Navigating Your Path to Consumer-Driven Health Plans

As employers move toward offering a consumer-driven health plan (CDHP) as part of their employee benefits, many have questions such as:

• How do employees respond to consumerism?
• Are my employees ready to assume greater control and responsibility?
• What can my company do to make the transition easier?
• Will the benefits of making the transition be worth the expense and the upheaval?

This research from Humana answers those questions and more. Over a 15-month period, researchers studied individuals representing different age groups, family structures, employment positions, and income levels. Participants remained anonymous. The findings are reliable, but due to the nature of qualitative research, they cannot be considered representative of the general population. By studying the same people over time, an evolution can be seen in employees’ attitudes, beliefs, and behavior, and employers can make note of potential obstacles to avoid.

The study findings are summarized below.

Best Practices

• Employees appreciate choice - Your company’s implementation of a consumer-driven health plan can be smoother by designing offerings with choice in mind—and by making sure each offering is distinct. You can further build employees’ confidence in their enrollment choices by helping them predict potential costs and by providing tools that can help them forecast future healthcare needs.
• Employees want to “try it on” - The ability to predict healthcare needs and costs leads to confident decision-making in choosing a plan.  Permitting employees to make use of company computers, hosting training classes, or setting up kiosks can help overcome lack of computer familiarity. Likewise, employee expectations can be made more manageable by facilitating ongoing communication or by providing employees with a “coach” that can guide them in predicting healthcare needs and selecting an appropriate plan.
• Getting results - Changes in attitude and behavior are driven by experience and the desire to contain out-of-pocket costs.  One way to enhance an employee’s sense of control over their own healthcare is to communicate year-round about the benefits that the employee has selected and how he or she has used the plan. Such communications could include an individualized statement of benefits used or year-to-date cost savings
• The need for ongoing support - A system of supportive communication can help build familiarity and boost employee confidence.
• Money matters - Consider exploring special incentives that encourage employees in the responsible use of their plan benefits.
• Planning pays off - Encourage your employees to plan ahead for emergencies and provide the tools to make planning easy.
• Transparency is necessary - When your employees understand the value of transparency in healthcare, they are likely to have much greater confidence in their ability to be smart consumers. You help facilitate this understanding by making sure employees are aware of the tools available to them and by providing training to ensure that they are able to use these tools easily and effectively.
• Keep it simple - Employees’ top priorities are ease of use and claims follow-up.  There is a desire to see their spending information presented in a familiar, user-friendly frame of reference, such as a credit card statement.  You may also wish to explore options that can help simplify claims and reimbursement.
• Consumerism meets individual needs - There may be a need to acknowledge the various temperaments and styles in which people organize information. You may need to deliver information in a variety of ways. Consider surveying your employees about their preferred methods of receiving information.

The full Humana Research Summary can be downloaded below.