Assessing the Viability of AI as a Self-diagnosis Tool
This article is from RISQ Consulting’s Zywave client portal, a resource available to all RISQ Consulting clients. Please contact your Benefits Consultant or Account Executive for more information or for help setting up your own login.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has created revolutionary advances across many industries. Now, it’s paving its way as a tool to self-diagnosis medical conditions or get answers to health-related questions. Self-diagnosis is a growing practice, as people’s primary access point for health care information has shifted from professionals to the internet. Especially when you’re having trouble getting an appointment, the internet has proven itself as a fast, easily accessible and free source of information. Given the internet’s popularity in answering some of your most urgent health-related questions, you may wonder how AI can help. Keep in mind that while AI is new and exciting, it’s not a replacement for professional health care.
This article explores the use of generative AI for medical self-diagnosis and its benefits, limitations and viability.
Generative AI for Health Care
Generative AI is a type of technology that produces text, images, audio or other content. With the introduction of AI chatbots, more people may be turning to them to answer their health-related questions. Some common tools used for this purpose include OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Med-PaLM. These types of large language model (LLM) chatbots can predict the next word in a sequence to answer questions in a human-like style.
Amid a shortage of health care workers, bots could help answer your questions. Initial tests by researchers so far suggest these AI programs are more accurate than a standard Google search.
The Pros
AI tools can potentially reduce medical costs for patients and health care providers. Here are some more potential benefits of using generative AI for medical self-diagnosis:
- Increased accessibility
- Quicker triaging
- Boosted health literacy
- Preserved anonymity
All of these factors contribute to an enhanced patient experience and improved engagement. Chatbots are also considered easier to use than online symptom checkers.
The Cons
While generative AI has great potential, it’s important to understand that there are also some limitations and pitfalls, including the following:
- False information
- Misinterpretation of information
- Ethical concerns (e.g., data privacy and bias)
- Risk of ignoring medical advice
Due to these risks, some LLM chatbots include disclaimers that they shouldn’t be used to diagnose serious conditions, provide instructions for curing conditions or manage life-threatening issues.
Using Generative AI in Medical Self-diagnosis
While generative AI tools may help you quickly answer health-related questions and self-diagnosis conditions, relying solely on them could be unsafe. Similar to their use in other applications, AI tools are meant to be complimentary and an additional source of information. They are great sources for general information and help simplify it so you can be an educated health care consumer.
Generative AI is not a replacement for medical advice from a professional, but it can be used to supplement professional medical advice. If you plan to use AI to answer your nonurgent health-related questions, consider the following best practices:
- Be aware of the potential ethical concerns of AI-driven health care, such as data privacy.
- Verify the AI information with trusted medical sources.
- Consult a health care professional for conclusive diagnoses and treatment plans.
The Future of AI-assisted Self-diagnosis
According to data from business consultant Accenture, health care AI applications could save up to $150 billion annually for the U.S. health care economy by 2026. AI offers numerous potential benefits, but it’s important to recognize the limitations and concerns associated with medical self-diagnosis. Health care providers will likely strive to harness AI’s power instead of solely relying on it. By layering AI into health care systems and making them user-friendly, providers can gain access to insights to provide better care.
AI is in the early stages of its development. However, as it advances, the future of medical self-diagnosis will likely involve even greater collaboration between AI developers and health care providers.
Summary
In today’s digital world, it’s easy to become overwhelmed when researching health-related information. Obtaining accurate health advice and information comes down to using all available sources but understanding their limitations. LLM chatbots could take provider-AI collaboration and diagnosis to the next level, but it has yet to be seen.
While generative AI is not meant to replace professional health care, it can be a good supplementary source and help you increase your health literacy and get answers quicker. Contact your doctor for the most accurate and personalized health care information and guidance.
- Published in Blog
Educating Young Employees on Open Enrollment
This article is from RISQ Consulting’s Zywave client portal, a resource available to all RISQ Consulting clients. Please contact your Benefits Consultant or Account Executive for more information or for help setting up your own login.
Many employees need help with open enrollment. This is particularly true among younger workers, who typically have less experience selecting benefits than older generations that have been in the workforce longer. A study by insurance and employee benefits provider MetLife found that 26% of Generation Z (Gen Z) employees are insecure about making benefits decisions.
