standpoint, the bureaucracy associated with regulatory bodies may slow the adoption of digital services into employee benefit offerings. Adoption is slow within the medical community and low user adoption rates may undermine benefits to the employer.
This study concludes that due to strong correlations between employee health and performance, human resource departments should support employee health by offering health intervention programs as necessary. Digital health interventions should be closely regarded by HR departments as a potential approach to cost effectively managing the performance of the firm’s human capital.
An exploratory method of gathering secondary data was applied. This qualitative approach was well suited for gaining a broad understanding of the subject in order to assess current digital health interventions and the most significant challenges to industry.
The results show that digital health interventions are capable of reducing employee health risks and medical expenditures, especially for high risk health groups. Significant challenges to the industry remain. An effective digital health improvement service is technologically complex and requires the incorporation of physician input and behavioural change theory. From a legal standpoint, the bureaucracy associated with regulatory bodies may slow the adoption of digital services into employee benefit offerings. Adoption is slow within the medical community and low user adoption rates may undermine benefits to the employer.
This study concludes that due to strong correlations between employee health and performance, human resource departments should support employee health by offering health intervention programs as necessary. Digital health interventions should be closely regarded by HR departments as a potential approach to cost effectively managing the performance of the firm’s human capital.