The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has created a new dynamic within the US healthcare system, leading to increased healthcare costs being passed onto employers. During this economically challenging time, it’s more important than ever before that employers are strategically managing and addressing rising healthcare costs.
There are three variable factors directly impacting healthcare costs: unit price of healthcare services, the number of services required, and the number of patients requiring service. In order to impact this equation, there are three strategies employers can deploy.
- Change the unit cost of healthcare.
Even prior to COVID, ineffective and uninformed healthcare decisions were already a leading cause of rising healthcare costs. Now, in a post-COVID world, the impact of poor healthcare decisions is having an even more significant impact on employers. This issue typically arises when employees lack the guidance, resources, and other information they need to make smart healthcare choices. This results in employees incurring higher costs of care and leveraging lower quality providers. These costs are then passed onto their employer. In order to combat this, employers must work with a hands-on broker that provides their employees with guidance during the benefits selection process. Additionally, the correct broker should provide employees support in selecting the best healthcare providers for their unique situation and life stage. By making more informed decisions, patients receive better healthcare outcomes and less costs are passed onto the employer. - Impact the number of services used.
As the demand for routine and preventive healthcare services skyrockets in a post-COVID world, the ability for patients to receive the care they need, how and where they need it, has become increasingly important. Employees are more commonly demanding personalized guidance in managing their health. As an employer, implementing solutions that cater to employees’ unique situations or communication preferences can ensure they receive correct, accurate information that is relevant to them. Providing personalized content in easy-to-access channels helps employees proactively find care and identify other programs offered to them, such as telemedicine. As an employer, consider solutions that remove barriers to care as an important component of your overall cost-control strategy. - Manage the demand for care.
The last recommended strategy is to proactively manage the number of people on your employer-sponsored healthcare plans. Each year, employers unknowingly spend millions on dependents that do not meet eligibility requirements for the benefits the company offers. By leveraging effective processes and strategies to eliminate ineligible users from their plans, companies can reduce healthcare costs. A key recommendation is to conduct a regular ineligibility audit to ensure your employee population and plans are managed in a consistent and fair manner to ensure equal treatment of employees to manage employer costs.
Are you interested in implementing these strategies at your business? Launchways can help, get in touch with us today.