The Intersection of Technology and Women’s Health: Are You Doing Enough?

By F. Randy Vogenberg, PhD, and Murray L. Harber

Human Resource (HR) professionals across the country are working on many issues as we come out of the pandemic such as staffing, return to work, diversity-equity-inclusion, employee benefits, amongst the usual HR duties. Rapidly emerging are the specific issues of behavioral and mental health benefits, metabolic health, and gender specific concerns for both women and men.

Meanwhile, innovative technology in healthcare is rapidly advancing the solutions for many health-related concerns such as access to virtual care, medication adherence, and digital therapeutic treatments for specific conditions. This intersection is an opportunity for employer HR leaders to optimize their benefits to address the new and growing concerns with effective technological solutions to maximize engagement while lowering overall care costs. So, are you as a HR professional taking a strategic approach to embrace such new technology within your organization and health plan to make available these effective solutions for gender specific areas?

“Employers, providers, employee benefits consultants/brokers, and health plans should be including validated digital therapeutics as part of a comprehensive solution to health conditions which improve outcomes, enhance engagement all while reducing the gaps in care. The integration with these new treatment solutions should be included into clinical pathways, medical and allied health education, and shared with the consumer.”, Murray L Harber Chief Performance Officer, Employer-Provider Interface Council

Women@Work 2022: A Global Outlook by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd. reflects a growing concern with women across the globe reporting high levels of burn-out and limited career advancement opportunities in 2021 as reasons for leaving their current employers. The report showed that 53% of the women report higher stress than previous years, 46% report being burned-out, 44% feel that the employer offer adequate support for mental health, and 42% are worried about career advancement. Other issues stated are that women who have flexibility are more concerned with their mental health and career advancement as they might be left out of meetings. Employers need to address these issues and provide more supports as to retain current performers and attract new talent. 

Advances in technology have made it easier to reach most people and provide the needed resources they need at scale. Digital approaches in general are gaining acceptance and traction due to easy access and convenient engagement. Examples include virtual care (navigation or referrals), and a new category of self-accessed treatments called Digital Therapeutics (DTx). Based on our national work with employers, all are clearly stressed around delivering better benefits for employees. However, actions taken need the capital spent more judiciously to meet market pressures along with their fiduciary responsibilities.  DTx uniquely expands access while providing a well-studied treatment tool that can be used personally or as an aid with traditional clinical care. That flexibility meets the employee need due to stigma barriers while supporting a positive plan benefit offered by the employer, which is appropriate, cost efficient and convenient. 

Imagine being a person who has mild to moderate depression who cannot get a counseling appointment for 3-5 weeks and/or cannot get an appointment with a psychiatrist for 3-6 months. Both are common occurrences these days, and HR professionals should consider the impact on the person  – additional stress, the fear of the unknown, and the questioning of having to wait for a solution. DTx gives the patient 24/7/365 access to a real-time solution that engages them at that point and time giving them an actionable engagement opportunity. This is not a general help-line or referral program that you may have through a vendor but cloud based clinical treatment tool on-demand cleared by FDA in the U.S. Such tools have been available elsewhere for years. 

“Working women continue to burn the candle at both ends, reporting increased stress. If we want more women to thrive at workplace and take leadership roles, it is time to prioritize mental health for women at workplace by providing solutions for women’s health, such as support during maternity leave and for working mothers, are needed. Digital health solutions provide scalable affordable solutions to accomplish this goal.” Shailja Dixit, MD, CEO, CurioDTx

Let’s consider post-partum depression (PPD) where one out of seven women will be diagnosed with the condition. What if you could identify those women in the health plan who are at risk for PPD and minimize and/or avoid getting PPD. No matter if it is the employee or the spouse on the health plan, it could reduce the onset of the condition, reduce the costs, and most importantly support the woman in their motherhood journey. 

One resource, Employer-Provider Interface Council (EPIC), is launching its Women’s Health Initiative with a webinar on July 28^th, 2022 (see adjacent page). Our panel of experts will inform about and share DTx solutions for employers to utilize to support women. Check out EPIC’s webpage, www.epicouncil.org, to learn more and about other initiatives. Also, follow and interact with EPIC on linkedin(https://www.linkedin.com/company/employer-provider-interface-council/). Lastly, if you are interested in being involved or know other good quality resources for women’s health, please reach out to us at [email protected].

As we enter the second half of 2022, we know HR professionals are determining  return to work and employee benefits strategy for 2023. While doing so, expand your vision and add more specific resources for both women and men. The age of personalization is here, its being embraced by employees, and encouraging more proven gender specific resources can go a long way in retaining and attracting top talent while being beneficial to all concerned.