ADP Survey Reveals What Employees Really Want from Work

ADP Survey Reveals What Employees Really Want from Work

Workers want higher pay, more flexibility, and support from employers, according to ADP’s People at Work 2023 survey. HR professionals can compare the results with their own responses in the most recent HR Exchange Network State of HR report.

Specifically, more than 40% of employees said they are underpaid. The most satisfied employees were those with a hybrid schedule, and the least satisfied were those who worked exclusively in-person. About 47% of respondents said that their work is suffering because of their poor mental health, and about 65% said stress impacts their work.

Recently, ADP Chief Economist Nela Richardson sat down with HR Exchange Network to provide insight into worker’s needs during this fraught time in history, when organizations are simultaneously facing a labor shortage and a possible looming recession.

Important Takeaways about What Employees Want

HREN: What are the biggest takeaways from your study? 

I think there are a couple of really good takeaways. We’ve been asking people [questions] for this work study for three years, and we’ve seen some amazingly impactful results from the pandemic.

The first takeaway is that the trends we’re seeing are starting to stabilize. When we first did this research after the pandemic, the global workforce was really shaken up. You had one-quarter of folks who had lost their jobs or were furloughed, people taking pay cuts, they saw their hours reduced, they saw their friends leave the company, they were given more responsibilities than they had before just to fill in those gaps.

Many of them reported that they took on more responsibilities without an increase in pay. Add on top of that the fact that there’s a global pandemic happening, and it is affecting your friends, your family and yourself. Still, they were optimistic, according to the first survey in 2021. They said that they thought that there could be a silver lining in the pandemic in terms of flexibility, and the chance for career progression.

Let’s fast forward three years, and that’s where we are. The global workforce is really focused on career progression. In the United States, the need for flexibility has stabilized and has been cemented. It’s what people want here. In the rest of the world, we saw progression dominate flexibility. Last year, we saw flexibility dominating career progression globally. In the United States, flexibility is still a big, big deal.

We found in the survey that the happiest workers are the ones who can get that hybrid schedule. It’s not that people want to be fully remote. They really care about flexibility and hours. And they care more about that than flexibility of where they work. That was true last year; it’s true this year.

We’re also seeing people want a caring workforce still. There was a lot of movement in the corporate sector in response to the murder of George Floyd that everyone watched. That seems so long ago, but it had an impact on corporate response, a bigger impact than any singular event people can point to. Much of that response was tied to diversity and inclusion. What the global workforce says is that they don’t want those things to disappear.

Now that the labor market is stabilizing, they want that stuff. Oh, and yeah, they want to get paid like they got paid last year. Many families are battling inflation. They earned about a 6.3% raise in the United States last year. They’re thinking about having about the same raise this year, so the expectations are high in 2023.

Future of Work

HREN: What do you think all this means for the future of work? What’s coming next? 

There’s some good news. I think we are experiencing the stabilization of worker priorities. Last year, we were talking a lot about the Great Resignation. That is starting to stabilize but stabilized doesn’t mean go back to normal. Stabilize means reset at a different rate.

The expectation, even as we’re heading into a softer economy, is that peak workers are more likely to come and go than before. With remote and hybrid options, it’s easier to change jobs, it’s also easier to come back to jobs. You should negotiate that exit interview, so it does not feel quite so permanent. How do you engage people who may come back to you in two to three years? That should be the mindset of the HR manager these days. It’s a revolving door, not an exit door.

With these expectations around pay so high, there are creative things that companies are going to do in the future. Maybe people will be willing to pay for vacation days to get more flexibility. Or they will take a pay cut if it means that they have a little more autonomy in their schedule. There are other things that caring corporate culture can do in lieu of pay to get an engaged workforce. The great thing about the pandemic is it forced innovation. It’s important to keep innovating, keep evolving, and keep learning from your workforce and incorporating that in your process.

If people are starting to lean more into career progression, how do companies meet that need, especially when you think about the other trends that are going on like AI and tech? What are the skills needed for the future? Those in the workforce think that they just need people management skills. The workforce isn’t always spot on. We have to make sure that the workforce is aligned with corporate objectives, too.

What comes out of our study is that when people look at future-proof industries, they look to tech. If used correctly, AI can be inclusive. It can actually expand and it has. If you think about the way we’re communicating now, it expands your ability to interact with others, and it could get some sideline workers back into the labor market during a period of labor shortage. It doesn’t require the physical demands that keep people on the sidelines. There’s a way to be inclusive with all these technologies, and it’s really the corporate sector that can set the tone for how they’re used.

