In the 2020 coverage year, Affordable Care Act marketplace premiums for private health insurance will be reduced by an average of four percent. In contrast, according to a survey conducted by the National Business Group, health care benefit costs are expected to rise by five percent in the new year. This cost increase will be shared by both employers and employees as there is not much room for additional cost-shifting.

Employers are stuck between providing quality and innovative benefits while staying fiscally responsible. It is no surprise that the human resources focus for organizations going into 2020 is going to be using outside-the-box strategies and tactics to lower health care costs.

Analyzing health care expenses reveals a major aspect of the cost stems from expensive chronic, preventable or manageable conditions. Individuals are becoming more informed consumers, so employers have a new opportunity to champion health literacy for their employees. Additionally, providing information and services not only to employees but also to their families is crucial. Many corporations will be expanding programs in the new year, such as discounts for fitness centers and employee assistance programs, to include employees' families in hopes to encourage healthy behaviors and implement preventative care.

By giving families access to additional beneficial resources and encouraging them to improve their holistic well-being, corporations can spend less money overall on emergencies and expensive treatments.

Another way to control health care costs in 2020 is by optimizing holistic well-being in the workforce. This will help lower absenteeism and presenteeism, allowing employees to be more efficient and productive. Studies have found that healthier and happier employees are in fact more productive, so investing in the well-being of employees can produce a better quality of work while reducing health care costs. It is also important for HR personnel to be proactive in streamlining internal processes that encourage efficient performance. Simple adjustments like making health care and benefits resources easily accessible enables employees to spend more time engaging in the resources available and less time searching for information. By providing solutions that help employees with productivity along with supporting healthy behavior, corporations can optimize their workforce and achieve organizational goals.

Organizations continue to spend extensively on attractive benefits, but to increase a return on that investment, employers must analyze the unique needs of their workforce. Offering innovative, generation-focused benefits with improved communication will help a workforce utilize and recognize the value of their benefits. For example, wellness challenges such as walking distances or losing weight are ways of encouraging healthy behaviors and building camaraderie among the entire workforce. If there is a group of employees who have a chronic condition, pain management resources can improve their quality of life, which results in improved work performance.

Additionally, those who are more focused on their families' health may want benefits such as reminders for immunizations and yearly check-ups for their entire family. These are just a few ways offering tailored resources addressing a specific group can help organizations influence healthy behavior, employee satisfaction and retention, all while increasing return on their benefits investments.

The key to impacting long-term health care costs is increasing employee engagement with a company culture that values health and well-being. If a company prioritizes health and wellness, with management leading the way, it will become easier for employers to manage their health care costs. This culture shift will not only help lower long-term costs but with the proper selection of health care providers and delivery locations, it will even begin to impact short term costs.

Additionally, this approach will increase the return on investment for many programs initiated in 2019 and the potential one's organizations may want to bring on board in 2020. The topic of controlling health care costs is not going to disappear anytime soon from the public conversation, in board rooms, or among HR professionals. Organizations that take advantage of different methods to keep their workforce happy and engaged as they work in 2020, will ultimately be the ones that are able to lower their health care costs.

Dinesh Sheth is the founder and CEO of Green Circle Life, the provider of the Green Circle Platform, a patented web- and mobile-based service for employers to maximize benefits utilization, reduce health care costs and better engage and communicate with employees and their families.

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What employers can do to combat rising health care costs in the new year

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