The business benefits of offering employees medical second opinion services

Most employees don’t think about medical second opinions until they’re faced with a serious diagnosis, their physician recommends major surgery such as joint replacement, or they are living with a health issue for which they’re having a difficult time getting a definitive diagnosis. In these situations, employees seek a second opinion to ensure they’re receiving an accurate diagnosis and the recommended treatment plan is the most appropriate option.

A second opinion can confirm or refute the first doctor’s diagnosis and treatment plan, give more information about the patient’s disease or condition, and may offer other treatment options. This information can help employees feel more confident as they move ahead with treatment.

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It also can significantly lower the risk of misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment, overtreatment and undertreatment. One study of patients with serious conditions who sought a second opinion at the Mayo Clinic found that 88% of them received a new or refined diagnosis that changed their treatment plan. For 21% of these patients, their diagnosis was completely changed.

How second opinions benefit employers

That’s all good news from the employee perspective, but second opinions also offer employers business benefits. While second opinions protect employees’ health and well-being against misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment, they also help employers avoid the often high costs associated with misdiagnosis, inappropriate treatment, missed follow-up care and duplicate testing. One study published in JAMA examined the cost of waste due to failures of care delivery, including not following best practices, the fragmentation of care and overtreatment in the U.S. healthcare system. The cost of waste in these three categories totaled between $285 billion and $425 billion during a single year.

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Employers continue to compete for top talent and work to retain employees, efforts that have become even more challenging in some fields due to the “Great Resignation” spurred by the pandemic. Offering a second opinion benefit can help employers achieve their hiring and retention goals by expanding benefit offerings for a relatively small investment. One review of the cost benefit of second opinions found that for each dollar spent on the program, medical costs were reduced $2.63.

Making second opinions available can also increase employee engagement, helping them to feel more informed and empowered about making medical decisions. That sense of empowerment can have both short- and long-term positive effects on employee health outcomes. Engaged employees are more likely to be proactive about their health and take steps to improve their overall health and well-being. That can not only help them achieve the best outcome for the condition they’ve sought a second opinion for, it can also help them be healthier in the future and lower the risk of costly chronic conditions like diabetes, heart disease and lung disease.

Second opinions also can have a positive effect on employee mental well-being. Not only does offering additional benefits build goodwill with employees, second opinions can also allay anxiety for employees diagnosed with a serious health problem or living with a chronic problem, like back pain, that’s not responding to their current treatment. With the peace of mind gained from a second opinion, employees will be better able to focus at work, increasing productivity. And when a second opinion helps resolve an employee’s health issue, he, she, or they will have fewer days missed from work, increasing productivity.