Trying to manage your health care spend can feel like filling a leaky bucket. You keep pouring more in at the top, but it just keeps running out through the holes in the bottom.
One large hole to plug is for your employee Care Gaps.
Basically, gaps in care are the difference between the recommended treatment for a certain person and the treatment they actually get — like if a person misses a cancer screening, or doesn’t get their A1c test done.
Without these preventive tests, they’ll be less likely to head off problems before they arise. This can result in missed or delayed diagnosis, and more costly and potentially more invasive treatment down the line. Once they slip from medium risk to high risk, the effects of the condition becomes far more costly, personally and financially.
The good news is that closing care gaps to plug those holes can actually be quite straightforward.
The 1, 2, 3 of closing care gaps
First, get baseline analytics data so you know where the care gaps are. You can’t solve a problem you can’t see. If you’re “flying blind,” you just have no optics and won’t be able to impact care gaps at all.
- Our data analytics not only show those Care Gaps, but also show us who in the population is likely to suffer from chronic disease in the next 5 years, and who’s trending in the wrong direction. This allows us to head off problems before they even arise.
Next, reaching them in a non-invasive way is critical. You have to get their attention and educate them, obviously being very sensitive and respectful around privacy.
- Craft a messaging strategy just for this purpose. For example, the message matters, but also the means. Some may want to receive a text, others may prefer emails. Create the flexibility to provide either, always encouraging the education and awareness that motivates positive action.
Finally, provide a simple route to close those gaps in care. This may involve setting up a video call with the provider, some tests can be sent directly to their homes, and we’ve even read of firms that provide an Uber service to access PCPs.
- Whatever the method, make it simple for them so they can get to the solution with the minimum number of steps. As soon as they have to do 5 things, or remember to do something in the future, you will lose them.
Conceptually, closing care gaps is simple. But if you don’t already have the tools to do this on your own, it may seem like too much to manage. So if you need a hand, just reach out to us and let’s have a conversation about closing your gaps in care to start plugging your own leaky bucket!
