Brokers and employers concede they have a number of keyknowledge gaps in certain aspects of consumer-driven health care programs, accordingto the 2017 Alegeus Broker & Employer CDH InsightsReport.

The Waltham, Mass. provider of such programs surveyed 502 U.S.benefit brokers and 504 U.S. employers, and shows the majority ofbrokers (68 percent) perceive themselves to be highly fluent inCDHP benefits, and half of employers make thesame claim. However, after drilling down into program specifics,the survey shows notable knowledge gaps for both brokers andemployers.

“Brokers and employers claim to be highly knowledgeable aboutCDH product offerings,” the authors write, “but do they know enoughto be truly effective, creative and consultative in driving CDHadoption and usage?”

While brokers say they are highly fluent in health savings accounts, flexible spendingaccounts, health reimbursement arrangements, and debit cards,they are just moderately fluent in limited-purpose FSAs, dependentcare accounts and commuter benefits. They also have low fluency inwellness incentives.

On the other hand, employers are highly fluent in HSAs, FSAs andwellness programs, but they have low fluency in healthreimbursement arrangements, commuter benefits, and debit cards.Like brokers, employers are just moderately fluent inlimited-purpose FSAs and dependent care accounts.

When identifying areas where they could benefit from additionaltraining and support, roughly a third of brokers say they haveaverage or below average capability in discussing market trendsrelated to account-based products; communicating best practiceswhich drive employee adoption; and encouraging employers to choosea high-deductible health plan coupled with an account over a moretraditional health insurance offering.

Half of employers say they have average or below averagecapability in recommending an employee select a high-deductibleplan coupled with an account over a more traditional healthinsurance offering; helping employees determine contributionamounts to their HSA or FSA; and communicating best practices forgetting the most value of their accounts and/or contributions.

Employers also could stand to expand their support for openenrollment decision-making, as consumers may need more helpchoosing among CDH plans and accounts, the authors write. Amajority (65 percent) of employers communicate about health benefitofferings only during open enrollment; 60 percent only rely on plansummary documents and enrollment forms; 33 percent offer plancomparison tools and multimedia educational content; and 17 percentoffer interactive decision-support tools based on personal datainputs.

The survey also finds significant discrepancies between howemployers and consumers feel about the quality and effectiveness ofthe employer’s enrollment communications -- including clarity ofcontent, depth of information, variety of communication channels,level of content personalization and frequency ofcommunication.

The good news is both brokers and employers view consumer-drivenhealth benefits as “mission critical” to success.

When asked about the future of CDH and its strategic importancefor their business, brokers unanimously (86 percent) say thataccount-based products are critical -- with nearly 3 out of 10 (29percent) saying they “couldn’t win without them because they arethe future.”

Roughly 3 out of 4 employers (74 percent) agree CDHPs are highlystrategic to their overall benefit strategies, with 22 percent justbeginning to see traction within their customer segments.