WASHINGTON – Employers who want to contain healthcare costs should consider implementing innovative benefit designs, said a recent study released by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC).
According to the study, innovative benefit designs include incentives to encourage healthy behaviors and self-management; incentives that vary by service type, patient condition or enrollee income; and incentives to use efficient providers
HSC based the study on interviews conducted between May and August 2006 with 25 experts, including benefit consultants and representatives from health plans and large employers.
According to Paul B. Ginsburg, HSC president and co-author of the study, most employers have not incorporated innovative designs into their health benefit offerings yet, and many are not even in the planning stages.
“[This suggests] that the ability to use substantial cost sharing more effectively is many years off,” he said. “This will limit the extent to which cost sharing can be used as a cost-control tool.”
The study also found that regulations governing high-deductible, consumer-directed health plans eligible for health savings accounts preclude some promising benefit design innovations and dilute the incentives in others.
A movement away from a one-size-fits-all HSA benefit structure toward a more flexible design might broaden the appeal of HSA plans and enable them to incorporate features that promote cost-effective care, the study found.