Technology is changing the way Americans take care of their health. Today, anyone can monitor and analyze key health indicators like their activity, heart rate and stress levels by simply opening an app on their mobile device.
This ability to use technology to more easily track personal health, manage disease and partake in competitive fitness and health regimes could lead to a re-imagination of how we experience our personal health on a daily basis.1
Most already agree that it’s making a difference. 96 percent of health app users believe apps help improve their quality of life and 76 percent of healthcare professionals believe mobile apps and wearable trackers will help patients with chronic diseases.2
The benefits of wellness technology can make a difference for your organization, too. By encouraging your employees to use health apps and trackers, your workforce may become healthier—leading to fewer sick days, more productive workers and lower health insurance costs for your organization.3
Convenience-first health solutions.
Health apps and wearable trackers make it easy for your employees to make healthy decisions. It provides them with the ability to create a food diary, record their exercise or set sleep reminders—which can help make it easier for them to make better choices throughout the day. Eventually, these healthy behaviors can become second nature.
But that’s not all health technology can do. When an app is combined with an activity tracker, your employees will be equipped with a more comprehensive set of well-being tools. It may give them access to a variety of convenient features, including:
- A range of health tracking abilities.
- Motivational messages that encourage healthy behaviors.
- Easy access to doctors and healthcare professionals.
- Reminders to take medication.4
Encourage health tech at your organization.
At WebMD Health Services, technology is a core part of our well-being program and we’re always looking to grow partnerships that can help us deliver effective well-being solutions.
To help you improve the health and well-being of your employees, we’ve listed the top three ways you can incorporate wellness technology into your organization.
1. Make trackers a part of health challenges.
At WebMD, technology is a big part of our healthy workplace challenges. We encourage employees to sync a Fitbit or similar fitness device with our wellness portal—giving them the ability to automatically track their progress during wellness challenges.
If your organization doesn’t already, you should also give your employees the ability to use trackers during wellness challenges. Without them, it can be difficult for employees to manually log 10,000 steps, keep a journal of everything they eat or record their exact hours of sleep for a week. But with fitness trackers, your employees will be able to more easily stay on track toward completing challenges and reaching their health goals.
2. Offer disease management apps.
About half of all adults suffer from one or more chronic diseases, which account for seven out of 10 deaths and 86 percent of U.S. health-care costs.5 But by offering disease management apps, you can help reduce the impact chronic disease has on your organization.
It will always be difficult to encourage employees to take better care of their health. But, disease management apps use a combination of remote monitoring, behavior modification and personalized intervention—which can help improve the outcomes of some of the most costly and difficult-to-manage conditions like diabetes, heart disease and lung disease.6
3. Start discussions using social media.
Social media is another powerful tool that can help encourage your employees to improve their health. Try creating community forums where your employees can connect and discuss healthy habits. You can create discussion boards about hiking, basketball, gardening or any other healthy interest your employees have. Then, let your employees share ideas, stories and inspiration to help each other stay on track toward a healthy lifestyle.
You can also create community forums for employees with chronic diseases. It will create an in-office support system and provide an outlet for employees to share their challenges, victories and tips for better managing disease and living a healthy life. Plus, it could provide an opportunity for your employees to connect with co-workers they may not have otherwise.
Use health tech to improve your employee’s lives.
Health technology is transforming the way people think about well-being. It’s making it simpler than ever for us to work toward our health goals, manage chronic disease and start open discussions about health and wellness. Not to mention, it’s making it easier for organizations to support their employees on their journey to wellness.
