Rigorous management holds
the line on health care costs: per-employee costs nearly 20% lower in high
performing companies
Towers Perrin's 2008 Health Care Cost Survey
projects that the average corporate health benefit expenditure will be $9,312
per employee. What's particularly relevant to Workers' Compensation
is that there are significant cost differences for companies that actively
and effectively manage their programs. These companies will have per-employee
costs of $8,844, 20% lower than the $10,320 per-employee cost in low performing
companies.
The savings can have a tremendous impact on a company's profits and
competitive advantage. So how do the successful companies manage their health
plans and delivery processes? The answers have clear implications for Workers'
Compensation and show why the management practices of both programs should
be tightly aligned.
According to the survey, high performing companies show a deep commitment
to managing their programs in ways that benefit the company and the employees.
They have clear strategies in place to drive improvements in employees'
overall health and wellness, identifying problems early and taking advantage
of opportunities for improvement by understanding the current state of their
benefit program and the health care system overall.
Specifically they have:
• A clear focus on and commitment to supporting employees'
health and health care decisions
• Well articulated strategies and rigorous metrics for evaluating
program effectiveness
• Critical program performance factors in place
• Benefit designs that encourage transparency and accountability
• Rigorous – and effective – communication and decision
support programs that successfully engage employees and help build a culture
of health in the organization
Dave Guilmette, Managing Director of the Towers Perrin Health and Welfare
practice, notes that “as companies ask their employees to become more
accountable for their health care consumption and participate in cost-control
initiatives, the companies themselves must become more accountable to employees
by providing the resources, support tools, education and communication initiatives
that employees need to be successful consumers of health care. High-performing
companies are far more committed to implementing these measures…and,
we believe that is the reason they are so much more successful.”
Similarly, those employers that apply these same principles to Workers'
Compensation will enhance their competitive advantage. |