As a benefits leader, I always strived to use actual outcomes data when possible and armed myself with specific questions to determine if I had the right data and how that solution could be applied to my population. Here are some preliminary questions to ask a benefits provider:

What is the vendor's network model?
How was the data collected? (e.g., claims, member survey, direct from providers, from clinic-level data, extrapolated from nationally reported data)
Does this data represent the vendor's entire book of business or is it a smaller sample?
How does the vendor calculate the outcomes? What is the calculation behind each metric?
Has the data been validated by an independent third party?
Does the vendor report outcomes every year? For what years does the vendor report outcomes? What are they benchmarking against?
When can the next update of outcomes be expected?

Ask the right questions, dig deeper, then verify

Beyond the hard numbers, there are human stories. For the employee, better outcomes mean more success stories. It means that employees are getting the support they need and deserve from their employers. That could mean getting their A1C in range and coming off insulin, or in the case of fertility, bringing a baby home from the hospital.

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When measuring benefits' impacts, outcomes are essential

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