Anthem’s Sydney Health app offers members a simple way to answer coverage inquiries, locate in-network care providers, and connect with virtual healthcare services. In addition, Sydney Health provides personalized health dashboards and other valuable features.
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Symptom Checker
Symptom checkers have become an increasingly popular tool for patients looking to self-diagnose their symptoms. These digital tools allow users to enter symptoms and biodata into the system, producing differential diagnoses and triage advice lists. They have become crucial to modern healthcare due to widespread internet connectivity and cultural shifts toward increased self-care engagement1.
A symptom checker can assist patients in determining the appropriate course of action for their health concerns. For example, it can inform them if their symptoms will likely resolve independently, whether to visit their local GP, or if they require urgent or emergency care. Healthdirect symptom checker asks users questions about their symptoms before guiding them on the following steps to care for themselves.
Sydney Care’s online symptom checker can assist members in dealing with health issues such as COVID-19. Using artificial intelligence and physicians, this tool uses symptoms and potential causes to assess, compare, and assess other people diagnosed with the same condition; furthermore, it recommends possible treatment plans based on members’ symptoms and medical histories.
Although symptom checkers can be helpful, they do have certain limitations. First, they may not provide accurate assessments for medical issues requiring more specific care – this can lead to overtriage and excessive healthcare use1. Furthermore, depending on demographic characteristics, they could offer different advice depending on which symptoms have presented themselves1.
Consumers must recognize its limitations before using a symptom checker to self-diagnose their health concerns. A symptom checker should serve only to complement the judgment of licensed healthcare practitioners – for example, if experiencing severe abdominal pain, you should contact your healthcare provider or dial triple zero immediately for emergency assistance.
Researchers conducted an in-depth evaluation of 36 freely available online and mobile application symptom checkers open to the public to measure their diagnostic and triage accuracy. Utilizing 48 medical condition vignettes as test cases for this evaluation, their findings, published in MJA, revealed that only 3 out of 46 instances provided incorrect diagnoses; Healthdirect outshone other systems by providing accurate triage advice in 28 out of 46 vignettes (61%).
Virtual Primary Care
The Sydney Health mobile app is an easy and intuitive tool designed to assist in navigating healthcare systems and connecting you with physicians when needed. Answer simple questions about how you feel, and it will intuitively understand them before pulling together millions of medical data points into advice or recommendations tailored just for you. Plus, depending on their needs, the app connects users with board-certified doctors via Virtual Text Visits or Video Visits.
Virtual Primary Care programs (virtual-first or digital-first care) offer members an integrated solution that allows them to meet virtually with their doctors when needed, unlike telemedicine services, which only offer off-hour or urgent visits online. Instead, virtual primary care provides members with continuous relationships with PCPs through a consistent care team available year-round for routine needs such as annual physicals and diagnostic testing.
Virtual primary care is integral to providing comprehensive member experiences, supporting longitudinal member care, and driving cost savings for health plans. By offering virtual primary care programs, health plans can reduce healthcare expenses by eliminating unnecessary emergency department and in-person office visits while encouraging recommended screenings and closing gaps in care delivery.
Virtual primary care makes the patient journey simpler, no matter the problem at hand – from simple questions to annual physicals. The program boasts an innovative navigation hub integrating virtual and digital behavioral health tools with condition-specific automated care programs to deliver an exemplary patient experience. It can even drive better engagement by tapping into members’ natural language processing, self-care, and social connectedness skills for enhanced employment.
If you need to consult with a physician, launch the Sydney Health app and select “Start Chat.” Follow the prompts for your visit. For maximum effectiveness, bring a list of questions and your medical history before attending your appointment. Also, measure height and weight before visiting, take blood pressure readings yourself at home using an at-home blood pressure cuff, take pictures of current medications being accepted as part of an initial visit, etc.
Health Dashboard
Healthcare dashboards display various indicators that help a healthcare facility improve performance. They allow them to track trends, identify patterns, and predict future events; make better decisions and lower costs; and increase patient satisfaction. A good healthcare dashboard should allow users to quickly see overall performance at a glance and be user-friendly and customizable according to individual preference.
Patient satisfaction is an indicator of quality care, and healthcare facilities can use a healthcare dashboard to gauge this indicator. Furthermore, this tool allows hospitals to compare their performance against industry averages by providing metrics such as waiting times, customer ratings, ease of stay, etc. This tool also enables healthcare teams to identify areas for potential improvements within healthcare operations.
Public health dashboards allow users to explore state-level data on disease burden, such as total disability-adjusted life years lost (DALYs) per 100,000 people in a given year and mortality from cardiovascular diseases, respiratory infections, and malnutrition. This information comes from government agencies and private organizations. It can help policymakers and stakeholders understand the causes of health risk factors in a state while creating policies designed to promote healthier behaviors.
This scoping review examines peer-reviewed literature regarding developing, implementing, and evaluating dashboards within healthcare settings. It will explore which types of dashboards are utilized by various healthcare settings and end-user groups and identify any possible research gaps.
Anthem members can use the Sydney Health mobile app to quickly and efficiently access all the details of their medical and pharmacy insurance in one convenient place. Members have 24/7 access to benefits, claims, and ID cards and connect with doctors directly for virtual visits – plus track their health goals! Downloading is free; standard messaging rates apply, however.
Personalized Health Coaching
Personal health coaching can help you take charge of your lifestyle decisions and establish sustainable healthy habits. A trained coach will create an actionable plan explicitly designed to support you on your wellness journey; additionally, they provide ongoing guidance as you progress through their program and assist in setting goals that reflect personal values into tangible actions.
Individuals across Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs are taking control of their lifestyles to enhance health and well-being, especially among those working long hours and leading busy lives. Hiring a personal health coach can assist these individuals with staying on track with reaching fitness and weight loss goals.
Health coaches provide more than just nutrition-based guidance; they can teach you how to best use your time and resources by teaching efficient daily habits that reduce stress and sleep disruptions or help find effective stress and sleep management methods. Furthermore, health coaches help remove obstacles to reaching goals more easily while creating action plans to get them more swiftly.
Health coaches can be found in clinics, working alongside physicians to assist with patient care and wellness program creation. Health coaches may also work privately, where they specialize in one area of healthcare – for instance, nutrition coaches specialize in helping their clients overcome eating disorders while supporting emotional well-being.
Personalized health coaching isn’t a new concept; it has long been employed to assist those living with chronic illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, and arthritis to manage their conditions more successfully. One study demonstrated that diabetes patients who received coaching were more likely to meet their glycemic control goals and had lower HbA1c levels than those who hadn’t benefited from such coaching services.
Fount Bio is one company exploring ways to bring personalized health coaching services to a broader public audience. Fount Bio recently raised $12 million from Elysian Park Ventures, Not Boring Capital, Allen & Co, and Champion Hill Ventures as part of its Series A financing for tailored health coaching for customers. They aim to build an infrastructure capable of offering high-performance coaching techniques directly to members of society.
