There are a number of challenges and tendencies employers ought to hold tabs on in 2024, with rising healthcare prices topping the checklist, in line with a report the Enterprise Group on Well being launched on Tuesday.
Washington, D.C.-based Enterprise Group on Well being is a non-profit group representing massive employers on well being advantages and well being coverage points.
Listed here are the three high healthcare tendencies for employers in 2024:
1. Rising healthcare prices: Healthcare prices are anticipated to proceed to climb in 2024 because of inflation, supplier shortages, rising psychological well being challenges and missed preventive screenings that led to extra expensive well being situations. Different main price drivers embrace costly cell and gene therapies and GLP-1s.
“A confluence of things are making a fever pitch and heightened concern on the again of what was already alarming,” stated Ellen Kelsay, president and CEO of Enterprise Group on Well being, in an interview.
To fight these challenges, Kelsay stated employers are centered on making a transition from a fee-for-service mannequin to a value-based care mannequin. She added that they’ll even be leveraging facilities of excellence and evaluating their PBM contracts.
2. Subcategories of psychological well being grow to be rising areas of concern: Psychological well being has been a spotlight for employers for the previous couple of years, however now a number of areas inside psychological well being have gotten a much bigger precedence. This contains youth and adolescent psychological well being, substance use dysfunction and suicide prevention.
Kelsay stated that employers are working with quite a few vendor companions to enhance entry to psychological well being, however they should work collectively.
“The problem is now now we have a patchwork of various options that an worker or their relations could also be attempting to navigate of their time of want,” Kelsay stated. “If these issues should not built-in, in the event that they’re all working in isolation and impartial of each other, that creates fragmentation and a nasty affected person expertise.”
3. Employers zero in on most cancers and different severe situations: Most cancers is the primary price driver for employers because of delayed screenings throughout Covid-19 that led to late-stage cancers. Diabetes, cardiac well being and musculoskeletal situations are additionally areas of concern for employers.
Enterprise Group on Well being stated that employers will undertake a “again to fundamentals” strategy to healthcare, centering on prevention (like screenings) and first care in order that these situations are caught early and don’t grow to be extra extreme. Employers can even be extra personalised care for workers, together with biomarker screenings and pre-treatment genetic testing.
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