The most obvious trends among employer-sponsored medical plans have been well documented: broad cost-shifting to employees, deductibles on the rise, specialty prescription costs skyrocketing.

But beneath this high level of plan characteristics lies another trending level less well quantified. In the 2016 Medical Plan Trends and Observations Report, leadership and technology consulting firm CEB and DirectPath dig deeper into plan characteristics that emerged this year. Along with identifying a more detailed level of plan components, CEB offers its “implications for executives” in which it advises management on the handling of specific plan pieces.

Virtual care: The research discloses a 50 percent gain in the number of companies in the survey that say they are using telemedicine services — one of the largest jumps in any category. More than a third now offer them; by 2018, that will grow to 64 percent.