A recent “Pulse of the Purchaser” survey offers interesting insights about strategies employers are using to successfully lower their medical and pharmacy costs… strategies that, not surprisingly, have long been in use by many MedBen clients. Among them:
- Employers that contract directly with providers are 50% more likely to experience lower than average costs.
- Employers that encourage patients to get care at higher quality and lower cost providers through tiered networks are twice as likely to experience lower costs.
- Employers that use a value-based formulary versus a rebate-driven one are nearly three times more likely to have lower spending than average.
Additional survey findings include:
- The percentage of employers strongly agreeing that rising healthcare costs impact their ability to compete has steadily increased each year from 35% in 2022 to 48% in 2024.
- More than 8 out of 10 employers consider drug prices, high-cost claims, and hospital prices to be the biggest threats to affordability, with almost 100% noting drug prices as a significant threat.
- Employers are increasingly supportive of policy reforms that can improve transparency and fair pricing, with almost 90% stating that PBM reforms would be very or somewhat helpful, and 87% supporting hospital price transparency.Â
- 52% of employers are considering changing their PBM in the next 1-3 years. The fastest-growing PBM strategies include confirming transparent revenue disclosure (61% considering); comprehensive rebate definition (58%); and flexibility to customize formulary (50%).
Read more at the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions website.