Question & Answer
How Do I Reduce Healthcare Costs?
Reducing healthcare costs begins with three things: understanding, engagement, and accountability. Employers who succeed in reducing healthcare costs utilize their data to engage their employees. Employees must understand what factors can drive cost increases and what inefficiencies can restrict the effectiveness of their healthcare plans. With the right amount of understanding, engagement and accountability, the process of reducing healthcare costs becomes a lot easier.
These are examples of several factors employers and their employees have the ability to control:
- Smoking
- Nutrition
- Workplace environment
- Injury and illness prevention
- Creating sufficient methods to provide useful services
There are some factors that still can’t be adjusted to reduce your costs. These include:
- High demand for medical services
- New technology
- Prescription drugs
- Longer life spans
- Regulations and requirements (HIPAA)
How Do I Get My Employees Healthy?
Implementing a wellness program is a great first step to getting your employees healthy. It’s also an initial part of helping employees become aware of their health and the factors that impact it. In the past, we have helped our clients implement programs created with a variety of components that are tailored to meet the company’s needs. Some examples include:
- Health Risk Assessments (General health, emotional health, mental health, physical activity)
- Biometrics
- Smoking cessation programs
- Fitness classes
- Healthy snack and lunches
- Onsite fitness centers/health clinics
- Health and fitness point/reward systems
Our experience has shown merely offering a wellness program isn’t enough to get your employees healthy. Employee engagement and participation is equally important. To promote your wellness program, you need to present a specific long term vision, provide incentives that fit your employees, measure data, consistently share results, and create an overall positive wellness culture within your organization.
How Does BeneCo Compare My Benchmark Data?
Benchmarking data is an important exercise for employers to complete because it compares your processes and performance metrics to those found in other companies in the industry. It can also help you strategically select the level of benefits you want to offer your employees.
BeneCo provides the most state-of-the-art benchmarking system available. We compare and evaluate your plan performance through parameters including size, geography, time, and cost. In most cases, we have the ability to evaluate benchmarks through the national, regional, state, and even county level, ensuring your data is accurately assessed.
We recommend that employers perform this type of analysis on an annual basis in order to determine the cost-effectiveness and impact of their selected plans.
How Do I Include BeneCo In My Request For Proposal (RFP) Process?
Selecting a benefits consulting partner can be a difficult decision. This is why we provide employers with every opportunity to get to know us and our solutions process ahead of time. This client resource library is our introduction and our additional pages were made for you to explore and become familiar with what we can do for you. Employers can get to know us through our Affordable Care Act Webinars and LinkedIn. We hope you will take a look and find them valuable.
To include us in your RFP process or consultant review, please send information and questions to Kathy Tunney:
Kathy Tunney
BeneCo of Wisconsin
250 N. Patrick Blvd. Suite 100
Brookfield, WI 53045
ktunney@beneco.co
Where Can I Find Carrier Provider Information for Group Health Plans?
We work with all of the major health and welfare insurance carriers in the marketplace. Below are some of the carrier websites. Click on the link and look for the area where you can search for a doctor, physician, provider, dentist, pharmacy (i.e. “Find a Doctor”/ “Provider Search”) and click on that link. This will take you to the area where you can search for your specific provider(s). If you or your employees still can’t find the information you are looking for, please let us know. One of our benefit advocates will be happy to assist you. We want our client resource library to be consistently updated with answers to your questions and other information you may need. We look forward to the opportunity to be of service.