Employers who successfully educate young employees about open enrollment are likely to find that workers are more satisfied with their benefits packages, make better financial decisions and are more likely to recommend their organization to other people. Such positive outcomes can significantly influence an organization’s overall financial performance.
To this end, employers can implement several strategies for educating young employees to help them navigate open enrollment.
Educating Young Employees
Clear communication is crucial to ensure workers understand the open enrollment process and the benefits they’re signing up for. Employers should consider the following strategies for educating younger employees on open enrollment:
- Prioritize internal communications. Young employees may be unfamiliar with the open enrollment process. Inform employees about the upcoming open enrollment through multiple channels (e.g., emails, flyers and meetings). Ensure every employee knows when open enrollment begins, the last day to complete enrollment and the consequences of failing to enroll in time.
- Create multiple avenues for communication. Ensure young workers know how to ask questions about open enrollment and feel comfortable speaking to HR and their managers about the upcoming enrollment. Encourage these employees to discuss their benefits plans with their friends, family and more experienced coworkers.
- Provide educational resources. Give workers the information they need to make informed benefits decisions during open enrollment. To target young workers, employers should provide digital resources such as online webinars, videos, social media posts and articles.
- Explain benefits options. Employees are likely to think primarily of health insurance during open enrollment and may overlook voluntary benefits that could be useful to them. Employers should provide information about employee benefits choices (e.g., pet insurance, student loan repayment assistance and employee assistance programs) so that young employees don’t forgo benefits they may want later in the year.
- Cater to employee needs. Young generations of workers have different benefits needs than older generations. For example, they’re more likely to prioritize mental health resources and student loan assistance over life insurance or financial planning for retirement. Employers should capitalize on the wants and needs of younger generations to educate them on benefits they care about.
- Encourage young employees to take their time. Rushing through open enrollment can cause workers to forgo crucial benefits. This is especially true of young workers, who may feel stressed or unsure of the open enrollment process. Give employees ample time to research and select their benefits and encourage them to ask questions.
- Communicate all year round. Benefits education should be more than a flurry of activity during the open enrollment window. Employers should provide employees with the resources they need to understand and maximize their benefits all year round, highlighting the direct financial impact benefits decisions can have on employees. This can help young workers understand the importance of open enrollment and the impact that rushing through the process can have on their financial well-being, increasing the likelihood that they’ll make informed benefits decisions when the time comes.
Conclusion
Open enrollment can be a nerve-wracking period for all employees. The stress of selecting benefits is often most keenly felt by younger workers with less experience selecting benefits. Employers can use open enrollment as an opportunity to increase communication and trust with young workers by educating them on the process and their benefits choices. This may increase younger generations’ satisfaction with their benefits packages and jobs, improving organizations’ employee attraction and retention and ultimately their bottom lines.
Contact us today for more information.
- Published in Blog
PB&J – The Key to Your Company’s Most Appetizing Workflows
By Alison Nelson, Employee Benefits Account Manager
I was recently chatting with my mom, who is an elementary school teacher, and she was telling me about one of her favorite projects to do with her class – the PB&J project. To teach her class the importance of clear and concise instructions, she divides her students into groups and gives them the simple task of writing instructions on how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Easy enough, right?
After the groups complete their instructions, my mom stands in front of the class with all of the tools and ingredients needed to make a PB&J and she follows each group’s written directions. Word for word.
“Spread peanut butter on bread” the directions don’t say what to use, so she scoops peanut butter with her bare hands and smears it on all sides of the bread.
“Add jelly” Add jelly to what? My mom would then scoop jelly onto the table.
This process would go on and on until she would present the class with a multitude of Frankenstein-like sandwiches. Then, they would work together as a class to write a final set of incredibly detailed instructions that, when followed by their teacher, finally resulted in a deliciously ordinary PB&J.
Aside from being a fun activity, the PB&J project highlights the need to be incredibly detailed and thoughtful when writing instructions intended for others to follow – something every organization should consider when it comes to their workflow processes. Life happens, colleagues call out sick or go on vacation. When someone else must cover for that colleague, do they have access to written instructions that will allow them to follow the workflow with ease?
