What employers are missing in their workforce data
If employers don't analyze their data thoroughly, they may be missing valuable information that could save their establishment of many costs. Read this blog post to learn more.
Employers are missing out on valuable healthcare information and cost-saving opportunities if they don’t analyze their data thoroughly, panelists at the annual Disability Management Employer Coalition digital conference said.
According to professionals from an insurance company in Portland, Ore., many employers have access to three types of data: healthcare, absence and productivity. HR departments are typically tasked with collecting and analyzing this data, but rarely do they use all three together. But maximizing these findings can help employers better inform their benefit decisions, the panelists said.
“Most employers want to know how much they’re spending on healthcare, but they can learn so much more than that,” said Case Escher, managing partner of the insurance company in Portland, “Very few [employers] use it to explore how health of the workforce is affecting productivity.”
“By comparing health data and absence, you can see if a health condition is causing an employee to miss more work than usual,” said Brycie Repphun, account executive at the insurance company in Portland. “You can use this information to help better inform that person about the services available to them to help them be successful at work.”
Employers can also use their productivity data to help determine if individual employees, or an entire team, are struggling, Escher said. Since productivity is measured differently at every company, and in various positions, employers have to exercise their own judgement about how to interpret it, he said.
“Obviously, if it’s a sales position, and one of your top performers is out because of medical issues, or another personal reason, the productivity of that team is going to suffer,” Escher said. “And if that person is going to be out for a while, the data will likely show that the rest of the team is getting burned out faster to compensate for being understaffed.”
Since the majority of the nonessential workforce is working from home due to the pandemic, Repphun recommends that employers start looking at their data to see how employees are coping.
“Health conditions can definitely impact work performance, but we’re finding that this is happening because of the current work from home situation,” Repphun said. “People aren’t working in ideal conditions, and many have children learning at home as well.”
Escher said self-funded employers are better positioned to make use of their workforce data because they don’t have to go through multiple third-party providers to access all of it. But other employers can still benefit from the information if they’re willing to put in the time and effort to retrieve the reports. While employers can certainly survey their workforce to gauge how working remotely is affecting their productivity, Escher and Repphun said they can get a clear answer by looking at all three data points.
“There’s an indisputable link between health and productivity,” Escher said. “As an employer, you can take this information and use it to make smart decisions to help your employees continue to be successful.”
SOURCE: Webster, K. (31 August 2020) "What employers are missing in their workforce data" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.employeebenefitadviser.com/news/what-employers-are-missing-in-their-workforce-data
Employers should ‘double down’ on tech and benefits data analytics. Most still aren’t
Did you know: 53 percent of benefits leaders say the biggest challenge they face regarding effective benefits programs is gaining access to their data. Read this blog to learn why employers should 'double down' on technology.
Utilizing data to understand which health benefits will best work for employees is key to staying ahead of the curve, but just 18% of benefits managers believe their organization has the right tools to implement these programs.
That’s according to a new survey by Artemis Health, which found that while 88% of benefits leaders say data is somewhat to extremely important in designing and managing an effective benefits program, some 53% percent say access to data is their biggest challenge.
“Benefits analytics is the key to feeling confident in building better benefits programs for their organizations and their employees,” says Grant Gordon, CEO and co-founder of Artemis Health.
Obtaining this data is often the biggest challenge to understanding what companies should be offering and if it’s in line with the demands of their workforce, the survey found.
“When you look at data, you can make a hypothesis about what you should do, and if it's working, you double down. If it's not working, then you change tactics,” Gordon says. “But because data is so hard to get here, many benefit leaders don't have that reflex or muscle memory.”
Gordon spoke with Employee Benefit News about the role of data analytics in benefits planning and how companies can best utilize these tools.
Why is data such a critical part of benefits planning?
The top cited source of information that benefits leaders are relying on to define their benefits is employee feedback, and you absolutely have to have that. But if you take a step back from that, the role that I view data having is an objective way to look at what's actually happening with your employees and understand what the big strategic issues are. You may miss a silent group of people who really need help or an emerging trend that you need to address that you could have caught with data.
Most employers said that they didn't have the proper tools to use data effectively. Why do you think that is?
Just getting your hands on the data is a big challenge. You have to go the vendors that hold it, you have to give them assurances and sign legal documentation that you're going to use it appropriately and that you’ll keep it private, and that can take a long time. And then once you get the data, there's no really good data infrastructure in this industry to share data securely. So there's some orchestration challenges in shipping data around. You might get wrong data or you might get incomplete data. And then once you get it, it can be full of errors that need to be corrected. So before you even get to the starting gate, there's a big challenge.
Then you get to the next problem, which is that the data is very complex, and there's a lot of subject matter expertise that you need to have to understand it. And so in order to make this useful to a benefits person who's maybe not a deep, deep expert on medical, clinical knowledge or pharmaceuticals or certain programs, you need to simplify it so they can get to the trends. We can’t expect them to look at raw claims data and make anything of it. There’s a tooling challenge in getting the data and really making sense of it.
