How to Amplify Your Benefits Cost Containment Strategy

With healthcare costs expected to increase by 5.8% in 2025 even after accounting for cost-reduction measures, employers are seeking solutions to maximize cost-containment strategies and balance their workforce's demand for enhanced benefits. 

It’s a difficult place to be – employee expectations around benefits are changing, and healthcare costs have already been on the rise for several years. Though this might seem out of your control, benefits account for roughly 30% of employer spending — and employers still have options.

In this blog post, we'll review four methods you can leverage to better contain health plan costs while simultaneously providing a better care experience for your employees. We'll also explore how HealthJoy's smart care navigation platform can accelerate and support your cost-containment strategies.

Create a Connected Care Experience

Benefits packages are growing every year, but new point solutions to reduce the cost of care are only useful if you achieve employee buy-in and optimize utilization. When you integrate all your benefits programs into a single, connected experience, you effortlessly ensure your employees understand, value and get the most out of your benefits investment.

A care navigation platform connects every benefit in your package into a single, centralized location. For members, this creates a one-stop shop for everything including: information on virtual care offerings, various point solutions, in-network providers and mental health resources.

These are all accessible through a convenient benefits wallet, powered by a combination ofAI and our team of human healthcare concierges – guiding every step of an employee’s care journey. This results in increased benefits utilization, improved benefits satisfaction and healthcare cost savings.

For employers, bundling all your different benefits into a centralized,  self-service platform will significantly reduce the amount of time your HR team has to spend on tedious administration tasks, freeing them up to spend their time on more meaningful and fulfilling work.  By creating a connected benefits experience, you can also improve the utilization of your existing cost-containment solutions.

Employers who leverage HealthJoy's care navigation platform to provide a connected benefits experience for their members can expect a 2.9x return in year one.

Steerage Towards Virtual Care Solutions

Virtual care allows employees to visit a medical provider for immediate care using a smartphone or tablet, usually within just 15 minutes. Employees receive care without an appointment, travel or time spent in a waiting room.

Virtual care providers are board-certified and can diagnose, treat and even write prescriptions for about 70% of typical medical visits that happen within the US.

Most vendors even provide service 24 hours a day, seven days a week — perfect for those middle-of-the-night visits.

Virtual care is nothing new, but the biggest issue with virtual care until recent years was low employee utilization. Most people simply weren’t using it. After increased awareness and utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic, employees are not only continuing to use virtual care options, but expect them to be an accessible part of their healthcare experience.

Our clients who implement HealthJoy's Virtual MSK Therapy program see an average savings of $2,572 per participant.

Build a Culture of Healthcare Consumerism

Almost nine out of ten adults in the United States struggle with health literacy in one way or another. If employees and their families don’t understand their benefits and how to best use them, they can’t be expected to always make the best decisions around seeking care – financially or otherwise. Educating employees on the role they play in the healthcare ecosystem can help build a sense of empowerment and accountability.

Employers should also be promoting transparency and bill review services. Healthcare costs for the same service can vary by up to 500% or more. Encouraging employees to use a price transparency tool can lead to significant cost savings. 

Gen Z and Millennials tend to have higher activation, activity and savings within the HealthJoy app — a natural parallel for how younger generations research options before making any purchase. In fact, our cost savings data shows that average savings per person was 34% higher for Gen Z / Millennials compared to Boomer age groups. 

Additionally, providing a bill review service where employees can have a healthcare concierge submit their medical bills for review can lead to savings for you and your employees. Some estimates show that 80% of medical bills have errors – adding up to a massive $68 billion in the US each year. Many bill review services can also help negotiate on an employee’s behalf and correct these billing errors.

Our clients experience an average savings of $689 per bill submitted to HealthJoy's Bill Review team.

Engage Employees with a Personalized Benefits Experience

Building a personalized benefits experience can maximize benefits engagement and provide employees with proactive care navigation and support. But to do this for everyone in your workforce, HR teams need to leverage innovative digital resources.

Care navigation platforms use your specific health plan data and individual elections to create a truly personalized benefits experience for each employee.

This allows enrolled members to quickly find information about their benefits and find the best options for care. And when employees can make smart healthcare decisions with ease, healthcare spend goes down — for them and your company.

Enhanced digital steerage allows HealthJoy to surface your preferred benefits programs to employees, guiding them to higher quality, cost-effective care. 

Accelerate Your Healthcare Cost Containment Strategies

You may think you have to choose between cost containment or a benefits package your employees truly value. But luckily, with a smart care navigation platform like HealthJoy on your side, you can have both.

HealthJoy's mobile application creates a connected benefits experience that takes the complexity out of being healthy and well.  By connecting employees to the right benefits at the right time, HealthJoy not only helps bring better health outcomes, but also reduces healthcare spend for employers.

HealthJoy’s smart care navigation platform and healthcare concierge team work together to recommend and surface the best providers, virtual care options and cost savings opportunities. Ultimately, HealthJoy creates healthier employees – and a healthier bottom line.

Ready to learn more about how HealthJoy can accelerate your cost containment strategies? 

Book a Demo. 

Disclaimer: This is an updated version of a blog that was originally published in March 2023.