At RISQ Consulting, we’ve been updating some of our written processes and conducting our own version of the PB&J project. Once a process has been written, we have someone from a completely different department try to follow the directions to complete the task. Having someone who has no prior knowledge of the task at hand follow the directions has been a crucial step in writing our processes. It’s easy to make assumptions that some things might be common sense, but, when thrown into a new workflow, you’ll want all the clarity you can get.
You can view a popular (and funny) video version of the PB&J task here. And as you write your own set of processes, ask yourself if you think you’d end up with a PB&J or a complete mess of a sandwich.
- Published in Blog
Tips for Effective 2023 Open Enrollment Communication
This article is from RISQ Consulting’s Zywave client portal, a resource available to all RISQ Consulting clients. Please contact your Benefits Consultant or Account Executive for more information or for help setting up your own login.
Now more than ever, employees are looking to their employers for guidance on navigating their available benefits and how to stretch their dollars further. As such, effective open enrollment communication is critical this year. According to a Voya Financial survey, nearly one-third of American workers (31%) eligible for benefits admitted they don’t fully understand any employee benefits they selected during their most recent open enrollment period. However, employees are likely paying more attention this year as they also navigate record-high inflation and work to maximize every hard-earned dollar.
Many of today’s workers want help understanding how much money to put aside for retirement, emergency savings and health care expenses. That means employers have an opportunity to shine by effectively communicating and guiding employees throughout the open enrollment process and even the rest of the year.
As the 2023 open enrollment season approaches, employers are poised to provide their employees with resources and digital tools they can use to better understand and act with more confidence when making benefits decisions. This article highlights communication tips for employers.
Communicating With Employees
Educating and informing employees about their benefits package is an integral part of open enrollment. Effective communication is critical to educate and inform employees about new, returning or expanded benefits options. Consider these eight communication tips:
- Start early. Get the word out early about benefits offerings so employees have ample time to understand their benefits, consult with family members and determine their needs for the following year. There’s no such thing as communicating “too soon” about enrollment. Research shows that repetitive messaging and reminders increase the odds of an employee seeing enrollment information and understanding the upcoming benefit changes and how they work.
- Develop key messaging. After solidifying benefits options, employers need to plan their communication strategies. The first step is figuring out key messaging, focusing on new or updated benefits offerings, and developing FAQs to address common concerns quickly.
- Select a mix of appropriate channels. Just as many workplaces operate in a hybrid model, employee communications can be successful when done in a similar manner. For example, digital channels can help distribute and house information virtually, allowing employees to access it when and where they need it. Chat functionality with benefits vendors can also be a helpful digital tool to assist employees in figuring out which benefits they need. Alternatively, there’s still a time and place for companywide on-site meetings and mail-to-home print communication. Postcards and other mailers are still relevant and can serve as a reminder to discuss and review benefits options at home. Every workplace is different, so it comes down to selecting various channels that are relevant and engaging to each organization’s specific employees.
- Keep it simple. It’s vital to simplify any benefits information being shared. Employees don’t need to know everything, so employers should highlight what’s necessary to understand about the benefit and the information to help them decide if they need it. Links or attachments could explore the benefits further and offer the fine print.
- Make it digestible. It’s crucial to catch employees’ attention and present the key message immediately before they lose interest. Traditional benefits booklets can be lengthy; instead, employers could deliver bite-sized information to employees through methods such as videos and emails. If all open enrollment information is given at once, it’s easy for employees to become overwhelmed and, ultimately, disengage with employer-provided information. Digestible communication makes it easy for employees to know what to focus on and take action.
- Use real-world examples. When possible, employers can put benefits offerings in context with real-world scenarios. Employees can relate to stories, so find ways to bring the options to life. For example, instead of describing telemedicine as a 24/7 benefit, highlight that an employee could get health care answers in the middle of the night when they or a child are running a high fever. The chances of employees needing to use health care benefits during the next year are highly likely, so help reiterate the importance of complete coverage.
- Avoid jargon. Avoiding HR or benefits-related jargon is best to help make benefits easier to understand. Additionally, many benefits are acronyms, so employers should help decode and explain the alphabet soup to employees.
- Personalize communication. Ultimately, employers want to engage employees with open enrollment information, and a personalized approach can help. It’ll depend on the workforce and their working environments, but employers will likely need to segment their employee audience and tweak messaging so it resonates. For example, open enrollment methods and communication would look different for remote, on-site and nonwired employees.