By Francesca Di Meglio

Originally posted on HR Exchange Network

Up and Away – Healthcare Costs Are Taking Off

Up and Away – Healthcare Costs Are Taking Off

Healthcare costs, and consequently employee health benefit costs, have been growing at an alarming rate in recent years. The U.S. as a nation spends more on health care than any other developed country but has worse health outcomes.  How is this possible?

Four Key Factors Driving U.S. Healthcare Costs:

  • Aging Population

Healthcare gets more expensive when the population expands, as people get older and live longer.  The Baby Boomers, one of America’s largest adult generations, is approaching retirement age. Because of this, the 65+ population is growing at an unprecedented rate. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 21% of the entire population will be age 65 or older by 2030. Older Americans will make up almost one-quarter of the population by 2060.

This growth is likely to contribute to rising healthcare costs in two important ways:

  1. Growth in Medicare enrollment
  2. More complex, chronic conditions
  • U.S. Population Is Growing More Unhealthy

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 6 out of every 10 adults in the U.S. have at least one chronic disease, such as asthma, heart disease, high blood pressure, or diabetes, which all drive up health insurance costs.  In 2020, the health care costs of people with at least one chronic condition were responsible for 86% of health care spending.

Additionally, recent data finds that nearly 20% of children and  40% of adults over 20 in the U.S. are either overweight or obese, which can lead to chronic diseases and inflated healthcare spending.

  • Rising Drug Prices

On average, Americans shell out almost twice as much for pharmaceutical drugs as citizens of other industrialized countries pay.  Moreover, prescription drug spending in the U.S. will grow by 6.1% each year  through 2027, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) estimates.

Drug pricing strategies also contribute to rising healthcare costs. Drug manufacturers establish a list price based on their product’s estimated value, and manufacturers can raise this list price as they see fit. In the United States, there are few regulations to prevent manufacturers from inflating drug prices in this way.

  • Administrative Costs

Simply put, multiple systems create waste.  “Administrative” costs are frequently cited as a cause for excess medical spending. The U.S. spends about 8% of its health care dollar on administrative costs, compared to 1% to 3% in the 10 other countries the JAMA study looked at.

Why is administrative spending so high in the United States? The U.S. operates within a complex, multi-payor system, in which healthcare costs are financed by many different payors. With so many stakeholders involved, healthcare administration becomes a complicated, inefficient process.

These inefficiencies contribute to excess administrative spending. The main component of excess administrative spending is billing and insurance-related (BIR) costs. These are overhead costs related to medical billing, and include services like claims submission, claims reconciliation and payment processing.

Administrative costs, an aging population, rising prescription drug costs, and lifestyle choices all play a factor in ballooning healthcare expenses. While some of these factors are not in your control, others are. Find out where you can make a difference, not only in health insurance costs, but also to your overall health!

What Is Rage Applying in HR?

What Is Rage Applying in HR?

Rage applying is when young employees in professional fields get fed up with the workload, boss, compensation, or all of the above and apply to as many other companies as they can while soaking in their anger. The act of applying to other jobs when one’s morale is low is nothing new. But the term “rage applying” is the latest buzzword to surface in Human Resources as Gen Z and some Millennials grapple with a wide range of disappointments and setbacks.

Many of them began their careers in a pandemic that had people feeling more isolated and forcing them to work from home. As a result, they have not cultivated the kinds of relationships that get people to stay. They might have lacked the mentorship that can fuel a new worker.

Why Is This Happening?

Most importantly, they are now facing serious financial hardship. Some have loads of student debt. Inflation is high, and it is making the prices of housing, groceries, and other necessities skyrocket. Even if wages rose recently, they are not going as far as they might have before the economic downturn. So, sadness quickly turns to anger when the boss asks  them to add one more thing to their already overflowing plate or when other colleagues are quiet quitting and leaving them with all the work.

Watching these TikTok videos reveals that rage applying might be a way to deal with anger, but it can also pay off. CNBC reported that one person who was rage applying earned a $14,000 raise. The woman whose viral video introduced the concept of rage applying said she earned $25,000 more annually.

Warning When Rage Applying

Still, experts warn that rage applying comes with its risks. There is no discrimination or vetting of the organization. Sending out mass applications increases the odds of getting an interview and therefore an offer, but applicants could end up in a similar situation to the one they are trying to escape.

