3 Effective Strategies to Reduce Healthcare Costs

Offering healthcare to your employees is a must. Businesses big and small need to make sure that their employees are safe and healthy, and ensuring that they have a good healthcare plan to protect them is a key part of that.

But, healthcare plans are expensive. While they are obviously a necessity, for companies that want to reduce their healthcare plan costs, there are some strategies to do so. Today we’ll be diving into three of those strategies and outlining why they are so effective in saving money without lowering healthcare quality for your employees. First up, preventative care.

Encourage Preventative Care

Preventative care throughout the office is hard to get started, but once you and your employees can get in the routine, it can go a long way into helping reduce your healthcare costs. Not only that, but implementing health initiatives with your employees will help them be more healthy overall. So, what exactly does preventative care take the form of? Well, really anything that encourages healthy behavior both at work and at home.

For example, many offices bring in a yoga instructor once a week or month and offer free yoga classes. Yoga provides many benefits—like improved respiration, energy and vitality, cardio and circulatory health, and stress reduction. But that is just one of the many examples of types of preventative care that offices can institute.

Here are some other great ways to improve your employees’ health:

Run Clubs: Running is one of the most popular sports practiced worldwide. According to recent studies, roughly 60 million people worldwide run each year. That means more likely than not, you’ll find some fellow office employees who are interested in starting a run club. Depending on the office’s size, you may have a mix of hardcore hobby joggers and beginner runners, meaning you can branch off into multiple clubs based on speed and length. But, not everyone is a runner. In addition to run clubs, walk clubs are a great option as well (110 million people walk as exercise each year).

Healthy Snacks in the Office: As they say, you can’t outrun a bad diet. For this reason, it’s 

important to offer healthy alternatives to chips and cookies for your employees. We all know what it’s like to have those busy days, weeks, or months. When you don’t have the time to consistently bring in our own lunch or find a healthy option at a restaurant nearby. During these times, we might fall into relying on the snacks in the break room or kitchen. Unfortunately, snacking is not a great alternative to eating a full, balanced meal. According to this article from The Conversation, “… snacking increase(s) your likelihood of elevated inflammatory markers, but eating excessive calories also leads to weight gain.” We all have those days when we have to snack. Still, by offering healthier snacking options like fruits and trail mix, for example, you can help keep your employees energized and feeling good while avoiding unnecessary calories.

Chronic-Disease Management Guidance – Offering in-office disease management opportunities may initially be an additional healthcare expense, but in the long-run, it will reduce healthcare expenses and improve the overall health of your employees. Additionally, it can be much more convenient for your employees to meet with a specialist at the office instead of driving to a healthcare facility. This is great for employees who may be having a busy week but still need to meet with a healthcare professional about their chronic disease. This way, they won’t need to take a whole day off and risk falling behind on their work. Of course, health should ALWAYS be prioritized over work. This preventative care initiative is all about convenience and making lives easier for employees who have a chronic disease.

Have a Healthcare Expert on Staff

Whether they are in your HR department or a designated healthcare agent on staff, having someone that your employees can go to for healthcare advice is a great idea. It allows them to ensure they are making the best decision when it comes to their healthcare choice. While it used to always be cheaper to receive healthcare through your employer, that isn’t always the case today. As this Medical Mutual article points out, there are several factors that have led to a growing trend of individuals either partially or fully paying for their own health insurance. This includes challenging economic times that have forced many employers to cut costs, rising healthcare costs making it difficult for companies to pay for health insurance, and more expensive technologies and treatments have merged, also adding costs.

For many employees, healthcare through employers will still be cheaper; for others, this will not be the case. Therefore, giving your employees the resources they need to find the cheapest solution that still provides all the care they need will help them save money, as well as your business’s healthcare costs.

Offer Diabetes Management Solutions For Your Employees With Diabetes

If you’re employing anywhere from 100 to 10,000 employees and beyond, odds are you have some employees on your payroll that have diabetes. Diabetes management is not an easy thing to do by any means. Employees can make it easier for their employees to manage their diabetes by offering solutions like Pops’ Rebel + Mina. Rebel is a modern spin on the traditional testing kit, updated for the modern times. Rebel fits right on your employees’ phones while still allowing them to fit it in their pockets. This will give them the ability to conveniently measure their blood sugar wherever, whenever. Mina will be their virtual personal assistant, encouraging and reminding them to practice good diabetes management.

A company with 500 employees could save almost $200,000 by using Rebel. For larger companies—like those with 10,000 employees—could save upwards of $4 million. While these savings are great, the largest benefit of Rebel + Mina is the reduced stress for your employees who can focus on doing great work and avoid trips to the doctor because they are keeping their diabetes in check.

To learn more about how Pops can help your business save money while improving the livelihood of your employees with diabetes, reach out to us today!

For further reading on healthcare costs and wellness initiatives, check out these resources below! 

• Cost of Diabetes at Work: How Can I Lower My Team’s Diabetes Care Cost? 
• Mental Health and Diabetes: Moods, Mindsets, and Self-Care
• Diabetes and Stress: 4 Digital Solutions For Making Your Employees Lives Easier at Work
• Average Cost of Health Insurance Per Employee + Employer Healthcare Cost Strategies
• Budgeting Strategies: How to Save Your Company Money in 2020
• Healthcare Insurance in 2020: Why is Healthcare so Expensive? 
• Diabetes Care For Employees: Best Blood Glucose Meters on the Market Today
• 10 Top Company Wellness Ideas to Improve Your Employee Health in 2020