The Impact of Digital Health Tools on Health Insurance
Digital health tools continue to adapt and evolve with new uses and capabilities. Apps and wearables are transforming the healthcare landscape, including health insurance. As a potential or existing Saskatchewan Blue Cross member, we have the information you need about how digital healthcare impacts personal health insurance.
What are digital health tools?
Digital health tools include wearable devices, telehealth services, mobile health, and health information technology. Essentially, if there’s a healthcare service that’s being offered through a digital/technological platform, it’s considered a digital health tool.
Initially, there was really only one main digital health tool: electronic health information management systems. This was the creation of electronic databases to store patient health information, which can usually be accessed by doctors and nurses at your family medical centre. This technology made patient history, appointment booking, and cross-department communication more efficient.
As technology has advanced, we now see more digital health tools, including:
- Mobile health through apps or online accounts where a person can access test results or receive messages from their doctor.
- Wearable health devices such as heart rate monitors, smartwatches, glucose monitors, ECG monitors, and more.
- Telehealth, allows people to make phone or video calls to healthcare professionals to discuss a health concern instead of going to a medical centre or hospital.
How digital health tools work
With so many tools now available, it’s important to note that they don’t all work the same way. However, all digital health tools focus on enhanced communication, improved customer service, increased efficiency, and more accurate diagnoses and recommendations.
Digital health tools use technology, connectivity, software, and sensors to create faster, more reliable, personalised medical care. Their availability eases some of the strain put on medical facilities and helps medical practitioners make quick, informed decisions without having to set aside a whole appointment slot.
How digital health care impacts health insurance
Health insurance technology is seeing increased efficiency as digital health tools keep pace.
Direct communication
Through apps and portals, insurers can communicate directly with their clients and medical facilities. An app can become the centre point of communication where all involved parties can leave information for the other parties to view. This reduces wait times and complicated conversations. Instead of going from physician to patient to insurer and back again, each party simply inputs results in the app or portal, notifying the recipient.
Simplified claims management
Creating a claim and managing it should never be complicated. Health insurance technology can connect with digital health tools to make creating a claim seamless. For instance, the necessary information to file a claim could already be available with the device, like your Saskatchewan Blue Cross member portal and mobile app. Then it’s simply a matter of starting the claims process as directed on your portal or app, filling in any extra information, and sending it through the health insurance technology. This makes health management simpler with a digital payment option. Have the freedom to do all of this on your phone from the comfort of your own home – or even the parking lot before you leave your health provider’s office.
The benefits of digital health tools
Digital health tools have plenty to offer. However, it’s worth remembering they are relatively new and have plenty of room for further improvements.
That being said, some of the current benefits are as follows:
- Better access to healthcare
- Better participation in self-management of health
- Efficient communication between parties
- Empowered consumers
- Better decision-making for patients and healthcare workers
- Reduced inefficiencies
- Improved quality in service
- Personalised care
Saskatchewan Blue Cross: Health insurance technology
Every Saskatchewan Blue Cross member has access to the online member portal and mobile app. Through the app, members can submit claims with ease, receive reimbursement direct to their bank account, check their coverage levels, upload and transfer documents securely with Saskatchewan Blue Cross, and more.
In addition, Saskatchewan Blue Cross group benefit plans offer organisations a number of opportunities to include digital health tools in their benefits offering.
Online Doctors by Maple
Online Doctors is a state-of-the-art virtual care platform providing employees with direct access to physicians within 5 minutes, around the clock. Plan members can use their mobile device or computer to connect with a general practitioner for diagnosis, medical advice, prescriptions, lab requisitions, and more.
Employee Family Assistance Program
Also known as EFAP, this program directly supports employee mental health through short-term, confidential counseling services. To deliver high quality and individualized support, we’ve partnered with Homewood Health—a Canadian leader in mental health and addiction services. Support is available 24-hours a day, seven days a week and can be accessed online.
Personal Wellness Accounts
With this benefit, organisations can offer their employees a spending account with a predetermined limit to help address health and wellness needs at a holistic level. Depending on the categories chosen by the organisation, some coverage may be available for the costs associated with digital health tools like a wearable device. Depending on your group benefits plan, you might have coverage for the cost of investing in wearable or digital health tools. Check out group health plans today.