The process of buying health care hasn’t changed much over the years. It’s expensive, archaic, and in need of some serious disruption. We sat down with Chris Davis, Director of Health Innovation, to discuss how employers can cut costs by rejecting the status quo and seeking innovative solutions. 

Employers don’t necessarily get introduced to cost-control methodologies. When you go on social media, you see countless ads for innovative products. Conversely, in the world of health care, what’s constantly in your face is the status quo. What inhibits employers from cutting costs is this — they don’t know to look for innovative solutions. They’re willing to accept the narrative that they’re doing the best they can when, in reality, there is flexibility and the opportunity to create better prices. 

Something that many employers should be doing is asking themselves this question — should everyone who is on our health plan actually be on our health plan? Having unnecessary members on your plan, such as dependents over the age of 26 or ex-spouses, can lead to financial waste. One of the things we do when working with clients is take inventory of who is on their plans, evaluate the opportunity for dependent ineligibilities, and help remove those ineligible individuals.  

An example that comes to mind involves renal disease. Most of the time, individuals with this disease need dialysis, which can make them extremely expensive claimants. Employers may be wondering what they can do to avoid these costly events going forward. In situations like these, we consider “fire extinguisher solutions.” These are solutions we proactively have ready to use when these issues arise, as opposed to just letting the house burn down. When it comes to dialysis programs, we take much of the egregious profit motives away from dialysis clinics by identifying when individuals may be going in for this treatment and proactively changing the funding mechanisms.   

The point of primary care is to keep healthy people healthy and keep unhealthy people from getting worse. So, how can we avoid the major health events that happen between the ages of 18 and 63? If I had to invent a product line, I would utilize a primary care methodology that ties in many health items that need to be addressed before medical issues arise, like behavioral and mental health. These are elements that should be centered in health care. 

For more Q&A with Chris on this topic, listen to the full podcast, "Demystifying Health Care Costs — How Can You Take Control?"