What Does The Year 2023 Bring For Health Care?

Employers can enhance outcomes, cut costs, and level the playing field by seizing new opportunities.

 

With good reason, health benefits have traditionally been one of the most valued employment benefits. Nothing is more vital than maintaining one’s and one’s family’s health. However, the cost and complexity of health care frequently leaves workers feeling irritated and overburdened. A key element of luring and keeping talent is ensuring that they and their families have access to high-quality, affordable health care as well as individualized advice. However, escalating health care expenses, a pandemic that hasn’t been seen in a century, and a rising understanding that workers need assistance with all elements of wellbeing have reached a breaking point for employers, service providers, and brokers.

The COVID-19 epidemic has primarily been the direct or indirect cause of the difficulties that have plagued the past two years. In addition to the fundamental requirement to protect employee safety – by moving to remote work, when feasible, and strict COVID practices for in-person workers — companies received priceless, frequently depressing insights into the lives of their people. Employers encountered numerous difficulties that finally led to a new clarity and a reevaluation of their benefits approach, ranging from the recognition of considerable health equity discrepancies to the necessity for additional mental health care.

2023 will be a significant pressure test for many employers in the future, but it will also be a year of change for the health care and employee benefits industries. Employers are discovering they need to be more intentional in the benefits design of their programs, from managing rising medical expenses and enhancing health fairness to expanding behavioral health options.

Fortunately, there are numerous chances to embrace innovative tactics for streamlining health and wellness solutions, generating individualized journeys, and connecting those journeys through data to enhance usage, produce value and bend the cost curve.

 

Providing value

Skyrocketing health care expenses are a bigger worry now than they might be in a more stable economy as companies and workers struggle with the greatest inflation in a generation and signs of a probable recession. In 2023, it is anticipated that employer health care expenses will rise 6.5% to more than $13,800 per employee. It makes sense that reducing rising health care benefit costs is one of the businesses’ top goals for the next three years, according to more than two-thirds of employers.

The last thing businesses want is for their personnel to put off or hesitate about seeking care owing to prohibitive prices, especially when many workers are finally getting back on track with normal checkups and treatments after postponing doctor visits for two years due to COVID. That will only serve to exacerbate current issues or obstruct the identification and treatment of emerging issues, which will have a negative impact on the employee’s outcomes and increase the employer’s costs.

Employers have traditionally used a variety of point solutions to address these problems, but in the upcoming year, the employee benefits industry will experience significant change.

Employers will have a singular emphasis on encouraging workers to engage in caring that not only produces the required results but also adds value. The use of health care navigation services, tech-enabled personalisation, and high-touch (human) guidance that equips staff to make wise decisions for themselves and their loved ones will help to achieve this.

 

Using fresh tactics

Employers could also want to look about population health measures when designing benefits. For example, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services (CMS) have showed that solutions like Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) which address population health have shown better outcomes, reduced ER visits and unnecessary care and have encouraged better longitudinal care. Employers who use this community health approach offer medical advice and support for choosing affordable, high-quality care options. Participants in a plan can also be aligned with the use of staff incentives that promote seeking high-value treatment.

A good primary care relationship is also key. Employees’ primary care physician can manage their health in a way that may help them prevent any later high-cost scenarios if they can get them in early. For instance, if a patient has diabetes and kidney disease, their primary care physician can monitor their condition to prevent further progression to dialysis and deteriorating kidney disease. Similarly, ensuring medication compliance – and possibly even providing generic meds for free – can be extremely helpful in terms of flattening the expense curve because the patient’s sickness might not worsen to the point where they require advanced, specialized care.

Ensuring equity

Accessing health treatment and achieving one’s greatest level of health is easier for certain people than others and this has a direct impact on outcomes. yastmastmastmastmastmastmastmastmastmastmastmas, and In reality, this was how 3 out of 4 employers felt.

In order to address the situations that employees and their families are born into and live, which have an impact on their capacity to lead healthy and satisfying lives, employers are also continuing to assess programs and benefits.