How can benefits managers bridge that knowledge gap?
Make sure that people get the healthcare and the benefits that they need. We saw [in the survey] that if they had more confidence in the moves that they were making, perhaps with data, they could get more things that are relevant to their employees into their hands faster, but it's just not the case today. So something needs to be addressed.
Get a data platform. I think some of the players that have been around for awhile, they do a fantastic job at data management and all those other things. I would look at something like Artemis or one of the newer companies, just to get a jumpstart on data-driven decisions on what's important and what's working and what's not. A lot of these companies work with advisers like consultants or brokers and many of them have inner resources internally. There are people who know the data really well who can really help you get more value out of that. So I would encourage them to make sure that they're asking specifically about getting data support from some of those advisers.
What does the future look like when it comes to utilizing technology and data in the benefit space?
If you look at other departments like marketing or finance or sales, they're all using data as a matter of course. It's a fabric that they weave the rest of what they do. The future of data here is making it easy for benefit leaders to understand all of those things and how to do those things and do them every day. When you're deciding what your major strategic initiatives should be for the year, being able to have that on tap in the data and actually being able to rely on that, and once you roll out a program or make a benefit change, measuring the impact of that.
SOURCE: Place, A. (12 December 2019) "Employers should ‘double down’ on tech and benefits data analytics. Most still aren’t" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.employeebenefitadviser.com/news/employers-should-double-down-on-tech-and-benefits-data-analytics-most-still-arent
Digital health revolution: What we’ve learned so far
Digital health devices provide personalized feedback to users, helping improve their health. Continue reading this blog post to learn more about the evolving digital health revolution.
The promise of the digital health revolution is tantalizing: a multitude of connected devices providing personalized feedback to help people improve their health. Yet, some recent studies have called into question the effectiveness of these resources.
While still evolving, many compelling use-cases are starting to emerge for digital health, including a set of best practices that can help guide the maturation of this emerging field. In the near future, many people may gain access to individual health records, a modern medical record that curates information from multiple sources, including electronic health records, pharmacies and medical claims, to help support physicians in care delivery through data sharing and evidence-based guidelines.
As these advances become a reality, here are several digital health strategies employers, employees and healthcare innovators should consider.
Micro-behavior change.
Part of the power of digital health is the ability to provide people with actionable information about their health status and behavior patterns. As part of that, some of the most successful digital health programs are demonstrating an ability to encourage daily “micro-behavior change” that, over time, may contribute to improved health outcomes and lower costs. For instance, wearable device walking programs can remind people to move consistently throughout the day, while offering objective metrics showcasing actual activity patterns and, ideally, reinforcing positive habits to support sustained change. Technology that encourages seemingly small healthy habits — each day — can eventually translate to meaningful improvements.
Clinical interventions.
Big data is a buzz word often associated with digital health, but the use of analytics and technology is only meaningful as part of a holistic approach to care. Through programs that incorporate clinical intervention and support by care providers, the true value of digital health can be unlocked to help make meaningful differences in people’s well-being. For instance, new programs are featuring connected asthma inhalers that use wirelessly enabled sensors to track adherence rates, including frequency and dosage, and relay that information to healthcare professionals. Armed with this tangible data, care providers can counsel patients more effectively on following recommended treatments. Rather than simply giving consumers the latest technologies and sending them along, these innovations can be most effective when integrated with a holistic care plan.
Real-time information.
One key advantage of digital resources, such as apps or websites, is the ability to provide real-time information, both to consumers and healthcare professionals. This can help improve how physicians treat people, enabling for more customized recommendations based on personal health histories and a patient’s specific health plan. For instance, new apps are enabling physicians to know which medications are covered by a person’s health plan and recommend lower-cost alternatives (if available) before the patient actually leaves the office. The ability to access real-time information — and act on it — can be crucial in the effort to use technology to empower healthcare providers and patients.
Financial incentives.
Nearly everyone wants to be healthy, but sometimes people need a nudge to take that first step toward wellness. To help drive that engagement, the use of financial incentives is becoming more widespread by employers and health plans, with targeted and structured rewards proving most effective. From using mobile apps and comparison shopping for healthcare services to encouraging expectant women to use a website to follow recommended prenatal and post-partum appointments, financial incentives can range from nominal amounts (such as gift cards) to hundreds of dollars per year. Coupling digital health resources with financial rewards can be an important step in getting — and keeping — people engaged.
The digital health market will continue to grow, with some studies estimating that the industry will exceed $379 billion by 2024. To make the most of these resources, healthcare innovators will be well served to take note of these initial concepts.
SOURCE: Madsen, R. (14 March 2019) "Digital health revolution: What we’ve learned so far" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/opinion/digital-health-revolution-what-weve-learned-so-far?brief=00000152-14a5-d1cc-a5fa-7cff48fe0001