“The high that comes from a potential pay bump at another toxic job is going to wear off pretty quickly,” Career Coach Jenna Greco says to CNBC.

This is an excellent point because leaving the devil you know does not guarantee you will find an angel around the corner. Rage applying raises another issue because it is a demonstration of how differently the generations act in the workplace. For instance, Baby Boomers, who are retiring, tend to be more loyal to employers. They also expected to meet with managers in person, and they prefer to be in the office. In addition, they communicate more about their frustrations.

Gen Z and Millennials are used to texting. They are working remotely often. Many of them live behind their screens. As a result, communication is not the way they handle these problems. The issue is that communication is necessary for success. Without expressing these frustrations, the managers will never know what they could be improving or how the workplace could be transformed. No one will ever know what is in this young person’s head or how she would like to grow in her career. Rage applying is a form of hiding from one’s problems.

What Should HR Do?

Frankly, businesses are going to have to fess up to the fact that their cultures are causing these HR trends like quiet quitting and rage applying and the Great Resignation. They’re going to have to address the problems that are motivating Gen Z and some Millennials to react to their employers in these ways. The moral of the story is that the future of work depends on better communication. And the future is now.

By Francesca DiMeglio

Originally posted on HR Exchange Network

My Journey With MS

My Journey With MS

Author: Michael Mulqueeney, Vice President of Business Development, Johnson & Dugan

Back in 1989, when I was 29 years old, I went through a six-month period where I had a rapid onset of symptoms that impacted my ability to feel anything from my waist down to my toes.  My doctors eventually settled on three probable diagnoses: Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Amytrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), or Epstein-Barr. These possible diagnoses rocked me.

Six months with no feeling from the waist down

I didn’t know much about what was happening to my body. I wasn’t a doctor or nurse, and this was long before I worked in employee benefits, which now gives me more insight into health and wellness. But I did have a close relationship with a family friend who had MS. She was retired and living a reasonably normal life, with what appeared to be little impact on her day-to-day activities. So, I thought, “Well, if it’s MS, I can probably deal with that.” But the idea of ALS freaked me out. I knew it wasn’t good, so I kept my fingers crossed that I didn’t have that.

During this 6-month period, I was numb from the waist down—hips to toes. I had zero feeling though I could still move around with significant effort. I was so stiff I could barely walk, and when I did, it felt like I was walking on stilts. Walking considerable distances was out of the question, which was really discerning, but I just pushed forward and hoped for the best.

I wasn’t really in pain, so I didn’t take medication. I was told that the medicine would “hopefully” relieve some of my symptoms, but it wasn’t clear if it would improve the stiffness, and it wouldn’t be a cure. So, I skipped the drugs and just made heavy lifestyle changes, mainly with my diet.

Fast forward six months later: I was driving a long commute in southern California between Huntington Beach and Tarzana when I noticed tingling in my legs. Two to three weeks later, I got all the feeling back, and my symptoms subsided.

Symptom-free for 10 years.  Was it MS or a misdiagnosis?

Ten years later, in 1999, I was still symptom-free but decided to have a new doctor review my medical history. He didn’t think I had MS because he thought it would have presented itself again. He said my symptoms ten years prior could have stemmed from something else, such as a virus like Guillian-Barre syndrome. The doctor said to let him know if the symptoms ever came back. But they didn’t. That is, until 2019.

30 years later: A concrete diagnosis—then the anxiety set in

Back in 1989, I’d only been given a “probable” diagnosis because my MRI scans were all clean. I had no signs of degeneration of the myelin on my spinal cord that you typically see with MS. While my spinal tap indicated that it could be MS, doctors said they needed to see another round of symptoms before providing a diagnosis. Three decades later, the doctors got just that.

So, we’re talking about 30 years without symptoms when suddenly, I started having issues with my walking again. Things progressed rapidly from there, and I finally got concrete answers. Doctors confirmed that I had MS through an MRI I had completed in the Spring of 2020—just when we were entering the first stages of the pandemic. The medications and treatment options that my doctors suggested for me are the kind that shut down your immune system and restart it. That seemed very scary to me since having a healthy immune system seemed to be an advantage for those who contracted COVID.

Needless to say, I had a lot of anxiety about the treatments my doctors were suggesting. We didn’t have the COVID-19 vaccine yet, and the thought of messing with my immune system made me uncomfortable. So, as in 1989, I decided not to do any medication and went hardcore on lifestyle and dietary improvements instead.