Benefits can be complicated. Although open enrollment is the most pivotal time to highlight benefits to employees, employers have an opportunity to educate employees throughout the year. Ongoing communication after open enrollment can help encourage employees to understand and utilize the benefits available to them.
Summary
Educating and informing employees about their benefits options is an important part of open enrollment. Effective employee communication is an ongoing process, but it comes down to helping employees feel well-informed about their benefits options and confident about their choices.
Reach out to RISQ Consulting for additional open enrollment support, including employee communication resources.
- Published in Blog
Task Oriented or Relationship Oriented
By Shayla Teague, Individual and Family Benefits Consultant
I had the opportunity recently to take a life changing course on social styles through the Wilson Learning Company. This course forced me to take a deep dive into my own communication style and learn to recognize the communication styles of others. It has helped me to not take offense to people that have different styles than my own and flex to their style of communication. All around, this has allowed me to foster more meaningful dialogue, especially in high-stress conversations.
There are four main styles: Analytical, Driver, Amiable, and Expressive. Each style sits in an area of a quadrant that determines if their communication style is more assertive or less assertive and more task oriented or more relationship oriented. Knowing where you sit on the quadrant can help you understand your communication style. This is done through a test offered by Wilson Learning. I will explain each style in more detail.
Analytical
Tends to work in facts and figures, needs more time to analyze a project, often more serious in demeanor, likely explains in great detail. A person with a dominant analytical personality tends to be less assertive and more task oriented. They aren’t too comfortable discussing emotions. They are likely to ask vs. tell. “Will you please provide the CPA Report.”
Driver
More results focused. They don’t need all the details in how you got to the end result, they just want the end result. They value actions and results and don’t need to spend a lot of time on the planning aspect. A driver tends to be more assertive and more task oriented. They don’t like to hear emotion when it comes to work. They are likely to tell vs. ask. “I need the CPA report by 2pm.”
Amiable
Tend to have high empathy, avoid conflict, want the general consensus of the group, and are team and relationship focused. An amiable person will really focus on how a decision will impact the people in a group. They are less assertive and more relationship oriented. Communications likely focus more on emotion and feelings.
Expressive
Tend to be more animated and impulsive. They tend to have many ideas and have a hard time sticking to just one. Expressive personalities have a lot of ambition and enthusiasm, however they tend to be more spontaneous. They are more assertive and more relationship oriented.
People do not fit in a box, so we all are not one of these categories and some of our traits likely fit into all four. Everyone has a dominate style and a secondary style and your style is likely to remain the same throughout your adult life. During the course we watched videos of the most extreme scenarios as we were learning to recognize other people’s styles by their behavior, communication and even hand gestures or how much eye contact they make.
My dominant personality is analytical as you may have already caught onto by the writing style of this article. The analytical in the video was portrayed as rigid and standoffish. We were asked if any of us disagreed with our style and I raised my hand and continued to explain why there is NO WAY I could be a dominant analytical. A colleague of mine interjected and pointed out, “Shayla, you are analyzing why you are not an analytical.” Alas, I had to concede to that.
So how does this all play into communication? Surely, we are all aware that people are different and have different ways of communicating. That is where flexing to other styles comes into play and why it is helpful to be able to identify another person’s style. I had a supervisor that was a driver, driver. That means both his dominant and his secondary style fell within the driver quadrant. I always wanted to go into major detail about all the steps that I took to complete a project. It was disheartening for me when he just wanted the results and thought my e-mails were too long. It can be exhausting for a driver to listen to all the details when they just want you to get to the point. Because of the training I was able to recognize him as a driver and so I was able to adjust the way that I communicated projects with him. I could just give him the necessary information and leave out the fluff. If I am communicating the same project to an amiable style, they may think I am being abrasive by communicating in this manner. I may want to keep some of the fluff or emotion in my communication.
Knowing your style and being able to recognize the style of others can help communication immensely. This is especially the case if you are in a supervisory role. Flexing to the style of your employee can help them feel valued and heard.
Source and link to Wilson Learning Course and Handbook:
https://global.wilsonlearning.com/resources/hidden-cost-comm/
https://global.wilsonlearning.com/resources/the-social-styles-handbook/
- Published in Blog
5 Hybrid Work Model Mistakes to Avoid
This article is from RISQ Consulting’s Zywave client portal, a resource available to all RISQ Consulting clients. Please contact your Benefits Consultant or Account Executive for more information or for help setting up your own login.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced businesses to adapt and test their operational capacities. One of the most common pivots has been remote work.
