Employee Benefit News' and Quantum Health's New National Employer Study Finds Employee Engagement in Healthcare Benefits Is a Top Priority but Barriers Exist

While 66% of benefits professionals state engagement as a top priority, only 20% say their organization is nearing or achieving the best-case scenario when it comes to healthcare benefits

66% of employers also report that healthcare navigation services from an independent provider are an effective tool to increase or support employee engagement with health and healthcare benefits

DUBLIN, OH (August 20, 2024) Employee Benefit News (EBN), a primary media resource for decision-makers in the world of employee benefits, human resources and workplace culture, recently conducted a survey of the ways companies and benefits professionals prioritize, drive and evaluate employee engagement with their health and healthcare benefits. The study was sponsored by Quantum Health, the industry-leading healthcare navigation and care coordination company serving over 500 self-insured employers and supporting over 3.1 million active members on their healthcare journeys.

The study surveyed over 100 respondents who were either working as human resources executives or in a professional benefits role in companies that provide healthcare benefits to employees. They were comprised of companies from a wide range of industries and job levels/roles.

Except for payroll, healthcare benefit costs are typically the largest expense facing employers. According to results from Mercer’s 2023 National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans, U.S. employers expect the total health benefits cost per employee to rise 5.4% on average this year, even after they make changes to their benefits plans to slow cost growth.

Additionally, Aon reports that employers have increased their benefits offerings by 22% since the start of the pandemic, yet this increase may not ultimately achieve the intended outcomes. 

In the new EBN study, benefits professionals indicate an emphasis on increased employee engagement with healthcare benefits would or would likely result in improved employee satisfaction (76%), improved health outcomes (73%), and better managed and contained costs (66%).  According to respondents, some of the best-case scenarios for increased employee engagement include educating employees about their benefits (35%), high utilization of health benefits (21%), employees proactively interested in improving their health (19%) and high use of preventive care (15%). They also report the challenges in engaging employees with healthcare benefits.

According to Kerry Gross, Director of Research Intelligence at EBN, “While many employers recognize the business and employee value of increased engagement with their health and healthcare benefits, employers face any number of organizational and structural challenges to increasing this engagement.” 

To address these gaps and barriers, employers are turning to healthcare navigation platforms with increased success.

The study states that 45% of employers report drawing on healthcare navigation services (through either independent provider or carrier navigation) to support improving employee engagement with their health and healthcare benefits and 66% of employers report that healthcare navigation services from an independent provider are an effective tool to increase support of employee engagement with health and healthcare benefits.

The study also reports that the most effective metrics for tracking engagement are through claims data (77%) and benefits utilization (75%). Among those who use these sources of data, 95% say utilization data from independent healthcare navigation is somewhat to highly effective.

“Engagement is more than measuring the number of times a member accesses an app,” said Veronica Knuth, Chief People Officer. “It should be a meaningful interaction with a member, their provider or a point solution partner that creates opportunities to impact the member’s healthcare journey. Quantum Health is helping to usher in a new way for employers to view and measure employee engagement by recognizing the value and importance of all touchpoints and approaches. This includes engaging all members, providers and ecosystem partners throughout the engagement cycle.”

Quantum Health boasts an 89% claim dollars engagement rate, meaning it has engaged with members, their providers, or both, to inform and guide utilization on 89% of all medical claims costs incurred across its entire member base of over 500 employer clients representing over 3.1 million member lives resulting in over 104 million member interactions last year.