Health care costs, alongside expenses like food and gas, impact our finances.
Inflation remains high, affecting health plans and providers. Hospitals seek increases from payers, while workforce shortages compound the issue. To manage costs, employers must focus on preventive care, assess employee health and stay informed about regulations. Employers must think creatively to provide high quality, affordable health care.
I see two key components for our businesses to consider. One is how we can help prevent health care claims and illnesses. Preventive care should be a focus throughout all operations — from providing a safe workplace to assessing and understanding your employee population’s health prior to making important health plan decisions.
We offer our clients an online benefit-compliant assessment that helps them to understand their risk, including Affordable Care Act compliance. The tool we offer allows you to answer benefit compliance assessment questions. Upon evaluation, the system assigns a risk score and provides needed actions to help you comply. This also helps you understand what regulations you are not familiar with for future planning.
Employee awareness of everything from illnesses on the horizon — such as the flu, new forms of COVID and RSV, respiratory syncytial virus — and their own specific conditions such as diabetes, heart disease or others is critical to maintaining costs. Whatever health plan you offer, employees often wait until a surgery or doctor’s visit becomes urgent. An effective online human resources communications platform assists employees with up-to-date information about their specific health plan and ways to gain the most value and reduce HR inquiries by 75% for most companies.
The second key component that employers should be including in their voluntary offerings is how employees access care.
Though health care costs are rising, the industry is constantly assessing new ways to facilitate care at a lower cost. The pandemic rapidly shifted the location for care from more expensive inpatient hospital settings to less expensive outpatient services or emergency rooms.
Health plans and providers have reported these practices as the path forward. Plans are factoring in higher utilization of less expensive locations for care. You may have already seen recovery from surgeries and treatments involves a quicker return home with an increase in home care services.
Health care isn’t limited to hospitals; your home is a crucial and cost-effective site for care. If your organization doesn’t offer a telehealth plan, consider implementing one soon.
Telehealth has evolved significantly, and choosing the right plan can eliminate claims for employee usage. It saves time, reduces wait times for specialist referrals and eliminates the hassle of multiple visits.
A robust telehealth plan provides on-demand or scheduled visits with U.S. board-certified doctors via phone or video. Members can address episodic health care issues like colds, flu, allergies and bronchitis. Mental health care via telehealth is also trending, allowing ongoing relationships with licensed professionals. Many find it more comfortable to engage with clinicians online.
A good telehealth program has no copays, no insurance billing, offers mobile access with electronic health records and provides 24/7 visits. It’s especially valuable during emergencies, like a child’s fever late at night or when a grandparent living alone experiences a minor fall. Understanding your employees’ needs and focusing on prevention is essential in managing health care costs.
Health care costs today require a joint effort, a collaboration of provision and use. As an employer, knowing the options and needs of your employee population is critical and keeping focus on both prevention through the right tools and options to make costs less painful will be an important focus in 2024.
Scott Wells is a senior vice president with Tower Benefit Consultants. He can be reached at 757-226-8297 or swells@towerbenefit.com.