Now that workplaces are reopening, a significant number of employees want to retain their remote status. In fact, 58% of workers said they want a fully remote position, and only 3% said they wanted to return to fully in-person work, according to a recent FlexJobs survey.
So, how does a business that wants to utilize its in-person workspace deal with employees who want to stay home? For some, the answer is a hybrid work model.
Under this arrangement, employees work in person some of the time and from home the rest of the time. This can be a great compromise for a workplace, and it’s gaining popularity among employers. Many organizations are now exploring their own forms of hybrid work models.
While increased adoption of hybrid models is great news for many employees, it only works when implemented properly. That’s why it’s critical for employers developing hybrid strategies to understand potential pitfalls and adapt as necessary.
To that end, this article discusses five common hybrid work model mistakes and how to avert them.
1. Inadequate Policies
The success of any workplace program hinges on how well it can be executed. When it comes to hybrid work models, employers must have a clearly defined policy detailed in writing. Otherwise, employees and their managers won’t understand expectations, leading to confusion, improper conduct, missed deadlines and other issues.
A good hybrid work policy might include the following details, among others:
- Who is eligible for hybrid work
- How many days a week an employee is expected to work in person
- Which days and core hours an employee is allowed to work (i.e., only Monday-Friday during business hours)
- What technology is available for employees to use at home (i.e., monitors, keyboards and other equipment that may be taken home for remote work)
- Contact point for employee questions regarding scheduling
- How in-person work will function regarding shared workspaces, as applicable
2. Unfamiliar Leadership
While many employees may want to work remotely at least some of the time, that’s not always the case with company leadership. In other words, the individuals with decision-making power might not understand what working from home entails. This can be problematic when these same people write and enforce workplace policies.
To ensure a quality hybrid work model, it’s important for policy stakeholders (e.g., management) to try it out as well, even for just a few days. Organization leaders will be better poised to spot policy blind spots after experiencing the arrangement themselves.
3. Inconsistent Communication
Staying up to date on timely developments and communication is a constant struggle for most workplaces. It can be even harder for remote workers to stay updated. This is especially the case when an organization uses varying channels for communication. While multichannel communication is generally an effective tool, employees still need to know where to expect messages to come from.
Employers exploring hybrid work models should consider standardizing which communication tools they use instead of relying on each team to pick their favorite platforms. For instance, a workplace may decide to send all communications through Microsoft Teams and Outlook. That way, employees will know to check those platforms for any critical messages.
Moreover, digital communication solutions are the best option for hybrid employees since they can reach anyone. In other words, utilizing announcement boards or similar in-person methods won’t be sufficient for a hybrid team.
4. Inequitable Celebrations
Employee celebrations are an important part of the workplace. Employees need to feel like their contributions are valuable to the organization, and praising their work is a great way to do that.
Unfortunately, not every celebration method is conducive to a hybrid work model. Consider events such as luncheons, team meetings with treats, workplace outings or other such celebrations. Some hybrid employees might not be able to attend these gatherings due to their schedules or work locations.
That’s why employers with hybrid workers should consider equitable ways to celebrate employee success. Methods might include virtual events (e.g., Zoom meeting), emails from management or electronic gift cards. Specific celebrations will vary by organization and workforce.
5. Insufficient Equipment
Workers that will be operating from their own homes, even partially, will need adequate technology. Ignoring this aspect can lead to poor productivity and cause a hybrid work model to fail before it even beings.
This means employers will need to consider how to set these workers up for success. Considerations include:
- What technology can workers bring home with them?
- Will workers be reimbursed for purchasing office equipment for their homes?
- Will workers be reimbursed for internet bills?
Additionally, employers should consider what additional training may benefit hybrid workers. For instance, they may need help connecting to an organization’s virtual private network on their home Wi-Fi.
Conclusion
Hybrid work models can provide flexibility to workers while still maintaining operational productivity—but that’s only when properly implemented. Simply allowing workers to float in and out of the office without a solid policy can lead to a variety of issues.
Reach out to RISQ Consulting for more guidance related to remote and hybrid work, including resources to help employees succeed in this emerging landscape.
- Published in Blog