The number of employers planning to get more directly involved in the individual health of their employees jumped 25 percentage points from last year, reflecting a trend to find more ways to cut costs, but employees are skeptical, according to a survey.
Conducted by Hewitt Associates, the survey polled more than 500 U.S. companies and revealed a fundamental shift in how they view healthcare. For the first time, keeping employees healthy was identified alongside costs as one of their top business and workforce issues. Eighty-eight percent of respondents plan to make investments in longer-term solutions aimed at improving the health and productivity of their workforce over the next three to five years, up from 63% last year.
However, a separate Hewitt survey of 30,000 employees found that while 74% think employers are responsible for helping them understand how to use their health plan, only 12% believe companies have a role in helping them understand how to stay healthy.
“With complex global economics, legislative uncertainty, and increasing healthcare cost and healthcare risk, health and productivity has gone from being viewed by employers as a cost that needs to be managed to a critical business investment,” says Jim Winkler, leader of Hewitt’s health management consulting practice. “As a result, companies are moving beyond their traditional role as a provider of healthcare benefits to develop holistic programs that pinpoint the specific health needs of their employee populations, drive employee behavior change and eliminate barriers to healthcare.”
But to ensure these steps translate into strategic business advantage, employers need to overcome employees’ skepticism about their intended role, he adds “Their messages need to shift from a cost management focus to one that helps employees understand how improving their health can benefit them, as well as the company.”
According to both surveys, employees see a direct link between health and financial well-being. Ninety-five percent of employees believe that taking care of their health today will have a direct impact on what they pay for healthcare in the future. Similarly, 96% agree that catching health problems at an early stage or preventing them before they happen can save them money.
Cost is also a concern for the majority of companies, with 82% focusing on cost mitigation in 2008. However, the more traditional cost-cutting strategies such as cost shifting to employees or consumer-driven healthcare have diminished dramatically. While 64% of companies say cost shifting to employees is currently a part of their primary healthcare strategy, only 17% plan to make it a priority over the next three to five years. In addition, just 20% currently offer a health reimbursement account and/or a health savings account, and less than 6 % plan to adopt one in 2008.
The research data reveals that companies are taking more aggressive steps to drive behaviour change and encourage people to take more responsibility for their personal health and healthcare. Forty-seven percent of companies polled believe that effective treatment of behavioural health conditions is critical to controlling healthcare costs, maintaining high levels of productivity and mitigating absences.
As a result, more than 85% of companies say they invest or plan to invest significant resources in long-term health and productivity initiatives over the next three to five years. In addition, 63% plan to offer incentives to motivate sustained healthcare behavior change, and 67% will utilize healthcare data and measurements to drive their organization’s healthcare strategy.
However, employees have mixed opinions on increased employer involvement in these areas. Seventy percent of employees support lower premiums for practicing healthy behaviour, and 99% agree that it is important to identify personal risks in order to take steps for prevention or treatment, and are willing to share information on a confidential basis to learn more about them.
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