Healthcare professionals expect costs to rise with healthcare reform

Professionals at healthcare organizations across the country expect costs to rise with healthcare reform but those costs will be tempered by increased access to care and organizational efficiencies.

Seventy-five percent of respondents to the Health Care Reform Readiness Survey said they believe healthcare costs will increase due to healthcare reform; 43 percent said they expect the increase to be significant.

The Health Care Reform Readiness Survey, released by Buck Consultants, a human resource and benefits consulting firm that is a subsidiary of A Xerox Company, is based on responses from more than 200 professionals at healthcare organizations in the United States.

Survey respondents said they expect patients to benefit most from healthcare reform and that challenges exist for employer health plans and hospital systems. Most said they expect the quality of healthcare to improve or remain the same over the next five years.

More than 90 percent of respondents said they plan on passing some of the additional costs on to their employees through higher employee contributions to health plans or by reducing plan coverage but most (57 percent) said they would not consider dropping health plan coverage for their employees. Forty-eight percent of respondents said they want to improve employee health by increasing wellness initiatives.

[See also: Highmark study: Employee wellness programs cut healthcare costs; Employers not likely to drop employee insurance in 2014, survey reveals.]

"Healthcare employers especially should be on the forefront of this changing healthcare delivery market to reinforce new and emerging strategies and manage costs," said Sheryl Grey, a principal with Buck Consultants, in a press release about the survey. "Implementing plan changes aligned with quality and wellness initiatives, and the use of telemedicine, social media and smart phones allow employers to improve care."

Respondents said they are planning to meet healthcare reform's increased access to care by:
• Placing a greater focus on cooperation and collaboration around patient care (84 percent).
• Taking steps to reduce patient readmissions (74 percent).
• Using electronic health records (85 percent).
• Using evidence-based or predictive-modeling technology tools (66 percent).
• Creating an accountable care organization (43 percent).

They expect to adapt their businesses by:
• Assessing IT requirements (82 percent).
• Structuring quality measures with their physicians (69 percent).
• Developing an integrated network (60 percent).
• Developing medical home services (41 percent).