You want your employees to receive the best possible care — and you want them to receive it in-network, from appropriate clinic settings. That’s a simple tenet of both keeping down group healthcare prices, and keeping your workforce healthy.
That’s why the process has to be simple. The complications of finding the right healthcare providers slow down Americans seeking out care, and they’re only getting more convoluted. Multiple healthcare settings, in and out of network, the differences between urgent care, retail clinics, ERs, and PCP offices…it all serves to add to the confusion.
The problem is so pervasive that in 2017, NYC urgent care provider CityMD created a guide for consumers to help match symptoms or injuries to the correct care setting. They found that a significant percentage of New Yorkers didn’t know where to go for a range of situations, including a pediatric fever or an adult with a nosebleed.
Simplifying benefits in a time of soaring healthcare illiteracy and increased fears about public health is important to your company and your employees. What can you do?
Making Providers Easy to Find
Are your care providers easy to search? Are network and out-of-network providers clearly marked? Or are employees looking in multiple places to find out what their benefits entail, what treatments are covered, and who they can visit in-network to keep costs down while still getting the care they need?
A benefits admin platform can host this information for your healthcare plan, eliminating the confusion of jumping from website to website in search of available providers. When a person is dealing with an emergency situation, the last thing they want to do is chase their benefits package through multiple web portals in search of provider information.
With a custom Supersite from WBD, providers are listed right on the site, allowing plan participants to determine what is covered and who can provide care without multiple sites and log-ins to remember.
Communicating About Care Options
Getting the information out there before an employee has an emergency or pressing healthcare concern is important. Make sure your regular benefits communications point out the right places to find healthcare providers. Share information on when to visit urgent care as opposed to the ER. And emphasize the potential time and cost savings of selecting a PCP (Primary Care Physician) rather than waiting until someone gets sick to access care for the first time.
With the right resources and a communication strategy that continually reminds plan participants about their options, your employees will have the tools they need to find the right care at the right time.
Learn more about how WBD can simplify healthcare benefits for your employees! Click here to see what we do, from all-in-one websites to educational videos that keep your employees informed about all of their plan options.
Are your employees confused about care providers? Help them make the right choices for themselves, and your company.