Access

Employer health plans continue to evolve. Over the years, the richness of benefit plans has decreased as costs have increased. This is a result of employers attempting to strike a balance between conforming to corporate budgets that cannot absorb additional cost growth, while still providing benefits that meet the needs of their employees. If you can manage to control costs while continuing to offer benefits, it’s traditionally considered success.

But have those cost-controlling measures actually been successful?

The reality is that these cost adjustments have negatively impacted the health and well-being of employees, which, over an extended period, erodes the success of the very business that sought to cut costs. As benefits are cut to save costs, employees are less satisfied and less healthy. This reduces productivity and engagement, which in turn lowers corporate profitability, which causes the company to look at even further reductions in costs. It becomes a reinforcing negative cycle.

COVID-19 has forced business and HR leaders to open their eyes to the reality that the health of their employee population directly corresponds to the health of their business. And without a strategic focus on the health of your employees, your business will stumble and fail.

Mercer can help you see where you may need to do things differently and take advantage of new directions.

For years, there’s been discourse about how our health care system needed to change – to become more affordable, more accessible, more equitable.

Ultimately, the type of health care you get matters. Access to health care with low value is meaningless. Access isn’t just about ability to get services from a brick and mortar or virtual care provider, it also has a strong correlation to cost. If an employee has coverage, but the out-of-pocket expenses associated with care exceed their ability to pay, that care is not truly accessible.

The best care meets individual needs and offers superior quality, efficiency, affordability and health outcomes. That’s high-value care.

We’re changing the conversation around health care. The way you access care, who provides it and the interventions that are used are all evolving. With our focus on value as a core component, we help employers offer new options that lower cost while improving quality. Virtual First Care is the future of health care and will soon be integrated into our day-to-day life, offering a positive impact on both organizations and individuals.

Virtual First Care provides patients with access to medical care, accessed digitally and guided by clinicians. Individuals benefit from more control and are empowered to personalize their care in ways that honor they time, prove cost-effective and convenient.

The variety of choice of access points is a critical talent attraction variable that organizations must consider when setting their talent management strategies. Part of that value proposition you offer to employees is your health and benefits program. Key within that is access to affordable, quality healthcare that meets their needs. But it’s not limited to just meeting their needs. It’s also about meeting them where they are – and ensuring that the access available is convenient and fits within their daily life.

For some, this means in-person access to traditional healthcare providers. For others, it means care that’s delivered virtually. Still for others, care provided in the home and facilitated via remote patient monitoring may be most appropriate.