www.hrreporter.com 31
sure [they are] always visible and that
you work with your virtual care provider
to support ongoing communication
that can be leveraged at different times
during the year."
Selecting a partner
Also crucial? Establishing the criteria
needed to select the vendors or health-
care providers that will bring this
virtual care strategy to life, says Aon.
This starts with some key questions:
• Does the price model and service
offering support my strategy?Do
potential partners have a clinical
approach with a foundation of vali-
dated evidence-based care pathways
and behaviour-change science?
• Is the partner able to provide services
in multiple provinces? Are part-
ners able to scale or evolve service
offerings if demand grows or needs
change?How do they demonstrate
that the services provided lead to valid
positive health outcomes? Are their
data security practices compliant with
regulatory requirements?
• Are they willing to integrate and
collaborate with other vendors in
my health-care benefits ecosystem
(such as a disability manager or
specialty preferred provider pharmacy
network)?
• Do the provider platforms connect
seamlessly to other platforms that
support our member experience
framework (such as employee and
family assistance programs, chron-
ic-disease services, health system
navigation or nursing support)?
• Will the partners agree to account-
ability and performance targets or
service-level agreements?
• How intuitive is the technology? Is it
easy to use? Is AI part of the mapping
process?
All partners should be held account-
able to the virtual care strategy's overall
results — regardless of what services
they provide, according to Aon.
The methodology to measure the
performance of these strategies should
be agreed upon by all partners. If, for
example, cost savings are a key perfor-
mance target, identify in advance how
the baseline and future costs will be
calculated and what benchmark will be
used to measure savings.
The use of performance guarantees and
service-level agreements can help make
sure that an employer's expectations and
objectives are met and delivered, while
all parties are "rowing in the same direc-
tion" in executing a strategy, says Raheb.
Top of mind
Virtual care provides employers with
an opportunity to address productivity,
engagement and cost issues attributable
to employee health in a new way.
"The execution of a well-planned
and well-defined strategy that reflects
employee health needs, supports
stated goals and defines and measures
desired outcomes is the key to success,"
says Aon.
"Integrating virtual care into health
and benefit plans is still a new consid-
eration for most Canadian employers.
But the numbers are increasing, and
it won't be long before virtual care is a
top-of-mind factor in benefits strategy
and performance."
CHRR
For more information, visit www.aon.com.
"We want to ensure that when our
clients implement virtual care, it is
done in conjunction with their overall
benefits philosophy, which ultimately
aligns with their business objectives."
Joey Raheb, Aon
