Providers

Overall medical spending, including spending on prescription drugs, fell for about half of employers offering workers consumer-driven health care plans (CDHC).

Despite rising pressure to offer consumers “report cards” to help them make informed health care choices, most hospitals remain tentative to report any statistics that might make them look bad, or increase their liability, such as high mortality rates for certain procedures, or recurring complications from surgeries.

To keep costs under control, HR managers plan to reconstruct their benefit plans, lean on pharmacy benefits managers, and encourage employees to be wise health care consumers.

When a major pharmacy benefit manager recently surveyed its clients’ employees whether they would prefer additional wages or better benefits, the results were overwhelming.

Last year, a company in Michigan made national news by firing employees who refused to try to quit smoking.