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June 06, 2006
Extra discounts for Health Savings Account owners pays off
There is a small community in rural Iowa that is so dedicated to bringing the best and most economical health care to its population that it is paving the path to a new way of thinking about health savings accounts and consumer-driven healthcare (CDH).
Benefit Source, a third-party HSA administrator based in Des Moines, Iowa spent considerable time helping several large employers implement CDH plans with health savings accounts. As it happens, one of their clients is a local hospital and its clinics. During their discussions of what had been happening locally and nationally with CDH, they decided to ask if clinics would be willing to provide an additional line item discount to employees with an HSA.
Benefits Source questioned, why not offer them another incentive above and beyond the negotiated discount with the provider and further reduce their costs to do business with our clinics? We would give patients with a high-deductible health plan a $5, $10 or maybe even a $15 reduction on their payment. In turn, they would drive business to local clinics instead of to the competition.
This, of course, is the whole idea of consumer-driven health care. But the thing I love about this concept is that the hospital and clinics are astute enough to know and understand that consumerism could be good for them as well.
Deeper discounts by a few select physicians - sound familiar? It's not too different from the HMO concept. However, as we all know, the problem with HMOs was control. Providers and employers reduced the selection of doctors and choices, thinking that the employees would be willing to accept that for a reduction in cost. What we found out was that, in many cases, choice was more important. By offering a PPO and allowing employees to make their own "contracts," we open the door to the real reason for consumer-driven care.
If you had told me 15 years ago that companies would be sharing marketing ideas with hospitals and teaching employees to shop for the competitive prices of health care, I would have told you that you were crazy! It just goes to show you that change is inevitable for us all.
We must all take a role in changing the future of our health care. Until we become consumers and demand to know the costs associated with services, we really won't see the benefits of consumer-driven health care.
The problem with the CDH is that we teach employees and patients to ask for this information, but all too often this is a tedious and fruitless process. The patient is directed to several people, none of who can give a straight answer on what things cost. It is all but impossible to compare prices.
The Iowa clinics' line item deduction approach is simple enough for all of us. Is this the start of a path to our health care future? I sure hope so.
Learn more about CDH and HSAs at http://www.health--savings--accounts.com
Posted by Wiley Long at June 6, 2006 09:03 AM