Why Employees Need Better Provider Care Guidance

I want it all. I want it now.

It’s amazing how society shifts when most of us carry devices that can answer any question in 0.2 seconds flat. We lose our patience for “not knowing.” In the world of benefits, quality answers about care and coverage should also meet consumers when, where and how they need those answers. Whether it’s an acute healthcare need, preventive healthcare or a planned procedure, connecting employees to the best quality and lowest cost providers should be as simple as looking up a restaurant review or shopping for shoes. Tracking down and scrolling through an “in-network providers” PDF that was last updated in 2016 will no longer cut it.

Employees are still in the dark about care.

Insurance coverage continues to change, and employers and employees alike are trying hard to keep up. It’s challenging for employees to remember deductible amounts, network constraints and referral requirements.

And what’s more, the average employee is still confused about benefits—about 86% to be exact—based on data from more than 500,000 employees during enrollment. It’s no wonder that when it comes time for care, employees aren’t sure where to turn for answers.

Additionally, employees who have transitioned from a traditional copay to a high deductible plan are often not prepared for the sticker shock that can accompany paying the actual cost of a service up front. As insurance has changed over the years, many employees are unaware of the true costs and unaware of the idea that they CAN and SHOULD shop around for lower-cost providers.

Shopping around can be an extra burden.

Of course it’s smart consumerism to shop around when you’re planning to make a big purchase and finding the right healthcare provider is no exception. But it can be extremely overwhelming for employees to shop around for the right healthcare option for many reasons. For example, maybe they are in an emergency, moved to a new city, they never had a general practitioner, they just turned 26 and now have their own insurance and don’t know where to go.

There are many reasons why employees aren’t shopping for the right care and this could be affecting your bottom line. Despite the newly released No Surprises Act in the latest COVID relief bill, there still may be extra costs to going to an out of network provider that can be extremely expensive for the insurer and the employer. When an employee isn’t given instructions or guidance to where they SHOULD go for the best care at the best cost, they may be choosing a more expensive option without being the wiser.

Needless to say, making it as easy as possible to find the right provider at the right time is extremely important to the the health of your workforce and everyone’s pocket book. And guess what, there is an app for that. By guiding employees to smarter care options, a digital healthcare guidance service can reduce your costs by as much as $300 per employee per year.

For more information on MyChoice Find a Provider, check out our guide below.