I mean, who hasn’t done this?

On the other hand, I’ve never seen my friendships melt away like when I have to explain to my friends how their deductible and coinsurance work.

Majority of employers to enhance benefits to improve attraction and retention: Mercer released their 2023 Survey on Health and Benefits Strategies and it had some good points for people leaders. Below are some highlights.

• Competing for talent: Attracting and retaining employees is the driving strategic goal for employers, with 70% of large employers expecting to enhance benefits for 2023
• … Including hourly and low-wage workers: About a fifth of large employers said they are focusing on their hourly and low-wage workers. Employees are leaving jobs for others with just slightly higher pay so employers are looking to create a stronger bond with their workforce.
• A focus on affordability: Cost-shifting to employees is not a winning strategy. 41% of respondents offer a health plan with a low or even no deductible and 11% more are considering it. 17% of respondents offer telehealth coverage for employees ineligible for the medical plan (part-time for example) and 12% are considering it, and 11% offer free employee-only coverage in at least one plan (with another 11% considering it).
• Surveys to dial in benefits: 61% of respondents plan to conduct surveys to understand what employees really want, because employees are increasingly concerned with the “lifestyle fit” of the company they work for. Do employees want more PTO or do they want a 401k match? Do they want more after-work parties or more allowance to work from home?
• Closing identity and racial benefit gaps and disparities: How have your benefits changed since your company issued its DEI statement? Given that health disparities are a constant issue and employers, it’s encouraging to see that employers are closing gaps with multilingual communications, advanced search functions for providers, coverage for alternative maternal care services, inclusive family support (ie fertility and surrogacy benefits), and specialized behavioral health services.

We’ve dedicated space in the past to many of these issues and if any of them are a hot-button issue for you right now, click here to chat with a consultant today.

Upcoming Webinar on Health Plan and Benefits Considerations in M&A!

“Hey John, we acquired a new business/dealership/group and we need to get them enrolled” – what usually happens during M&A transactions.

If you’re an investor, it’s your job to unlock business value through business strategies across your portfolio. Health insurance is a great way to create quick wins for your portfolio companies and investors, but there are special considerations and complexities to keep in mind to get best results.

So to help you, our Acrisure Compliance Solutions team is hosting a webinar on July 21st about the benefit considerations during mergers, acquisitions, and other business reorganizations.

If you’re involved with assessing companies and investments and any facet of M&A, and your job is to find ways to unlock value, this webinar is for you. Sign up for it today to get a recording and downloadable notes after the call.

Continued scrutiny of digital mental health companies: We talked recently about Cerebral in particular but this entire sector of healthcare is drawing more attention. Yes, studies have found that live video therapy visits and related sessions are just as effective as in-person visits, but the rapid growth of this industry is creating a number of concerns. These include inexperienced therapists, scarce evidence for text-based treatments, lack of liability insurance for 1099 therapists, and questions about how their business would evolve if the controlled substance waiver is lifted.

“We’re getting old”: Since 2000, the national median age (not average, median, the 50th percentile) has increased 3.4 years. This is important because one reason health insurance costs go up year after year is that your average employee age typically increases. Now, time for some trivia: Can you guess the youngest state?

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Utah!

Speaking of the Beehive State (I had to look that up), I was at a basketball tournament this weekend and the Utah teams have a swagger that I appreciated. My favorite player was a scrawny kid with a mullet who was one of the shortest players on the court. He hit a 3 late in the game and proceeded to shush a crowd of parents. That kid is going places.

Introducing… Acrisure Stadium, Home of the Pittsburgh Steelers

I was confused when I saw an ESPN notification pop up and include our company’s name… but this is pretty cool!

Things to not put in an email: “WOWIE!!!!! HOW DO WE GET SOME MORE OF THAT???!!!!!!!” referring to your fraudulent moneymaking schemes

This is part of a common area of fraud in healthcare around how rural health centers take advantage of a financial boost for doing lab tests and end up committing fraud to milk as much from the system as possible. If you think this sucks, remember, it’s estimated that up to 25% of all healthcare spending goes to fraud and waste! It’s why we emphasize control and transparency in health plans as much as possible.

As always, schedule time with me if anything above sparked an idea for you and you want to discuss your situation and how we might help.

Posted by John Hansbrough in Acrisure, Business Strategies, Digital Health, Employee Benefits, Health Equity, Health Insurance, Healthcare Innovation, Healthcare Spending, Human Resources, News, Research, Telehealth