Employer Healthcare Strategies

Learn the basics of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and determine if this type of consumer-driven health plan is right for your company.

Consumer driven health plans (CDHP) such as HSAs are a keen strategy for controlling costs and continue to gain popularity. In 2015, enrollment in consumer-driven health plans (CDHP) nearly doubled among large employers during the previous three years – from 15% to 28% of covered employees.

Small employers still trail but nevertheless experienced a modest increase over the same period – 17% to 19%. Overall, CDHP enrollment reached 25% in 2015. To understand the surge in growth, let’s first examine how they work.

While private companies & public entities have long understood the benefits of employer-sponsored clinics, a new shared clinic model between these two sectors is emerging and changing communities for the better.

Employer-sponsored clinics have a long and proven history of reducing healthcare costs by improving employee health. Historically, large employers such as manufacturers would bring high quality care directly to the workplace. Today, employers continue to utilize this strategy to proactively manage cost, reduce absenteeism, and improve productivity. Although employer-sponsored clinics began in the private sector, their influence hasn’t stopped there. Public entities, including municipalities, have begun implementing clinics to directly control the cost of care.

Uncover the one wellness strategy that top companies use to attract top talent, bolster the bottom-line, and leave competition in the dust.

What comes to mind when you think of an on-site clinic? For many, a venture that only the biggest names in business can afford. Imagine a place dedicated to treating employees and their families with no out-of-pocket expenses for primary healthcare and generic prescriptions – all while saving you money and improving productivity.

Sound too good to be true? It’s not. Here are the top 3 reasons why your competition is investing in on-site clinics – and why you should too.

As an employer, if you’re not doing anything with your aggregate biometric data, then you’re missing out on a big opportunity to make wellness work for you. 

What exactly is biometric data? A biometric screening is a test that measures height, weight, and other biological factors such as temperature and blood pressure. This type of screening is a basic way of obtaining fundamental information about general health. In 2015, 50% of large employers offered this type of screening on an annual basis, but only 18% of small to mid-sized businesses offer this type of screening. And unfortunately, many of these employers leave this potential goldmine of information woefully undisturbed.

What’s in a name? For the Cadillac Excise Tax, it’s jam-packed with meaning. A component of the Affordable Care Act, it is a tax imposed on expensive employer-sponsored health insurance plans.

These plans are dubbed "Cadillac" policies of health coverage and, although the tax would be paid by insurers and employers that self-insure, experts expect the cost ultimately would be borne by consumers.

With increasing concerns about administrative and financial burdens employers and employees are expected to face, why is this tax being implemented in the first place?

From the Walt Disney Co. and American Express to Toyota and General Mills, large companies have long been reaping the benefits of employee health clinics. And now, the public sector is understanding the value of bringing the doctor to work like never before. 

As municipalities try to address the cost of care and better manage taxpayer money, officials are finding on-site clinics as a proven solution to reducing the cost without compromising care. 

Many cities and school districts, for example, have opened clinics that provide everything from checkups and flu shots to comprehensive chronic disease management. Even select medications, primarily generic, are free to employees who visit the clinic rather than the primary care physician paid through traditional coverage. The result? Fewer long-term health problems and reduced costs for the employer and employee. 

Employer cost-shifting, greater use of virtual care, and more savvy consumers being guided toward cost-effective healthcare will put downward pressure on health spending in 2016, according to the brilliant minds at PwC.

The recent report from PwC's Health Research Institute — Medical Cost Trend: Behind the Numbers 2016 — also projects U.S. medical inflation will dip to 6.5 percent in 2016, capping a 10-year trend of slowing employer medical cost trend growth in the employer-sponsored market.

While the present “health care century” will probably see more progress in reducing the economic burden of health care, we can’t forget what we’ve learned just even in the last few years. 

One of the most promising uses of wearable fitness technology is its role in the workplace. With employers paying thousands of dollars a month to cover health insurance policies for employees, wearable technology is changing the game — for everyone.

About 90% of companies now offer workplace wellness programs, some of which encourage employees to use wearable devices, such as Fitbit, to measure the quantity and intensity of their workouts.

What’s in it for employers? Potential reduction in the cost of providing employee healthcare, along with the goodwill that engagement programs can cultivate. 

Researcher and management guru Jim Collins is well-known for his authored works Good to Great and Built to Last. In this latter book, a thought-provoking point is made:

“Indeed, if there is any one 'secret' to an enduring great company, it is the ability to manage continuity and change — a discipline that must be consciously practiced, even by the most visionary of companies.”

Managing continuity and change can be challenging – especially in the realm of healthcare, and especially if you’re a small- to medium-size business (SMB). 

Small and medium-size businesses place high importance overall on workforce health. In fact, nearly 93% say the health of their employees is important to their business's bottom line. Unfortunately, nearly 60% of these employers say that there is not enough information available to small businesses about implementing wellness programs – and there isn’t any wonder why.

We’ve all done the haphazard Googling of symptoms and ailments that afflict us and know what such efforts typically yield. For example, worrisome time spent on obscure message boards, or painstaking precision identifying the area of discomfort on the WebMD digital dummy.

Yes, many an algorithm has inflicted fear in the heart of hypochondriacs by somehow associating that rash with a terminal liver disorder. But is it any surprise why we’re turning to online sources for help?