Sponsored Contentby Maestro Health

Healthcare premium rates are now increasing at a faster pacethan employee compensation. According to the 2015 Employer HealthBenefits Survey conducted by The Henry J. Kaiser FamilyFoundation:

• Average annual premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance(family coverage) was up 4 percent over 2014.
• Worker contributions to family coverage increased 2.7 percentfrom 2014 to 2015.
• Workers’ wages increased just 1.9 percent during the sameperiod.

Compliance costs also hamper profitability. IRS penalties formissing or late ACA paperwork are now more than $3 million forthe largest companies. According to one report, 2016 will mark the costliest year yetfor ACA compliance. The administrative time spent working onoutdated technology will likely be a contributing factor to thesecosts. A recent survey sponsored by Maestro Health shows that 75percent of brokers say ACA compliance is among their clients’ topHR/benefits priorities in the next 12 months.

The good news is that new automation-focused products andstrategies have emerged to help employers cope with theseadministrative burdens. These include HR management (HRM), benefitsadministration, ACA compliance and reporting, wellness, onlineenrollment and private exchanges.

While it’s uncertain how much money these options can actuallyhelp employers save, related data is starting to materialize. TheDeloitte Solutions 2015 Survey of U.S. Employers found thatemployers are optimistic about privateexchanges and their potential to decrease costs and simplifybenefits administration. In fact, only one in five adoptersreported that a private exchange failed to reduce costs.

Clients put money where ROI is

The first generation of health and benefits technology has comeand gone, but employers are still seeking cost-control solutions.Ninety-three percent of brokers say benefits restructuring is keyfor their clients, while 56 percent report that reducing the costof benefits and administration is a top priority in 2016.

In short, employers are desperate for proven and quantifiableROI from new solutions. It’s crucial in order to justify the costand effort of adopting a new technology platform.

These signs are all pointing to the same thing for brokers – theneed to partner with vendors that offer solutions that can decreaseboth hard and soft costs while providing quality service that meetsemployer and employee needs.

Hard ROI of benefits technology:

Employee health and benefits technology can reduce the hardcosts by:

• Reducing the risk of overbuying or selecting the incorrect planvia decision-support tools, designed to right-size plans.
• Using automation to eliminate the need to “staff up” oroutsource compliance consultants.
• Avoiding costly errors.
• Eliminating ineligibility and inappropriate billing byupgrading to systems that offer consolidated billing andreconciliation.
• Dodging high out-of-network expenses by switching to platformsthat offer people-friendly enrollment tools.

Soft ROI of benefits technology:

These innovative solutions can also ease soft costs by:

• Consolidating vendors.
• Providing faster and more accurate enrollment throughautomation.
• Reducing employee questions with a simplified, supportiveenrollment experience.
• Saving on HR productivity costs with easy and efficientprocesses.
• Providing relevant data insights with real-time reporting andanalysis, which can drive future decisions.

When it comes to fighting rising health care costs, technologyis a key player – but it’s also essential to be able to illustrateand defend the ROI of technology to clients.

For moreinformation, download Maestro Health’s comprehensive whitepaper on theROI of benefits technology.