Engaging Health Care Consumers: The Lowe’s Experience

Time will tell, but it appears that employers are not giving up on providing health insurance to their employees — even with the availability of health care exchanges. That’s at least what the results of a new study sponsored by the National Business Coalition on Health (NBCH) suggest.
Brian Klepper, CEO of the NBCH, speculated in his recent Health Affairs Blog post: “…there is an alternative view of what is possible in health care, and that self-funding and a willingness to continue trying to control the health care value monster remains alive and vibrant.”
As self-funded employers strive for a value-based health care marketplace, they’re looking at ways to drive value at an individual level — through strategies to engage employees as better consumers and managers of their own health care.
Over the last couple of decades, Lowe’s has been on a journey to encourage its employees to become engaged health care consumers. What Lowe’s experience teaches us is that health care systems are complex, and individuals value guidance from a trusted source, particularly when faced with difficult or challenging decisions.
The Lowe’s Health Care Journey
Lowe’s employs more than 260,000 people with very disparate backgrounds in terms of geography, health status, and social dimensions. The company has implemented a range of different strategies to nurture and incent active employee health care engagement over the years.
In the early 2000s, to assist employees ...

Source: Health Affairs Blog - February 18, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: Bob Ihrie and Alan Spiro Tags: All Categories Business of Health Care Consumers Coverage Employer-Sponsored Insurance Health Reform Innovation Source Type: blogs