Study: Employers Offering More Benefits in
Tandem
April 11, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Employers are
moving broadly across benefits program boundaries with new
approaches to managing health, absence and disability,
according to a new research report.
Only two in 10 responding employers said they
maintained isolated benefits-program silos, according to
the Integrated Benefits Institute (IBI) report. For the
other 80%, their most common approach is to integrate
some benefits programs while they coordinate others. More
than one in three tie in benefits across the most
challenging silos: workers' compensation and
non-occupational benefits,
According to the report, the survey of 624
employers also documents significant differences in the
patterns of integration and coordination, depending on
the benefits programs incorporated. Linking short- and
long-term disability appears to be a unique "product
purchase" delivered by a single vendor and includes a
strong focus on integrated claims handling, the IBI
report said.
Programs that integrate workers' compensation and
non-occupational disability are more likely to include a
return-to-work component than when group health and
non-occupational disability are integrated, IBI
said.
Nearly four in 10 respondents include group health
among their linked programs. Of those, nearly half say
their integrated packages include practices that go
beyond co-management, such as medical case management
aimed at return-to work goals for both workers'
compensation and group health.
IBI's findings also included that:
-
Employers are abandoning their benefits program
silos.
Only two in 10 continue to administer their
health-related benefits programs in isolation of one
another.
-
Group health is in the mix.
Four in 10 employers surveyed link group health to
other programs. Non-occupational disability tends to be
most often linked to group health.
-
No single approach to integration of benefits
dominates.
-
Nearly two in every three employers integrate at
least some of their benefits programs
-
Stand alone integration of short- and long-term
disability is different.
-
Claims handling, through claims intake and
adjudication, is the most common integrated
practice.W
hen employers integrate, more than eight in 10
integrate claims handling, usually through integrated
claims intake and adjudication.
-
Vendors play a prominent role in delivering
claims services.
-
More than eight in 10 integrated programs involve
vendors in claims intake, while vendors participate in
claims adjudication for nine programs in 10.
You can obtain a copy of the report
here
.
Fred Schneyer
editors@plansponsor.com