How hospitals can save 25% with better benefits design

by Kevin L. Shrake Employee benefits is fast becoming one of the largest expense items for employers and this issue will be magnified as healthcare reform unfolds. There are approximately 5,000 U.S. hospitals in and 1000 of them would fall into the category of rural and community hospitals. Typical staff counts in the smaller facilities range from 150-300 people. Large multi-hospital systems might have as many as 15-30,000 employees. But there is strength in numbers. It is often difficult for smaller organizations to acquire cost-effective benefit rates, and even large organizations can benefit from being part of a larger risk pool of covered lives. Leveraged aggregated benefit programs: Leveraged aggregated benefit programs specialize in the design and management of life, disability and absence management programs for hospitals and healthcare organizations. They use the power of numbers to have companies compete for the business of an aggregated pool of lives, creating cost-saving value for organizations, regardless of size. Employees generally know what their benefits are, but normally cannot identify the name of the company that provides programs, such as life insurance and disability. By using leverage to drive down costs, employees, employers or both will gain depending on who is funding those specific programs. Program advantages: Drives immediate cost savings while ensuring a long-term sustainable cost-saving strategy Historically provides clients with...
Source: hospital impact - Category: Health Managers Authors: Source Type: blogs