Employers' contradictory views about consumer-driven health care: Results from a national survey

Health Affairs

Volumn 23, Issue SUPPL., 2004, Pages

  Gabel, Jon R ^a   Whitmore, Heidi ^b   Rice, Thomas ^c   Lo Sasso, Anthony T ^d  

^a Health Research and Educational Trust   (United States)

^b HRET   (United States)

^c UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

^d NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CONSUMER; COST CONTROL; EMPLOYER; HEALTH CARE; HEALTH CARE COST; HEALTH CARE QUALITY; HEALTH ECONOMICS; HEALTH INSURANCE; HEALTH PROMOTION; QUALITY CONTROL; REVIEW;

EID: 4644272227     PISSN: 02782715     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.W4.210     Document Type: Review

References (15)

1. J. Gabel et al., "Health Benefits in 2003: Premiums Reach Thirteen-Year High as Employers Adopt New Forms of Cost Sharing," Health Affairs 22, no. 5 (2003): 117-126.
2. There is considerable skepticism among critics of consumer-driven health care that employees will use patient information to guide their behavior, even with the right tools and information. The major shortcoming of current information is quality rating of physicians - particularly disease and procedure specific information.
3. Readers seeking a more complete description of each of the plan types may refer to J. Gabel, A. LoSasso, and T. Rice, "Consumer-Driven Health Plans: Are They More than Talk Now?" Health Affairs, 20 November 2002, content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/hlthaff.w2.395 (19 March 2004).
4. An HRA could be one of the plans offered in a customized package.
5. Firms with 3-9 workers comprise nearly 60 percent of firms but just 5 percent of covered workers. Firms with 5,000 or more workers constitute about 40 percent of covered workers but less than 1 percent of firms. Consequently, figures calculated from employer-based weights would not reflect worker coverage, but rather, development among "Mom and Pop" firms. Hence, we use employee-based weights. Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research and Educational Trust, Employer Health Benefits: 2003 Annual Survey (Menlo Park, Calif.: Kaiser Family Foundation, September 2003), 4.
6. The questions about the Leapfrog Group, the NCQA, and HEDIS were part of the larger KFF/HRET survey to determine the role of these quality organizations in employers' purchasing decisions. The Leapfrog Group is a coalition of 140 public and private organizations representing thirty-four million Americans dedicated to improving patient safety in U.S. hospitals. The NCQA is an accrediting organization for health maintenance organization, point-of-service, and preferred provider organization plans whose mission is to improve quality of care. HEDIS is a set of standardized performance measures produced by the NCQA that measures the quality of care and patient satisfaction at each participating health plan.
7. The Kaiser/HRET survey did not ask most firms about the potential impact of "design-your-own" plans, since they are so uncommon. While the survey did ask firms that offer customized plans a handful of questions on their views, the results are not presented here because the sample sizes are very small.
8. Kaiser/HRET, Employer Health Benefits, 63.
9. This estimate assumes 2.1 people per employee contract, a benchmark often used by health plans.
10. T Rice, J. Gabel, and G. de Lissovoy, "PPOs: The Employer Perspective," Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 14, no. 2 (1989): 367.
11. E.M. Rogers, Diffusion of Innovations, 4th ed. (New York: Free Press, 1995).
12. S. Foote, "Population-Based Disease Management under Fee-for-Service Medicare," Health Affairs, 30 July 2003. content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/ content/abstract/hlthaff.w3.342 (19 March 2004).
13. Health Services Research plans to publish a special edition about consumer-driven health care in summer 2004 that features these early evaluations. See S. Parente, R. Feldman, and J. Christianson, "Employee Choice of Consumer Driven Health Insurance in a Multi-Plan, Multi-Product Setting"; L. Tollen and M. Ross, "A Consumerism Case Study: Humana Inc."; and A. Lo Sasso et al., "Tales from the New Frontier: Pioneers' Experiences with Consumer-Driven Health Care."
14. Health Services Research plans to publish a special edition about consumer-driven health care in summer 2004 that features these early evaluations. See S. Parente, R. Feldman, and J. Christianson, "Employee Choice of Consumer Driven Health Insurance in a Multi-Plan, Multi-Product Setting"; L. Tollen and M. Ross, "A Consumerism Case Study: Humana Inc."; and A. Lo Sasso et al., "Tales from the New Frontier: Pioneers' Experiences with Consumer-Driven Health Care."
15. Health Services Research plans to publish a special edition about consumer-driven health care in summer 2004 that features these early evaluations. See S. Parente, R. Feldman, and J. Christianson, "Employee Choice of Consumer Driven Health Insurance in a Multi-Plan, Multi-Product Setting"; L. Tollen and M. Ross, "A Consumerism Case Study: Humana Inc."; and A. Lo Sasso et al., "Tales from the New Frontier: Pioneers' Experiences with Consumer-Driven Health Care."