I firmly believe that solid nutrition, regular exercise, and consistent sleep are the primary foundations of good health. So, I changed the way I ate, opting for a Mediterranean diet, plus juicing with fresh, organic raw fruits and vegetables three times a day. I also started taking natural organic supplements and vitamins. I made sure they were highly vetted and from reliable sources—because my experience in employee health and wellness has taught me that many manufactured vitamins don’t have the benefit that people think they do.

I also added stretching and yoga to my daily routine to help with my stiffness and mobility issues. These changes improved some of my symptoms, like my “foot drop,” which prevented my left ankle from moving, causing it to drag while I walked. I seemed to be “treading water” after adapting my diet and lifestyle. I was feeling pretty good for about a year.

Revisiting MS medication options after the COVID-19 vaccine

 By 2021, I noticed I was getting worse again and going in a direction I didn’t like. I was vaccinated against COVID-19 at this point, so I revisited the medication options with my neurologist. He said he was glad we didn’t do Rituximab, the medication he’d initially recommended in 2020. It was an IV immunotherapy drug, and they had seen issues concerning the COVID virus. Instead, he recommended a different medication called Tysabri. I completed the testing and pre-work required to qualify for the treatment, but I was still nervous about it, and with good reason: I was told if I’d had something called the JC (John Cunningham) virus at any point in my lifetime, the medication could kill me. Well, that didn’t give me much confidence about moving forward. I had been tested and cleared of the JC virus, but I was still feeling nervous, so I decided to pull the plug on starting that treatment too.

I was looking for hope that my MS symptoms could improve

Fast forward to 2022. I continued to get a little worse, and I wanted some hope. I think that was one of my biggest issues. I was looking for my doctors to give me hope that I could feel better. I woke up every morning feeling like my body had been a punching bag for a boxer. I’d stretch after getting out of bed to reduce soreness and stiffness and increase my mobility, but I wanted some hope that my symptoms could improve. I hadn’t been getting that.

My doctors, as reputable as they were, could only tell me their goal with the medication was to prevent me from feeling worse or to slow the progression of the disease. That’s why I didn’t want to pursue the treatment. I wanted to feel better. I have followed people with MS who share their personal experiences using various strategies, whether medications or more natural means. A wide variety of things have worked for some but not for many.

Undeniably though, my symptoms were going downhill. So, I started doing my own intense research. I went into MS blogs and chatrooms to connect with people who’d been on MS medication and compared our symptoms. I discovered some hope out there. But unfortunately, the medications didn’t work universally for everybody. It seemed hit or miss. Doctors were treating MS in many ways. They’d often start with one medication, and if that didn’t work, they’d try another one, and then another, and so on.

Many people I talked to had been through that trial-and-error process, yet others had one medication in particular that moved the needle for them. One gentleman I spoke to had been in a wheelchair for MS and had dealt with symptoms for about 25 years. It had progressed much more rapidly for him than for me, but many of our symptoms were the same. He’d gone on the same drug (Tysabri) that my doctors wanted to prescribe me. Before the treatment, he could get from his wheelchair to the bed or a chair but couldn’t walk well. He took the medication, and today he’s running 10Ks. Now, that was kind of the hope I was looking for. I don’t expect to be running 10Ks, but even if I could walk a 1K, that would be an improvement because I can’t run at all right now, and walking is labored.

One of the symptoms I have is called MS hug. It’s a tightness around the torso that feels like I just did 500 sit-ups. And it feels like that, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It’s hard to run when you feel like that. So, in hearing this guy’s story, I got some hope and started thinking about what I could do.

Adios anxiety: the benefit of an expert second medical opinion  

In my occupation with Johnson and Dugan, we provide products and services for employers so they can offer employee benefits to take care of their people. I’ve spent much of my career in employee benefits—specifically, partially self-funded plans. I’ve worked with groups to add specific strategies and employee benefits to assist people, reduce claims, and improve health outcomes. That got me thinking about MORE Health.

I liked the idea of an expert second opinion. I’m in a closed HMO, though, so if I go outside the HMO, it comes out of my wallet. I saw that MORE Health has a way to bring in a benefit at a reasonable cost so that employers can give their employees an option for a second opinion. Now, I really started thinking about a second opinion. I wanted one for myself because, after all this time, I still felt unsure about what treatment option to try—if any. This experience also led me to question why most health plans don’t offer coverage for second opinions. This is a problem in our healthcare system, I believe.  At a recent NextGen healthcare delivery strategy conference I attended, I learned that 1 in 20 adults in American are misdiagnosed every year.  Knowing this, it surprised me to dig in and discover that none of the major insurance carriers include a second opinion as a benefit of their coverage for a serious major illness!  This surprised me, especially when you look at the significant costs that come along with a misdiagnosis.  These costs may not involve money alone, it could mean ones life.

