Employers expect to step up their health care cost management strategies over thenext three years, as their expenses are expected to rise by 5.5percent in 2018, up from a 4.6 percent increase in 2017, accordingto the Willis Towers Watson 2017 Health Care Employer Survey.

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“While employers made significant progress over the last fewyears refining their subsidy and vendor/carrier strategies, manyare now looking to other aspects of their health benefit programsin order to improve health and dampen future cost increases,” saysJulie Stone, a national health care practice leader at WillisTowers Watson.

“Over the next three years, they will seek to improve patientengagement, expand the use of analytics, and efficiently managepharmacy costs and utilization,” Stone says. “Yet, with risingconcerns about affordability, employers are challenged to keepcosts low without overburdening employees financially.”

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Employers will increasingly encouraging their workers to usepreferred health care providers, such as telemedicine, “centers ofexcellence” within their health plans and high-performancenetworks.

Indeed, 78 percent of employers currently use telemedicineconsultations, with another 16 percent planning to or consideringto by 2019.

Nearly half (44 percent) of employers currently use centers ofexcellence centers, with another 33 percent planning to orconsidering, and 15 percent currently use high-performancenetworks, with another 36 percent planning to or considering.

Employers will also be demanding better outcomes and costsavings in the treatment of prevailing conditions within theirworkforce, including diabetes, musculoskeletal health and mentalhealth.

And they will increasingly choose partners that have trackrecords of achieving improved outcomes and cost savings.

Specifically, employers will select carriers vendors based oncompetitiveness of negotiated provider discounts (94 percent);competitiveness of vendor’s network access (94 percent); andcompetitiveness of vendor’s total cost of care (92 percent).

Other key findings of the survey include the following:

• 62 percent of employers are currently evaluating pharmacybenefit contract terms, with another 32 percent planning to orconsidering to by 2019.

• 60 percent recently adopted new coverage or utilizationrestrictions as part of specialty pharmacy strategy, with another24 percent planning to or considering.

• 44 percent address specialty drug costs and utilizationperformance through medical benefits, with another 38 percentplanning to or considering.

• 66 percent currently add choice in benefit types by offeringvoluntary benefits, with another 20 percent planning to orconsidering.

• 24 percent currently create a virtual shopping experience at thetime of enrollment, with another 26 percent planning to orconsidering.

• 55 percent currently provide decision-support tools for healthnavigation, with another 26 percent considering.

• 19 percent currently encourage the use of mobile apps forcondition management or health risk reduction to their employees,with another 28 percent planning to or considering.

• 26 percent currently promote wearable devices for trackingphysical activity, with another 18 percent planning to orconsidering.

The survey also showed that despite uncertainty about the futureof health care legislation, employer confidence in offeringemployee health care benefits has reached its highest level sincethe passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. Ninety-two percentof employers said they are “very confident” their organization willcontinue to sponsor health benefits in five years.

The Annual Willis Towers Watson Best Practices in Health CareEmployer Survey was completed by 678 U.S. employers between Juneand July. Results provided are based on 555 employers with at least1,000 employees.