For instance, the mortality rate from cancer is 8% higher in rural locations. In the meantime, women’s access to abortion and reproductive health are being significantly impacted by the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Some companies are exploring for methods to make it easier for workers and their dependents to receive reproductive care now that the majority of abortions are illegal in 13 states. Most people are thinking about expanding fertility benefits as well, including offering assistance for different kinds of families.

Transgender employees are also facing a similar issue either because they live in a state like Florida where transgender care is being restricted, especially for youngsters, or because they are afraid about being stigmatized if they seek care in a traditional context.

Many more employers are projected to provide travel and lodging benefits in 2023 for employees who must travel for transgender-related services or abortions. The legalities of receiving medical services that are prohibited in one’s native state must be taken into account. Employers must keep a careful eye on the development of local and state legislation.

These and other health care injustices were made public by the pandemic. This aided in the introduction of solutions like telehealth that enhanced access for people from all walks of life, including those in rural and underserved communities where providers are scarce and those who encounter cultural or discriminatory hurdles. Increasingly, companies will try to integrate health care delivery options such virtual solutions for primary care, mental health and urgent care as they strive to enhance health equity for their workforce.

 

Addressing the effects of diet on health

Expanding beyond the demographics of women, LGBTQ+ and rural populations, you also have a huge chunk of workers, notably those in the hospitality and service industries, who are making barely enough to get by. They could not have enough food or a place to live. This is especially important given the growing popularity of “food as medicine,” as they can reside in an area known as a “food desert” where processed foods are the only options available. This is not an easy problem to fix, but businesses may begin by initiating a dialogue with their carriers for this kind of data and taking steps to increase education and availability when it comes to keeping a healthy, balanced diet.

 

Prioritizing mental health

As the importance of mental health is recognized more and more, by the end of 2023, approximately 95% of employers are anticipated to provide virtual care solutions for medical and behavioral health difficulties. No longer is it sufficient to simply care for the bodily being. A holistic approach to caring for the full person, including their mental and emotional health, has become table stakes.

For many years, there has been a mental health crisis. However, the pandemic’s aftermath is causing hitherto unheard-of levels of worry and melancholy. In accordance with the 2022 Alight International Workforce and Wellbeing Mindset Study, 73% of employees report high or moderate levels of stress, while 34% report signs of burnout. All employees are experiencing stress, but it seems to be a significant issue for women, parents or carers, people of color, those under 30, those working remotely or in hybrid roles, and those who are young.

Although behavioral health visits are up 17% over pre-COVID levels, many people are still going without care due to a persistent provider scarcity. According to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation research, 30% of large businesses claim that their networks do not have enough providers to guarantee that their employees have timely access to care.

 

Removal of the stigma

Employees and dependents can now easily access the necessary mental health care thanks to telehealth. However, businesses have a responsibility to eliminate the stigma associated with mental health by fostering an environment where employees may openly disclose their problems without fear of ridicule or retaliation. Make it acceptable to talk openly about challenges, train managers and staff to spot warning signs of distress, react sympathetically, and encourage their coworkers to utilize mental health resources.

Employers will seek for solutions in 2023 that can spot employees who are at risk for behavioral health problems early on in their medical journeys, whether or not they exhibit symptoms. Breaking down barriers, lowering stigma associated with experiencing mental health challenges, and assisting people in receiving the care they need are all made possible by solutions that give people access to teams of multidisciplinary behavioral health clinicians who can provide guidance, education, and a safe place to be vulnerable.

We have a fantastic opportunity to improve things for our staff as we anticipate the upcoming year. There will be testing of new models and techniques, but employers will provide long-term value and enhance healthcare for all parties through significant partnerships and creative strategies.

 

Bipin Mistry, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Alight Solutions

 

 

 

 

Sosurce: https://www.benefitspro.com/2023/01/16/health-care-2023-what-does-the-new-year-hold/