I had doubts about my treatment options for many reasons: I was concerned about how the medications interacted with the COVID-19 vaccines and boosters. My son—who eats a primarily vegetarian diet, does yoga, and is not a firm believer in Western Medicine—has not been a fan of me going the medication route. And given my line of work and what I’ve seen on the news about the pharmaceutical industry recently, I didn’t know how much I could trust any of it.

I thought getting a second opinion from a leading specialist would be helpful. I wanted somebody to look over my shoulder and give me a thumb up, sideways, or down on what my doctors were proposing. So, I reached out to MORE Health.

They did most of the work and paired me with a leading specialist for MS who looked at my entire case. All my records were delivered virtually to that physician through their online technology, including my MRIs and CT scans. I could even provide a report from years prior. I still had my physician’s assessment from 1989 in my files, which had data on the initial findings from my spinal tap and MRIs. Within five days, I got the final report. It came in the day before my first scheduled infusion therapy.

I’d prepared myself to pull the plug on the treatment that morning, but I didn’t have to. I got a detailed report from MORE Health that reviewed all my medical records, their findings of my CT scans, MRIs, and blood work. The specialist they assigned to my case examined everything and commented on it. The report included a conclusion with the physician’s recommendation that I go forward with infusion therapy (Tysabri) every six weeks, which is what my doctors at home had prescribed. The physician also wrote a caveat that if I didn’t see results in a certain amount of time, they would recommend a second medication.

Before getting an expert opinion on my case, I was going through a lot of anxiety about doing the infusion therapy. After receiving the specialist’s final report, I was very relaxed. I wasn’t anxious at all as the report provided through the MORE Health second opinion relieved my apprehension about getting started on this immunotherapy treatment.

As I write this, I am less than 24 hours from my fourth infusion of Tysabri. So far, the physical difficulties I have experienced have remained in check, and my physical symptoms haven’t gotten worse. My focus and productivity at work have improved. I hadn’t considered those issues before treatment. I just struggled along and pushed myself to be productive—all while experiencing various leg pains and on-and-off discomfort that worsened as the day progressed. My doctors say that for some people, the benefits of the drug kick in right away, while for others, it takes 12 months, and for others still, it never works. I’ve always been a glass-half-full guy, though. It’s not in my nature to be a pessimistic person. I’ve always looked forward and believed the future has yet to be created. We will have to wait and see how the treatment shows up for me, but as for the anxiety, adios!

About the Author

Michael Mulqueeney is the Vice President of Business Development with Johnson & Dugan Insurance Corporation, a UBA Partner Employee Benefits Advisory firm that has been in business in the San Francisco Bay Area for nearly 40 years. Mike was diagnosed with Remitting Relapsing MS in 2020. He lives in the hope of feeling better physically and maintaining his ability to play a round of golf—as hard as it may be for others to watch.

About MORE Health

MORE Health is a global digital health company known for giving individuals access to the best medical minds in the world when facing a serious illness or diagnosis. Recognized as a leader in cross-border telemedicine, MORE Health delivers virtual Expert Medical Opinions from world-leading specialists by pairing technology and world-class service. Offered as an employee benefit or on an individual self-pay basis, this service is available to groups of any size in the U.S. and abroad. Since 2013, MORE Health has helped patients on six continents and continues its mission to provide patient advocacy to clients and members worldwide—when they need it most.

An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure

An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure

Health care is expensive but there is good news: Most insurance plans come with free preventive care and benefits.  There is a lot of confusion around what is and isn’t preventive care – and why it matters.  Here is what you need to know.

What is Preventive Care and Why Is It Important?

Preventive care is routine health care that includes screenings, services and counseling to help prevent illness, disease or other health problems. It is care that helps detect or prevent serious diseases and other medical issues before they become worse.

When you subscribe to a health plan—regardless of whether it’s one offered by your work or one you purchase in the marketplace—most plans will include an array of preventive care services free of charge if you use an in-network provider.  Due to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), plan providers are required by law to offer basic preventive care services to you and those covered by your plan with no additional copay, coinsurance, or requirement to meet a deductible.

