Employees Want Support In Taking Responsibility For Health Care
Employees are willing to take charge of their own health care decisions, but want guidance from their employers on how to adjust to a consumer-directed system, according to a survey by human resources consulting group Hewitt Associates.
The national survey of more than 39,000 employees found that 93% claimed they are comfortable taking on more responsibility for medical decisions. However, most of those surveyed admitted they have yet to become fully involved in the process.
More than 80% of respondents said they do not make annual estimates of their health care expenses, and 79% said they do not believe they can personally take action to help control these costs. In addition, 57% of those surveyed reported that they have never researched provider costs or quality, and 24% said they have never inquired about their prescription drug options.
Fewer than half of respondents believed they do a good job of taking preventative medicines, screening tests, or immunizations recommended by their doctor, and those in the poorest health said they are least likely to do so.
The survey also indicated that employees often lack information from their employers about the kinds of support that are available to them, and how their actions can make a difference. More than half of respondents said they did not know if they have access through their employers to prescription, hospital or physician cost and quality data; and 60% said they did not know if they have online access to condition/disease-management tools, medical expense estimators, or general and company-specific information on rising health care costs.
"The good news here is that people are more willing than many of us thought to take a more active, consumer-oriented role in their health care choices," said Jennifer Murphy, health care communication leader at Hewitt Associates. "However, there’s a big difference between believing you can be a good consumer and actually being one. To the extent that employers can make employees aware of and encourage the use of available support and tools, they can help employees convert this belief into action."
