SCHWARTZ HEALTHCARE-IT BLOG

Aspiring PR

Decision support vendor Asparity made a smart PR move last month in issuing a survey and reporting the findings that employees who used decision support during the 2007 enrollment season made different -- and more cost-effective -- health care choices that better met their needs than employees who did not use decision support. While there is a certain amount of obvious "duh" factor in this, the breakdown of findings is nonetheless interesting:

• HDHP Enrollment. Decision support users enrolled in High Deductible Health Plans (HDHPs) with Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) three times more than non-users. Seven percent of decision support users enrolled in a HDHP while only two percent of non-users enrolled.

• Tax Savings. Decision support users enrolled in Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) two times more than nonusers and contributed two times more to their FSAs. Average employee contributions and tax savings for employees and employers -- across all decision support users and non-users were as follows:

-- Users contributed an average of $506 to an FSA, yielding a tax savings of $192 for themselves and $27 for the employer.

-- Non-users contributed an average of $209 to an FSA, yielding a tax savings of $84 for themselves and $11 for the employer.

• Cost Savings. Decision support users enrolled in plans that cost two percent less in total health care costs (employee contributions plus out-of-pocket expenses) than non-users. Decision support users estimated an average of $3,143 in total health care costs and spent an average of $68 less than non-users given their enrollment behavior.

· Income Analysis. Looking at the total cost of health care, employees making $30,000 or less spend 10 percent or more of their income (on average) for health care, while higher-income employees making $100,000 or more spend three percent or less. As a result, lower-income employees were essentially limited to the lowest-cost plan, making it even more important that they understand the total cost of their health care when choosing a plan. Higher-income employees were more likely to choose a plan based on personal needs, such as open access, chiropractic coverage, or satisfaction measures.

Posted by Shawn Whalen on June 26, 2007 at 11:00 AM
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