Employers changing health strategies to match financial concerns
Employers are adjusting strategies to keep up with financial concerns and shifting demographics, according to Optum’s ninth annual “Wellness in the Workplace study.”
“While overall investment in employee health and well-being has remained strong, the trends impacting health care are driving meaningful change to age-old approaches,” the authors write.
Top of mind is finding ways to reduce health care costs for both the employer and worker. The percentage of employers now implementing “centers of excellence” strategies more than tripled, to 64 percent, as part of an effort to guide employees to high-quality, cost-effective care.
More employers are also proactively addressing complex and costly health conditions to minimize expensive claims, including those from back and joint pain. The number of employers that offer musculoskeletal programs increased significantly from 8 percent in 2015 to 31 percent in 2017.
To help satisfy the demands of the increasing number of “super-empowered consumers,” employers are focusing more on services that simplify the health care experience for consumers. Telemedicine services rose 80 percent from 2015 to 2017; health advocacy services rose 58 percent; the implementation of transparency tools such as cost estimators rose 16 percent; and relationships with near-site and on-site medical clinics rose 31 percent and 29 percent, respectively.
Employers are also responding to shifting workplace demographics, including a marked increase in the number of female workers. The types of women’s health programs and services offered by employers saw an increase across the board from 2016 to 2017. Maternity programs grew from 59 percent to 72 percent, neonatal increased from 41 percent to 60 percent, first-year-of-life programs grew from 40 percent to 60 percent, pre-conception services rose from 37 percent to 56 percent and fertility solutions increased from 30 percent to 52 percent.
However, addressing behavioral health for all workers is lagging, according to the report. Sixty-seven percent of employers report that their health and wellness strategy addresses behavioral health, compared to 79 percent of employers who report their strategy addresses physical health.
“Clearly, a significant gap remains between these two important dimensions of well-being,” the authors write. “And, unfortunately, the focus on behavioral health has remained largely unchanged over the past three years, despite the increased awareness around key issues like opioid use disorder. In fact, nearly 70 percent of survey respondents reported they were concerned about opioid use disorder and its impact on their population.”
Technology advances are also driving changes in employers’ health and well-being programs. More employers have adopted engagement technology: 56 percent offer online competitions or challenges, up from 42 percent in 2015; 53 percent offer activity tracking devices, up from 27 percent; 49 percent offer health-related text messaging, up from 16 percent; and 49 percent offer game-like features, up from 22 percent.
“However, they have yet to fully embrace technology as a key engagement enabler,” the authors write. “More could be done to integrate mobile apps, game-like features and health-related messaging into their health and wellness programs.”
Employers also have a ways to go in taking full advantage of all of their data to gain better insights, according to the report. Less than half (42 percent) say they are highly effective at leveraging data and analytics to make decisions about their population health management strategy, and 74 percent would like a partner to help them do so. More than half of employers are working with vendors who only leverage traditional data such as medical claims (54 percent) to impact health outcomes.
“There is a significant opportunity to do more — mining and aggregating data such as pharmacy claims, electronic health records, and social-demographic and lab data in addition to medical claims,” the authors write. “By harnessing the power of data, leveraging consumer-friendly technology and offering specialized programs such as behavioral health and women’s health that address additional health care value, employers can proactively keep pace with market forces impacting organizational and employee well-being,” they conclude.