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H.R.A and its significance in Preventive Healthcare

preventive healthcare at workplace

Globally, the toll from chronic disease is estimated at US$ 2 trillion in lost productivity each year - World Economic Forum.

Healthy employees are an asset to any organization. Good health not only helps to improve employee productivity, but is also a good indicator of the overall well-being of an employee. In order to ensure good employee health at an individual employee level as well as the organizational level, it is important to ensure that the organization takes the right approach, right from tracking the health indicators to proactively enabling employees to follow a healthier lifestyle. 

H.R.A (Health Risk Assessment) and its significance in preventive healthcare

Early diagnosis of lifestyle diseases has been useful to prevent major chronic diseases that include diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases. However, none of the existing models give a simple index considering holistic factors that represent an individual’s health.

We at ekincare present an online, automated methodology for scoring an individual’s health that doesn’t require any medical examination, here it is based on responses to a simple questionnaire that includes questions on lifestyle behavior, family medical history, and basic vitals. 

Personalized health journey

Based on the H.R.A, a health score is provided in real-time for any employee. Any individual completing the H.R.A will be given two panes: ‘Your Health Score’ and ‘Improve your Health Score’.

‘Your Health Score’ is an indication of the physical health of the individual, a higher score represents good physical health. 

‘Improve your Health Score’ suggests various personalized solutions that one can do to improve their health. A periodic assessment with H.R.A will help the individual get an updated health score and relevant steps for improvement.

ekincare has developed a comprehensive health risk assessment tool that measures various parameters bucketed under specific buckets to offer a more systematic approach to data collection and subsequent assessment.

Read more about the Preventive Healthcare Roadmap via Employee HRA.

Benefits of H.R.A to employees

75% of health care costs are attributed to chronic conditions that are preventable. Heart disease, for example, can be prevented with proper diet and exercise. In addition, early identification of certain risk factors, such as high cholesterol or blood pressure, can prevent larger problems down the road.

This is where H.R.A is most beneficial. A regular assessment of an individual's health can provide valuable insight on current and potential medical issues, their risk for chronic preventable diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension, and can identify strategies for improved health and well-being.

Benefits for employers

These assessments provide employers with important information that helps to shape the direction of their internal health and well-being initiatives, which in turn impact the bottom line by improving productivity, reducing absenteeism, health premiums and claims. 

Significance of H.R.A in lowering health checks cost

Organized health data and analytics can be used to customize health services to better suit your employee requirements. Using data from past health checks and health risk assessments, an organization can provide health checks that are actually needed and eliminate tests that are not relevant to an individual’s health risk. This saves money and does not put your employees through unnecessary health checks.

Health Risk Assessments are a great way to improve the health of a workforce and lower health plan costs. When done well, they provide awareness and direction for employers looking to engage in a culture of improved health and holistic corporate wellness.

Dr Noel Coutinho is the current CBO & Co-Founder at ekincare. With 23+ years of experience in insurance, he has served at RGA, Metis & United Healthcare.