Employers seeking better e-based tools to raise employee health I-CUE(TM)

Washington, D.C. - Consumer-directed health care (CDHC) plans are gaining ground with employers looking to lower costs. But large employers say the tools available for consumers to evaluate and choose health care are way behind the curve.

Those e-based plan selection tools just scratch the surface of what employers really want. Employers are ready to invest in Web-based tools that will help educate employees about their health, communicate with disease and care management providers, and even help them change unhealthy behaviors. The eHealth vendor market is ripe for the player with the right toolsóand employers are willing to work with vendors to develop them.

The findings are at the heart of a recent report by Health2 Resources, a national health care public relations and marketing agency based in the Washington, D.C. area. According to the report, ìHow Employers Are Using the Internet to Increase Employee Health I-CUE(TM),î employers are aggressively working to push health care information technology vendors to develop tools that increase the consumerís ability to choose, use, and evaluate health care, or consumer Health I-CUE.

ìEmployers are increasingly using health information technology to administer health benefits and to help employees choose better care,î said Edwina Rogers, vice president of health policy for The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC). ìAs health care evolves and more consumer-centric plans come on the market, employees will need even better tools to evaluate health care providers and plans based on quality. If employees only know who offers the cheapest care, they may not always choose the best care.î

ERIC represents the employee benefits interests of Americaís largest employers, who in turn provide benefits to some 25 million active and retired workers and their families. Several of ERICís member companies are featured in the new report as early adopters of innovative employee-focused IT solutions.

The report arrives at time of rapid growth in adoption of CDHC. The plans typically include a high deductible plan and health savings account paid for by the employer, with options to ìbuy upî richer coverage. Critics of the plans say the tools that are available to evaluate the plans focus more attention to cost than to the quality of the care they provide.

Emerging public interest in consumer-directed health care decision support tools is reflected in action from government entities as well. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services launched a new Web site (www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov) March 30 that compares hospital quality using 17 widely used measures for treating heart ailments and pneumonia. ìHospital Compareî includes data reported voluntarily by nearly all of the nationís 4,200 general hospitals.

And the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has recently published its second annual ìNational Healthcare Quality Report î on behalf of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The report sizes up providers using a set of health care measures across four dimensions of quality (effectiveness, safety, timeliness, and patient centeredness), plus additional measures focusing on effectiveness in nine targeted clinical condition areas.

ìEmployers are looking for tools to equip employees to be better informed health care consumers, and Health I-CUE is a rubric for evaluating those tools,î said Katherine H. Capps, principal consultant for Health2 Resources. ìOverall, we found that employers are becoming much more sophisticated in using IT in the health benefit arena, and are indeed driving the market by demanding more than provider lists from content vendors and health plans.î

The report includes an evaluation of how employers select health benefit IT vendors, based on their ability to offer:

1.Information to Chooseó individual providers, hospitals or care networks, health plans, benefit programs, physicians and systems of care;

2.Information to Useótools that allow interactive claims management, enable chronic disease and care management, educate them about best practices for chronic conditions and acute care needs, offer research and evidence-based treatment options and caregiver options.

3.Information to Evaluateótools that measure outcomes, assess safety, quality and cost; comparative customer service and patient perception reporting.

While the new government sites are a starting point for consumers to evaluate provider quality, the report found that employers are looking for ehealth vendors who can offer consumer content for self-care and for disease management. In the Web environment, employers are challenged to point their employees to sites with peer-reviewed, accurate content that is free from sponsorship ties and associated bias.

ìEmployers and employer groups need to pursue a new strategy for better employee health, and it will require the right e-based data and tools to make it work,î said Sean Sullivan, president and CEO of the Institute for Health and Productivity Management. ìLarge and small employers alike know that itís time to stop just managing costs and instead seek ways to enhance disease management outcomes and help employees better manage their own health. The problems of absenteeism and presenteeism affect every employerís bottom line. Itís in our best interest to use technology as a tool to solve these problems.î

Distributed by HR Marketer.com