Four Healthcare Myths That Can Rob Your Organization Of Productivity And Profits

May 6

This article was originally published on Forbes.

Jaclyn Wainwright is the cofounder and CEO of Aircare Health.

Your employees are both your most valuable asset and your biggest investment. Whether you employ 10 or 10,000 people, their health is critical to the productivity and profitability of your organization. But persistent misconceptions about healthcare—especially mental healthcare—can prevent employees from getting the treatment and support they need and may ultimately rob your organization of productivity and profits. This problem affects all business leaders, and we must all be part of the solution.

Why Holistic Healthcare Is A Business Matter

Payroll and benefits likely form the largest item on your P&L. Over half of the U.S. population receives health insurance through their employer, and healthcare costs are rising rapidly every year.

Prioritizing your employees’ well-being is the right thing to do, not only for individuals but for your business as a whole. It’s easy to say that we have a moral imperative to care for our employees, but until recently, we didn’t have access to the data to prove the business case. My organization, AiRCare, was founded on the premise that helping organizations of all sizes take a proactive approach to providing mental and behavioral healthcare is good business, measured on the bottom line.

Around 50% of Americans “will be diagnosed with a mental disorder at some point in their lifetime.” However, the average number of years between the beginning of symptoms and the first treatment is 11 years, according to a cross-sectional study. This is unacceptable. Eleven years is too long to leave people suffering in silence. In comparison, the average time to diagnosis for breast cancer patients in the U.S. is 5.2 months. To create lasting change and establish a healthcare system that values mental health as much as physical health, we have to start dismantling the myths that hold us back.

Four Harmful Healthcare Myths

1. The healthcare system is designed to promote health.

To get a reliable outcome from any process or system, you must first understand what it was built to do. The early U.S. healthcare system was primarily focused on preventing death. If this were still the system’s only goal, it would be performing remarkably well—so well, in fact, that end-of-life care costs are now a huge financial burden for American families.

While we have made great strides in the last century to address the burden of disease, the basis of our healthcare system is reactive, not proactive. As such, our reactive approach provides sick care rather than proactive healthcare intended to help people thrive.

2. The U.S. provides whole-person healthcare.

A 2021 Ipsos poll found that 82% of U.S. adults give equal value to their physical and mental health, but only 28% believe that the healthcare system treats both equally. They’re not wrong. Historically, in the U.S., we have chosen to prioritize physical health over mental health, and we treat individual symptoms instead of interconnected systems. PwC’s forward-looking 2024 medical cost trend report detailed the factors contributing to the continued year-over-year medical cost increase (over 7%). It stated, “While utilization of behavioral health grew during the pandemic and continues to grow, its cost remains relatively lower than other medical costs. Health plans did not account for behavioral health in their pricing and forecasting.”

Yet research shows that holistic healthcare can improve overall health outcomes and reduce healthcare costs. For example, treating depression and chronic physical illness at the same time can help people manage both conditions more effectively.

Less than 5% of total Medicare healthcare spend goes toward direct mental or behavioral health services, based on a 2020 cohort study. This disparity shows that our system is more invested in physical health, to the detriment of our mental and emotional well-being.

3. People with mental health problems can ask for help.

It’s a common and dangerous misconception that people struggling with mental and behavioral health problems can seek help in the same way those suffering from physical health problems can. But care avoidance is actually a symptom of most mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety. The people who most need mental health services may also have the greatest difficulty asking for help, and the system we've created requires people to ask.

4. As a business leader, healthcare isn’t my problem to solve.

Only 21% of U.S. workers “strongly agreed that their employer cared about their wellbeing,” based on research from Gallup. In May 2020, during the early days of the pandemic, this number reached a high of 49%, but it has since declined to the same low levels as 2011. This isn’t just a “feel-good” metric; employees who believe that their organization cares about them have significantly higher rates of engagement and lower rates of burnout. According to Gallup’s 2023 State of the Global Workplace report, “low engagement costs the global economy $8.8 trillion,” the equivalent of 9% of global GDP.

Healthcare problems are business problems. When a CEO fails to understand the nuances of their company’s health care costs, profits and people suffer. Prioritizing employee health and well-being is the single most effective lever for CEOs to pull.

Following a White House roundtable discussion on reducing healthcare costs, Cost Plus Drugs cofounder Mark Cuban said in an interview: “Even though health insurance costs are the second-largest line item after payroll, CEOs don’t really understand it or know anything about it.” He admitted that he didn’t understand this critical relationship until recently. Effectively addressing this problem directly contributes to lower overall healthcare costs, decreased absenteeism, increased employee engagement and improved customer satisfaction. Healthy, engaged employees are better equipped to deliver excellent customer service, which can lead to more loyal, satisfied customers and greater profitability.

Strategies For Shattering Healthcare Myths

We won’t fix the problems in our healthcare system overnight, but we have enormous collective power to make changes in our own organizations that will contribute to systemic change.

Be Proactive

Recognize the importance of mental health in the workplace, and take preventive measures to prioritize employees’ mental and emotional well-being. “Mental health conditions are prevalent, undetected and undertreated, especially after stressful life events,” according to 2022 research. Provide access to a variety of mental health services and solutions, and ensure that at least one of these services has a data-driven, comprehensive approach to proactively engaging your workforce. Not everyone asks for or receives help in the same way.

Ask For Answers

Challenge your current health insurance carrier or TPA to explain their mental health resources in detail. Will they guarantee the availability of mental health resources in their network? Will they guarantee the time it will take an employee to schedule an appointment with a mental health provider? (Hint: Hours, not days). Do they do any outreach efforts for people who are at risk for behavioral health or mental health conditions? Remember, a proactive approach is critical.

Request a yearly breakdown of total healthcare spend, comparing mental and emotional health and physical health services. Use this information to identify disparities and hold your carrier accountable.

Provide Workforce Training

Educate frontline leaders about mental health conditions and symptoms. Help them build the practice of “authentic noticing,” paying attention to the people they manage and looking out for the signs when someone is struggling. Train leaders to have respectful, open conversations with at-risk team members and make sure they get the resources and support they need.

Demand Outcomes, Not Just Access

We often conflate mental health access with mental health outcomes. Ensure your employees have access to licensed clinicians responsible for providing evidence-based mental health care services, and structure your contract to pay for outcomes, not just services. Measuring access simply isn’t enough; measure successful outcomes: a reduction in symptoms that is maintained over a period of time.

If your organization has an EAP, review how you define and are measuring success. Are your metrics based on utilization, or are you measuring resolution outcomes that demonstrate services are effective when used? Hint: Would you consider a cancer treatment effective based on how many times it was administered or would you want to see data that proved it was effective in treating cancer?

The evidence is clear: Prioritizing mental and behavioral health is a win-win-win, for employees, organizations and society as a whole. By shifting our approach from treating symptoms to addressing root causes and embracing a whole-person care model, we can challenge stubborn myths, demand better outcomes and invest in proactive healthcare solutions that benefit us all. It is not only good for humanity, it’s good for business.