Health care is always changing. It’s important to keep up with the trends – to not only ensure you’re remaining compliant but also to help control health care costs. Having an attractive benefits program is essential to recruiting and retaining the best talent for your company, not to mention being competitive and economical. So how do you know how your benefits compare?
Benchmarking data is a great way to see how you stack up against the industry. It is important to remain relevant, so whether annually or biennially, businesses should ensure they are comparable to competitors. When setting up a new division or business, after a merger or acquisition, or even when attempting to recruit a hard to fill position, benchmarking benefits is a great avenue to gain insight about where your company stands with regard to the competition.
There are a lot of elements to consider when building your benefits plans….How many plans do you offer? How are they structured – PPO, CDHP, HMO? How are your plans funded – fully insured, a hybrid model, self-funded? What are your deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums – are they comparable to competitors? What are your rate tiers? Does your plan include a spousal carve-out or surcharge? What ancillary benefits do you offer? Do you have a wellness or wellbeing program?
Utilizing benchmarking data is a way for you to analyze how other companies are structuring their plans and what strategies they are implementing to stay afloat. This could be cost-sharing, contribution strategies, plan design, or other approaches. Companies are talking about new ideas and trying them out. Why should you recreate the wheel?
How can you find this data? There are numerous options when it comes to benchmarking. Hiring an outside consulting firm is one possible avenue. Another route, without fees attached, is participating in a survey such as Gibson’s Guide Point Benefit Survey. Over 300 employers from throughout the Midwest and a wide range of industries participated in 2015. All participants receive an individual report showing their plan(s) benchmarked to others. This report looks at medical plan design, employer costs, employee contributions, wellness and disease management, plan performance, technology, and future indicators.
Knowledge is vital when it comes to structuring your benefit plans - and benchmarking data can point you in the right direction to creating the best plans for your organization and your employees.
