GM Leads Growing Shift Towards Direct-to-Employer Benefits

Information is starting to roll out about how major corporations will be providing their employees benefits in 2019, and it looks like direct employer-to-hospital agreements are increasingly the way of the future.

General Motors and Henry Ford Health System is the latest major player to shake up the health insurance norm.

"GM's upcoming ConnectedCare option comes from our ongoing quest to improve employee health, while also seeking to offset rising health care costs for both the employee and the company," GM’s U.S. Healthcare Leader Sheila Savageau said in the company’s press release. "Partnering with a regional health care leader like Henry Ford Health System enables us to provide an innovative new plan option for high-quality, affordable care."

This shift will affect 24,000 employees and their families. Those who enroll will have access to a network of 3,000 primary and specialty care physicians in the ConnectedCare network. 

The direct employer and health care provider relationship will include preventative care measures like wellness screenings and virtual consultation options.

In addition to saving GM money, this will make choosing health care providers less intimidating for employees.

"It's a new and unique way to both partner with our patients and to hold ourselves accountable, not just for their health, but also for their level of satisfaction with what we're doing," Henry Ford Medical Group’s CEO William Conway said. 

This model seeks to solve problems created by skyrocketing healthcare costs, and with good reason: steadily rising health care costs are expected to be another 5.5% higher next year. This has precipitated increasing numbers of employers to consider other options.

CNN reports that 18% of employers are negotiating some kind of direct-to-employer deal for 2019, an increase of 12% from 2018.

The Health Rosetta identifies this problem-solving method as value-based primary care, a growing movement to remove the middle man and create a direct financial relationship between employers and primary care practitioners.

That direct relationship has benefits that reach far beyond just financial. Narrowing the field and creating that continuous care connection often means faster care from professionals more thoroughly acquainted with a patient’s needs. More personalized, dedicated care can also eliminate unnecessary tests and scans that eat away at time (and money).

This is one of the major ways Captiva Benefit Solutions can help your business cut back on costs and deliver better benefits to your employees.

Your company might not be quite the size of GM, but you and your team still deserve better from the health care system.

Let Captiva help you improve your benefit options today! 

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