So why should you go to the doctor when you’re healthy?  The simple answer is that preventive care can help you stay healthier and, as a result, lower your health care costs.  It can also help identify health problems earlier like diabetes, high blood pressure, or even cancer, when these diseases are most treatable.

Preventive Health Care Examples

  • Annual Checkups – This is when your primary care physician checks your overall health. These visits are a great opportunity to bring up anything you may be worried about with your doctor.
  • Immunizations – These include Tdap (Tetanus, Diphtheria and Pertussis) boosters, and immunizations against Pneumococcal Conjugate and Shingles. Your annual flu shot is also covered.
  • Cancer Screenings – Most people don’t experience cancer symptoms when it is in the earliest, most treatable stage. That’s why it’s important to have regular screenings throughout your life.  Preventive screenings for women include pap test and mammograms.  It’s also recommended that both men and women begin colorectal cancer screenings starting at age 45.
  • Tests and Screenings – These include tests for blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, obesity and depression
  • Pediatric Screenings – These include screenings for hearing, vision, autism and developmental disorders
  • Colonoscopy – 1 typically every 10 years, usually after the age of 50
  • Mammogram – 1 per calendar year, usually after the age of 40

Unfortunately, most people in the United States are not taking advantage of preventive care.  In fact, one study from 2018 found that only 8% of adults 35 and older received the preventive care recommended to them.  Today, the vast majority of deaths in America stem from preventable chronic diseases and 90% of the nation’s $4.1 trillion in annual health care spending goes for people with chronic and mental health conditions.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has provided lists of preventive services that must be covered by most health insurance plans.  Lists are available for adults, women and children.  Click here for the lists of covered preventive care services.

Preventive health services offer significant health benefits and are covered by most insurance companies. In other words, participating in preventive care usually won’t cost you anything.  So, go get those freebies – and improve your health – while you’re at it!

 

Virtual Primary Care: The New Doctor’s Office?

Virtual Primary Care: The New Doctor’s Office?

The pandemic gave us more reasons, and more options, to see doctors online.  More and more, people are seeking out telemedicine services versus the traditional brick and mortar physician’s office. This trend includes telemental health services as well. And much like the necessity of remote work proved its potential to employers, telemedicine took hold as a convenient, safe and effective approach to healthcare.

While telemedicine services perform an important role in filling gaps in care, they do not address chronic care and primary care of people.  This shortcoming has led to the creation of an entirely new category: virtual primary care (VPC).  Today, many employers are exploring incorporating VPC into their employee benefits offering.

In practice, virtual primary care gives patients face-to-face time with their physicians across electronic devices.  VPC combines the convenience of telehealth technology with an emphasis on building and maintaining strong relationships between patients and the primary care providers (PCPs).  It can be used for chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes or screening for issues like anxiety and depression.  During these visits, doctors can refer patients to specialists or even write prescriptions for some acute illnesses that do not require an in-person assessment.

The COVID-19 pandemic definitely thrust the use of telemedicine forward, but many healthcare providers have been using this type of service for years. What the pandemic did do is encourage patients’ use of the telehealth services already in place. In fact, in 2020 telehealth visits increased 8,336% over visits in 2019 and telehealth appointments continue to rise.

Patients and medical professionals struggle to stay afloat in the current healthcare space.  Long wait times have become the norm at doctor’s offices.  As a result, more people are avoiding medical appointments altogether.  Alongside outrageous wait times, patients are also plagued by high medical costs.

VPC is a cost-effective way for more people to access healthcare more easily, as it reduces taking time off from work and traveling to see a doctor – especially for those living in remote areas.  Not every visit can be a digital visit, but many can be.

The shift to virtual primary care is a solution appealing to younger generations who enjoy the ease of digital appointments.  A poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation found one-fourth of all adults and nearly half of adults under 30 don’t have a primary care provider – and don’t want one.  Millennials and Gen Z (those born in 1997 or later) are “digital natives” and do not remember a time when the internet and social media didn’t exist.  As a result, they communicate, shop and manage all aspects of their lives differently than generations before them.  When it comes to healthcare, their expectations are no different.  They want to schedule and complete a medical consultation from the same place they order dinner – their couch.

Today, all generations of health consumers are demanding a focus shift from just healthcare to health and well-being.  VPC is a healthcare evolution that could open doorways for patients to interact with more doctors, receive a better diagnosis, and reduce the common healthcare concerns that are so prevalent today.