5 Easy Steps to Increase Your Biometric Health Screening Participation

Both at an individual and business level, we know that it is hard to change outcomes without knowing our current baselines. That is why biometric health screening programs have gained popularity and remain a cornerstone of successful wellness programs. These programs provide a proven means of identifying and reducing health risks, improving health outcomes, reducing healthcare costs, and boosting employee morale and productivity.

While biometric health screenings can be beneficial to an individual’s health and company’s bottom line, we recognize that there can be challenges around engaging employees, especially in environments where many employees work remotely.

So, how do you get your employees to participate in a screening? The key is that testing for biometrics needs to be rewarding, easy, and convenient for all employees.

Using historical best practices based on our book of business analysis, here are 5 simple steps to increase biometric screening participation.

Step 1: Make it a reward

Companies, cultures, job classes, and a variety of other factors can influence what a meaningful incentive is to your people. Based on our industry experience, a blend of two combined incentives yields the highest participation percentage. The table below illustrates several combinations of incentives, ordered by how effective they are at boosting participation.

Step 2: Do not overlook promotion, communication & distribution

Participants need to know about biometric health screenings and be reminded often. To increase engagement, it is imperative for collateral and other communication deliverables to bring the events to life and create a sense of urgency. Use multiple channels including digital, print, and events to reach as many participants as possible.

As part of eHS’s engagement efforts, we provide the following materials to our clients:

Initial project-specific employee facing email that includes a link to our animated educational video on the benefits of a biometric health screening.
Logic-built marketing eblast campaigns. An eblast, or email blast, contents can include descriptions, instructions, images, videos, and a link and a QR code to schedule a screening. The content is intended to engage the participant and encourage them to take action and schedule their biometric screening.
Customized project-specific event marketing deliverables that include a clear call to action and easy-to-follow step-by step instructions.
Daily tracking for participation targets.

We also recommend organizing a wellness kickoff or rally and designating a site champion who has ownership of promoting the biometric health screening event. Other best practices include creating a letter or email from your CEO launching the wellness program and communicating the importance of screenings.

You can also add a carrot for site champions by providing monetary incentives for site contacts to reach participation targets, using eHS daily participation tracking to measure progress toward target goals. Below we’ve compiled an example of incentive levels and a quick list of communication channels for participants.

Step 3: Make scheduling easy

Making it easy to schedule a biometric health screening appointment takes the friction out of one step of the process. Based on your company’s population, employees that are offered multiple scheduling modalities have a higher participation rate. eHS allows online scheduling on mobile, tablet, or PC, telephonic scheduling, Human Resources (HR) back-end scheduling, and we can also accommodate walk-ins. The easier you can make scheduling; the less likely participants are to give up before they’ve even gotten in the door.

Step 4: Make it convenient for your employees

Give participants plenty of options for how to get screened including onsite at a corporate sponsored health screening event, offsite at a lab, at a physician’s office, or with a home test kit.

The simplest option may be to bring the lab to the office with a biometric screening event where employees can stop by at a convenient time during the day for their screening. Employees who work remotely can visit a lab near them, schedule an appointment with their primary care physician, or screen at home with a convenient home test kit. Giving multiple options means every participant can get a convenient screening that works with their lifestyle.

Step 5: Explain the benefits

Employees need to know the “why” behind their screening. A screening can identify a health problem and or condition in its initial stages before you are aware of any symptoms. A problem can be treated more effectively if it is detected early. Making informed health decisions is easier when you know you have a health problem or have an increased chance of having one. When the participant understands the purpose of the program, they are more likely to be engaged in the activities and fully embrace the experience.

Next Step

Any wellness program’s success is determined first by the level of engagement in a biometric health screening event and the quantifiable data the screenings provide. Our team at eHealthScreenings understands this and provides clients with complimentary engagement consultations on how to reach their target participation levels. With our expertise, we ensure that our clients have the best-in-class resources to maximize engagement and collect valuable data, so they can achieve the highest possible success rate for their wellness program. Let us get you started!