Company Benefit Communication

According to the following news release, 8 out of 10 large employers are looking for ways to improve employer/employee benefits communications as a means of improving employee satisfaction over the next 12 months.

• Survey Shows Rising Costs Continue to be a Major Burden for Employers

WASHINGTON, March 8, 2001 PRNewswire -- Despite cost increases, a vast majority of U.S. employers are planning to retain their role as the purchasers of health care benefits for employees, according to a new nationwide survey of large employers released today.

The survey also found that a majority of employers are increasingly using the Internet to help ease administrative burdens and as a way of placing more decision-making responsibility and empowerment in the hands of employees. A total of 360 employers covering 4.7 million full-time employees participated in the Sixth Annual Purchasing Value in Health Care Survey conducted by Watson Wyatt Worldwide, the Washington Business Group on Health (WBGH), and the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA).

According to the survey, a majority of employers plan to remain highly involved in health benefits activities three years from now. In fact, more than 75 percent say they will continue to manage health plan design and vendor selection and management, while more than 65 percent will remain involved in pricing of options and providing information to employees about their plan choices.

Employers are also planning to rely more on web technologies as part of their health care benefits strategy. Fully eight in 10 employers plan to make greater use of the Internet to administer benefits and distribute health care information. The range of activities that employers plan to move to the web is sweeping, the survey noted.

• Future Web-Based Applications by Employers Include:

• Providing employees information on plan choices-92%
• Offering annual benefit enrollment- 87%
• Helping employees navigate delivery system-83%
• Promoting health & wellness-81%
• Educate employees about self care- 81%
• Offering Self administration-76%

"The debate about managed care and its place in controlling costs appears to be fading. Today, a new web-based consumerist model is emerging, which will give employees immediate access to health information and transactions," says Rich Ostuw, global director of group and health care consulting at Watson Wyatt. "As a result, employee-consumers will have a greater role in the selection, use and evaluation of their health care benefits."

"We're finding that employers are increasing employee communications about health benefits and providing more information for improving their health," says Mary Jane England, M.D., president of WBGH. "The Internet is an ideal tool to educate employees about their options and involve them more in the decision process."

• Employer's Response to Rising Costs

Overall health care costs increased more than 10 percent in 2000, according to the survey. The cost of providing prescription drug benefits increased the most -- 14.6 percent. To combat rising costs, seven out of 10 employers plan to increase employee premiums while half will increase employee co-payments. However, about half also say they will absorb at least some of the increase themselves. Only 14 percent plan to reduce or eliminate coverage for certain services.

• Other key findings from the survey include:

• Eight in ten employers are looking to improve employer/employee benefits communications as a means of improving employee satisfaction over the next 12 months
• 55 percent hope to improve online plan information and transaction processing
• One in five employers plan to move toward more aggressive managed care - the same number as are planning to use less aggressive managed care
• Fifty-one percent of employers say that one way health plans can help meet their needs is by enhancing quality of service
• One-third (33 percent) cite improving medical management as an effective strategy for health plans

BusinessPlans offers an online service called Fringe Facts that can help you communicate your benefits to your employees and lower your costs.

To learn more about how you can communicate your benefits to your employees and lower your costs using our Fringe Facts service go to our employee benefits page here on our web site at and click on the Fringe Facts logo

Contact us if you have any questions about the new Fringe Facts Online Benefits Enrollment and Communication Service.