5 ways to design better healthcare benefits and reduce costs

May 7, 2021 12:38 PM

The pandemic has given employers a chance to reevaluate the way they design and implement their healthcare benefits, and organizations are taking their employees’ individual needs into greater consideration.

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Health insurance is the second largest expense for employers, after salaries. In 2020 the average annual premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance were $7,470 for single coverage and $21,342 for family coverage, according to research from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Both coverages increased by an average of 4% over the year, while employee wages only rose by 3.4%, according to the KFF research.

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“As disruptive as the pandemic was, it also gave us good insight into how flexible we need to be around designing benefits,” says Tom Wiffler, CEO of UnitedHealthcare Speciality Benefits. “We saw virtually all [doctors’ offices] close except for very extreme emergencies, and so that accelerated those telehealth alternatives that we knew were out there, but they weren't as needed until the pandemic hit.”

When employers encourage their employees to take steps to improve their overall health it not only shows workers that their organization cares, it is also a vital way to reduce absenteeism and create a more loyal and productive workforce.

In an effort to help employers take a more integrated approach to their health benefits design and connect the dots among medical, dental, and disability care, among others, UnitedHealthcare recently expanded its offerings to employers. Benefit Ally is an AI program that automatically triggers a payout to the member following a qualified accident or illness, without the submission of a claim or additional paperwork.

A new tool called Health Plan Manager will aggregate claims information and help employers access, analyze and understand health data, to improve employee health outcomes and trim expenses.

An integrated medical and specialty benefits plan can help employers achieve a reduction of up to 4% in annual medical costs, according to research from UnitedHealthcare.

In order to drive home the value of an integrated benefits approach to employers, Wiffler and UnitedHealthcare came up with five strategies to help organizations better design their benefits, reduce costs, and provide employees with a clear way to take control of their overall well-being.

Support whole-person health

Employees place great value on specialty benefits including vision, dental, hearing and financial wellness. These benefits are more than just nice to have. When employers provide support that takes care of an individual holistically, they can foster more positive environments with less absenteeism and a more loyal and productive workforce.

Bundle and save

“Like lots of things we do in our daily lives, by combining multiple products there are efficiencies that can be gained and there are price advantages that can be extended to consumers,” Wiffler says. “We believe that there is an inherent administrative efficiency that comes by bundling, we're very committed to bundling.”

Leverage big data and clinical insights

Integrated benefits can provide data to help employers truly understand their employees’ health and needs moving forward, according to Wiffler. As an example, to support people with both diabetes and periodontal disease, cross-checking dental and medical claim data can spotlight if an employee has missed a treatment or cleaning. Case managers can connect with employees to schedule those dental treatments, the benefits of which can be helpful in improving diabetes management.

Make the most of medications

“It’s really an approach of making sure that medicinal compliances are adhered to, that refills are done at the appropriate time and place, that prescriptions are picked up,” Wiffler says. “Getting that phone call or text that a prescription is ready — those are things that we love, those little nudges for the individual to stay compliant with that care protocol.”

Focus on behavioral health

“Four in 10 people reported symptoms of anxiety and depression as a result of COVID and some of them may not have had those challenges prior to COVID,” Wiffler says. “There's a real need to stay on top of the connection between behavioral health and overall health. Suicides and drug overdoses have spiked considerably and these are all conditions that we really need to be working together on to make sure we can prevent.”