First Stop Health Delivers Best Practices for High ROI Telemedicine

CHICAGO (July 10, 2019) – First Stop Health is releasing the Buyer’s Guide to Telemedicine, helping employers combat the ever-increasing costs of healthcare by implementing virtual care solutions. The guide provides guidance for finding high return on investment (ROI) virtual care that delivers savings, as well as tips to help employers choose the best possible telemedicine solution for their company.

The Buyer’s Guide to Telemedicine comes as many employers and their employees continue to cope with the rising cost of healthcare. Annual premiums for employer-sponsored family health coverage reached $19,616 in 2018, up 5% from 2017^[1]. Additionally, the average price of an emergency room visit has risen 176% from 2008-2017^[2]. Telemedicine helps to reduce costs by allowing employees to talk to a doctor via phone or video rather than choosing a more expensive care option, such as the emergency room, urgent care or primary care visit.

More employers are implementing telemedicine benefits. Telemedicine has been one of the fastest-growing healthcare benefits, according to the results of the Society for Human Resource Management's (SHRM's) 2019 Employee Benefits survey^[3].

But telemedicine only works when employees choose to use it instead of a more expensive option. Currently, most telemedicine programs only deliver utilization rates of 1-10%. The Buyer’s Guide to Telemedicine suggests that employers should look for a solution that achieves at least 25% usage and guarantees employer savings.

“The majority of HR professionals we spoke with at the SHRM 2019 Annual Conference and Exposition already had telemedicine, but weren’t seeing much, if any, value,” said David Guttman, president of First Stop Health. “The HR professionals rarely knew their telemedicine utilization rate, and when they did, were routinely underwhelmed by their results.”

“The goal of the Buyer’s Guide to Telemedicine is to help employers choose a telemedicine solution that reduces medical claims and overall healthcare costs, while delivering a convenient, quality experience for employees,” he said.

When employers download the Buyer’s Guide to Telemedicine, they get:

• Top Reasons to Provide a Telemedicine Benefit to Employees
• Five Key Criteria for Buying a Telemedicine Solution
• Tips to Secure Internal Buy-In
• Checklist for Choosing the Right Solution

Learn more by downloading the free Buyer’s Guide to Telemedicine.

^[1] https://www.kff.org/health-costs/report/2018-employer-health-benefits-survey/

^[2]https://www.healthcostinstitute.org/research/annual-reports/entry/2017-health-care-cost-and-utilization-report

^[3]https://www.shrm.org/ResourcesAndTools/hr-topics/benefits/Pages/employers-boost-benefits-to-win-and-keep-talent.aspx

About First Stop Health

First Stop Health is a virtual care company that provides Telemedicine, Care Navigation and Enhanced EAP Counseling to employers nationwide with a high value, high utilization benefit solution for their employees and family members. Our members have access to U.S.-based doctors and other healthcare professionals via phone and video. We are the First Stop for Health^SM for our members, who receive convenient healthcare diagnosis, treatment and advice, typically at no cost to them and at a substantial savings to their employer. Connect with First Stop Health on the Web, LinkedIn, Owler, Facebook and Twitter.

Media Contact

Nick Severino | Vice President of Marketing | First Stop Health