Healthcare Guidance: Employers Best Hope to Tackle Rising Costs

Companies are losing the battle against rising healthcare costs without healthcare guidance. Costs are continuing their steady climb with annual increases this year forecasted at 4.3 percent – double the 2017 inflation rate – according to the National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans. The sticker shock continues!

The situation isn’t any better for employees, 40% of whom fear the lack of clarity and transparency in healthcare according to a Prophet survey. The same number of people also believe that the healthcare system is more concerned about money than their well-being. It’s not hard to see why they feel this way; out-of-pocket costs are expected to increase by 7.2% this year. The average expense is set to hit over $5,200 in 2018.

Why Are Healthcare Costs So Crazy?

There is waste everywhere you look. We’ve used the analogy that the consumption of healthcare is similar to visiting a restaurant with a menu that has no prices. People consume whatever is recommended without any thought of costs – until it’s too late. This way of consuming healthcare has got to end.

A few examples of the waste that is pervasive in the healthcare journey:

• Costs for an MRI can vary by 10X, even with in-network providers
• American physicians say that up to 30% of medical services are unnecessary
• Patients Overpay For Prescriptions 23% of the time
• 28% of men and 17% of women don’t have a PCP
• The wrongly vetted PCP can recommend services that are 2-3X higher in price

The Kentucky Hospital Association said that 58 percent of hospitals reported losing more than $100,000 annually per employed physician.  Why do you think they would lose money by employing them? Because the affiliated hospitals generate almost $1.5 million per physician each year through tests, procedures and prescriptions according to the Merritt Hawkins’ 2016 Inpatient/Outpatient Physician Revenue Survey.

There are so many pitfalls within the healthcare system that it’s impossible to expect employees to make the right decision on their own. It’s no wonder costs are out of control.

Healthcare Guidance: Helping Employees Make Better Decisions

Providing employees with a concierge and healthcare guidance service can seem like a luxurious perk – and it is – but the secret is that it can also drive down a company’s healthcare costs. WIN – WIN!

Employees Win

Using a healthcare guidance app like HealthJoy simplifies the healthcare experience. Employees are no longer at the mercy of the overly complicated healthcare system. They have a single place to turn to when they need to use their employee or healthcare benefits. We are a neutral third party that’s always looking after the employee’s best interest to get them the best quality of care at a fair price. We typically save employees a few hours and hundreds of dollars a year dealing with healthcare. Our use of artificial intelligence and virtual assistance technology allows us to be proactive in our recommendations and outreach.

Employers Win

All our employers have achieved a positive ROI within 90 days using our service with a mean return of 4.5X. Several highly engaged clients have hit as high as 15X. Our offering uses a hybrid approach of live concierge that’s supported by an AI-driven virtual assistant that will help your employee make better healthcare decisions. We’ll even save your human resources department time spent administering your employee benefits.

Taking Command of the Employee Benefits Experience

Individual employee benefits vendors traditionally manage their customer service, but the quality is low. Employees complain that they might be on hold with an insurance provider for an hour in the fourth quarter or get suspect recommendations for service. Human resources spends hours every month helping employees navigate the experience rather than focusing on the work they want to address.

HealthJoy changes this model and becomes the first stop for all an employee’s benefits needs. The platform combines online doctors, healthcare Concierge, bill review, Rx savings, benefits wallet and more into an easy-to-use app that employees love. We have hundreds of cost-containing strategies that we use when recommending any service. Our members have given us a satisfaction rate of over 95% and bundling our service will even increase the Net Promoter Score of your existing health insurance plan, regardless of the offering.