Five steps to creating a health benefits strategy

1. Define objectives and goals.

Consider the different variables that will ultimately add up to a successful plan.

• Do you want to improve overall employee health?
• Do you want to use health benefits as a recruitment or retention advantage?
• Do you want to address a specific benefits challenge?

Then use these three goal categories to address both the symptom and the source of the challenges your organization may face.

• Better health: Improving employee healthy lifestyle choices, health outcomes and associated costs.
• Better engagement: Inspiring employees to participate in preventive programs and take control of their health.
• Better savings: Reducing health risks and associated costs in your employee population.

2. Assess the population.

These data points will help provide the best representation of the needs of your population.

• General health status: Are most employees generally healthy, and do they live an active lifestyle? Does your population have a high number of chronic conditions? 
• Attitudes toward health: How do your employees feel about healthful decisions like regular preventive care or healthy eating? 
• Health care utilization: How is your population utilizing their current health plan? How often do employees fill prescriptions or receive treatment? Are there any trends in claims? 
• Population trends: Are there any indications of prevalent chronic conditions, like high blood pressure or high cholesterol?

There are a number of ways to gather this information, including:

• Have your employees complete a Health Assessment. 
• Conduct an Employee Benefits Satisfaction Survey.

3. Establish a performance benchmark.

Depending on what you’re trying to achieve, benchmarks like these can help you set smarter goals.

• Cost per member per year.
• Preventive care utilization.
• Chronic condition prevalence.
• Health engagement. Out-of-network utilization.
• Claims analysis of specialty pharmacy usage.

4. Create an engagement plan.

It’s important to work with your broker or insurance carrier to turn your strategy into an operational plan with specific programs and initiatives that are designed to help you reach your goals.

These are the tailored health management programs that Cigna Healthcare can provide to help you address your employee needs.

• Care management outreach: Programs that can identify and engage individuals who have potentially dangerous risk combinations to help lower the overall risk of your population.
• Wellness initiatives: Incentive programs to encourage and reward healthy behaviors, one-on-one coaching and support, and personalized health recommendations. 
• Chronic care management: High-level, individual attention to employees with chronic conditions, such as diabetes, asthma, depression, back pain, and cardiac and oncology conditions. 
• Health risk management: Support for at-risk individuals with incentive programs to help you motivate behavior change and the ability to measure progress.

5. Define a measurement plan.

Ultimately, the ROI of your strategy is based on whether you experience lower health care costs. Each phase of your plan should be measured with a key metric for success.

• Assess the health of your population: Percentage of employees who completed a biometric screening. 
• Increase employee usage of preventive care: Percentage of employees who had an annual physical. 
• Educate employees on the value of their health care plan: Percentage of employees connected to digital tools. 
• Reduce risk and improve the health of high-risk employees: Percentage of employees enrolled in clinical coaching program.

Remember to measure regularly.

• Regular pulse checks are critical to maintaining an effective strategy.
• Monthly and quarterly reports are key to ensure you’re still tracking for success.
• Ask employees what they think by conducting an employee survey.
• Work with your carrier for ongoing support and guidance.

Offered by Cigna Health and Life Insurance Company or its affiliates.

*A discount program is NOT insurance, and the member must pay the entire discounted charge. If your plan includes coverage for any of these products, this program is in addition to, not instead of, your plan benefits. Discount programs are separate from your medical benefits. Some programs are not available in all states, and programs may be discontinued at any time.