Why brokers and employers must utilize health care data

Two significant concerns facing employers and employees today are rising health care costs and a dwindling workforce. The Great Resignation continues to impact our economy every day, while the time and productivity lost by employees who aren’t properly managing chronic health conditions exacerbate the problem. Meanwhile, benefits advisors face the challenge of finding new programs that help alleviate these rising issues.

So what can help solve the issues? Terabytes of data generated by the health care industry. Yes, data.

The health care industry generates exponential amounts of information; in fact, approximately 30% of the entire world’s data volume is generated by health care. According to a report by Capital Markets, “By 2025, the compound annual growth rate of data for health care will reach 36%.”

But what can be done with all this data? For employers, optimizing it can reduce health care costs for employees with high-risk conditions and create more productive employees. When most industries face workforce shortages, having healthier, more productive employees is critical to short and long-term success.

Benefit advisors are looking for solutions as well, but their biggest issue is often getting employees to take advantage of what’s already out there. That’s why it is important for brokers to stay engaged with industry offerings and successes in order to share them with human resources professionals and other business leaders in companies across the country.

The burdens of an unhealthy workforce

Today, 60% of adults in the U.S. have a chronic disease, such as diabetes, heart disease, chronic kidney or lung disease, Alzheimer’s Disease and cancer. Even worse, 40% have two or more chronic conditions.

Due to the proliferation of high-deductible health plans, adults with chronic conditions are responsible for an increasingly larger portion of their health care cost.This has led many to make tough decisions, such as delaying care or not taking their medications as prescribed—with sometimes disastrous effects.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, chronic health conditions cost U.S. employers $36.4 billion a year in reduced productivity due to absenteeism. In total, employers spend $575 billion each year due to their employees’ poor health.

Fortunately, employers can mitigate the financial impact of chronic disease and help their employees get healthier. But it all comes back to data.

How data can help solve the issue

Health care organizations collect multi-terabytes of clinical, claims, environmental and social data on individual consumers each year that can be used to classify patient populations and to identify the highest-risk patients and patients who generate the highest costs.

Employers and their health benefits providers can leverage this information to enroll those employees in special care management programs to help them manage their conditions more effectively and improve their health overall.

What to look for in a data-driven care management program

The best health management programs leverage actionable data insights to create an effective, proactive care plan for the employee. Effective health management programs also help employees navigate the health care system using registered nurses with diverse clinical experience who have received ongoing education and certification. These nurses will also assess non-medical factors using social determinants like education, economic stability, literacy, and housing, then work with employees to develop goals to help improve health-related behaviors and outcomes.

By using data to create, implement, and monitor collaborative care, broker and employers can better manage the cost of care for their organization, and employees learn how to utilize health care and other employer-sponsored benefits better.

It’s a win-win-win, and it begins with data.

James Darnell is Vice President of Business Development for Population Health.