Don't Follow the Herd: Using Data Analysis Tools to Create a Customized Cost Control Approach

• Published in: Employee Benefit Plan Review Vol. 59; no. 12; p. 10
• Main Authors: Gilles, Paul, Oliver, Ginny, Bilodeau, Marc
• Format: Trade Publication Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Aspen Publishers, Inc 01.06.2005
• Subjects: Competition; Cost control; Decision making; Employee benefits; Employees; Employers; Health insurance; Human resource management
• ISSN: 0013-6808

With the lastest round of increasing health care costs, employers seem to be embracing more active cost management approaches and concluding that they do have direct control over their medical cost. The proper way to control medical cost is to creat a customized solution. This mean, on a regular basis, companies must gather and analyze data or have financial reporting just like busiensses do in other areas. Every plan sponsor needs 3 general types of data: On-going monthly and quarterly reporting, 2. annual analysis of cost drivers, and 3 ad-hoc analysis. There are 2 tools that most employers would benefit from in their efforts to manage their medical cost: 1. a data management tool or a data aggregator, and 2. an illness burden or predictive modeling tool.