Over the past five-years, telehealth has increasingly emerged as one of the critical pillars of the Australian healthcare system. It plays an important role in facilitating the delivery of physical and mental health consultations, providing a scalable solution to deliver treatment, employee support, individualised plans and specialised guidance and advice.
Since the pandemic, companies are offering more solutions that drive better safety for their teams, with telehealth being one of the lynchpins of these efforts. These encompass everything from breathwork, ergonomic design, injury treatment and prevention and workplace wellness programs to provide proactive preventative strategies for businesses to improve employee health.
Physiotherapy is increasingly utilising this platform as a means to deliver services at scale for clients, utilising its ability to deliver targeted consultations and advice for its clients. One of its most critical benefits is the ability to deliver consistency of care, allowing businesses with operations spanning multiple locations to work with one provider across the country. This strengthens the ability of the provider to grow a ‘knowledge base’ about the client, which in turn allows it to deliver better care, as it understands the unique ways a business may work, and the conditions their employees work in.
The nature of physiotherapy allows its practitioners to work with clients in terms of injury prevention and recovery solutions, that can minimise physical contact hours outside of critical diagnostic and milestone sessions. This is far more impactful than a simple consultation or piece of advice, rather it allows for a sustained approach to the treatment of patients, management of the clients operations, clear consistent communication that is in-tune with each workplace and high-levels of support.
This scalability is well-suited to deliver Occupational Health & Safety (OHS) strategies for workplaces, ranging from manufacturers, construction, childcare or tourism providers as it suits the delivery of injury prevention and recovery programs for dispersed and diverse workforces.
For small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) in particular, it allows them to deliver turnkey OHS programs without the need to employ full-time in-house expertise.
Consider the importance and growth of telehealth in SMBs today. Since the pandemic, companies are offering more solutions that drive better safety for their teams. These encompass everything from breathwork, ergonomic design, injury prevention and workplace well programs to provide proactive preventative strategies for businesses to improve employee health.
At Health Stack, simply put, we have redefined what telehealth Physiotherapy is, using new research that allows us to treat, manage and provide psychosocial support to team members experiencing pain or injury in the workplace.
Sector Spotlight: Industry-Specific Pain Points
Health Stack has composed the following list of some of the industry sectors that we work with that present unique challenges due to the nature and of their daily work requirements.
Construction and Manufacturing
Challenging physical work in these industries leads to a constant risk of physical strain. Safe Work Australia indicates that 12,600 workers’ compensation claims come from the construction industry annually, amounting to about 35 serious claims daily. Injuries here lead to slowdowns in production. Workforce shortages delay projects. They also make it far more likely that other workers will suffer injuries as they operate understaffed.
Tourism and Hospitality
The fast-paced tourism industry presents multiple challenges for employee health due to the often dynamic nature of the job. Shiftwork and jetlag can contribute to staff presenting with more pain episodes and injury in the workplace. These factors combined with repetitive motion injuries caused by the often physically demanding daily tasks required of many of the roles involved, is why this sector needs proactive health management for its employees to minimise the stresses placed on the bodies of employees.
Early Childhood Education
It’s a critical industry, yet the risks of injury are high from an occupational health and safety point of view. This includes lifting-related injuries, emotional and physical burnout, and repetitive motion injuries. Operators in these sectors with workforces of up to 200 staff, that often don’t have the same resources as multi-nationals must devise and deliver their own tailored solutions to address these challenges within their workforces. You keep your employees on the job by providing access to timely rehab and injury prevention, with Health Stack providing you a key pillar to protect employee health.
Health Stack’s Model: Virtual Physiotherapy in Action
It seems strange to think physiotherapy could be done through telehealth. Yet, it is one of the most empowering solutions for workplace injury rehabilitation today.
- Real-time consultations are suddenly possible
- Injury assessment is just as comprehensive as in-person care Ongoing treatment for injuries that aims for positive health outcomes for employees rather than just managing the injury
- Immediate communication that is clear and which everyone understands is also paramount
- Custom recovery plans can help people get the help they need sooner and put them on the path to long-term recovery
- Treatment for the other risk factors that can cause someone to suffer pain or an injury such as Sleep problems, Physical activity, Nutrition and Stress related factors contributing to their presentation
- Integration with return-to-work programs and digital OHS documentation ensures full compliance (return-to-work and compliance errors are costly risks for SMBs)
- Support for ergonomics and injury prevention, including online workshops to reduce the risk of injuries in the first place
Real-World Benefits: Case Studies and Use Cases
How can your business reduce injuries? How can you get people back to work with more efficient workplace injury rehabilitation? At the same time, you must meet both budgetary and compliance requirements. It’s a challenge, but Health Stack is helping companies do just that.
Companies have seen remarkable benefits. At Yatala, a custom-designed process addressed the company’s safety risks, saving it $300,000 in insurance premiums. Orrcon introduced the Health Stack platform to its team and saw a significant improvement in employee productivity and safety. The onsite workplace ergonomics meetings with qualified physiotherapists help the company provide better support for employees.
The ROI is clear:
- Lower workers’ compensation costs
- Fewer people are hurt and out of work
- Reduced downtime and faster return to work when there is a need
- Employees are satisfied, supported, and more engaged in prevention strategies
- Employee retention climbs as people receive the support they need through accessible care
Compliance & Continuity: Meeting OSH Standards Digitally
Virtual care alternatives are an exceptional opportunity to not just provide the care people need, but to meet OH&S standards for digital care. Health Stack aligns virtual care with state and federal OH&S legislation to the fullest level of support.Health Stack partners closely with those businesses that provide onsite Physiotherapy, we can support this and reduce the costs and increase the coverage for these businesses.
Note that over 25% of Australians have had at least one telehealth consultation for their health in the previous 12 months. Consumers benefit from and want this type of service. Telehealth’s role in fulfilling employers’ legal duty-of-care obligations is evident when companies utilise effective strategies built directly on state and federal regulatory guidelines.
For telehealth to be compliant, it must:
- Ensure proper documentation to ensure audit-readiness
- Meet all legal duty-of-care obligations, including any industry-specific requirements
- Align with federal and state OH&S legislation
Looking Ahead: What’s Next in Physiotherapy Tech
Looking ahead, what can be expected with the area of HealthTech focusing on physiotherapy solutions for clients and businesses alike. Some of the key areas we expect to see include:
- AI-powered injury triage, providing highly accurate support in the moments after an injury takes place
- Data-driven reporting for employers, reducing costs and enhancing outcomes
- Blended models that enable in-person and virtual physiotherapy to make the most out of care
As Health Stack learns more about the risk factors for pain within a business, its tailored health journeys take clients on a support path to address the real risk factors for body stressing injuries. Health Stack is incorporating each of these elements into its platform as it seeks to deliver better, proactive health solutions for its clients to provide employees and business owners alike the support they require with injury prevention and recovery.
Empowering SMBs to Prioritise Worker Health
Simply put, your employees’ health and well-being are paramount to your company. Health Stack’s commitment to providing accessible, flexible, and sector-specific physiotherapy makes it possible to build your business with confidence. SMB owners can explore all that telehealth can achieve for their business, including proactive OHS and retention strategies, by connecting with our team at Health Stack. Let’s build a strategy to protect your biggest assets. Contact Health Stack now.
