 |
Call
800-334-8048
Health Plan Costs ''Overweight'' by as Much as 15%, Notes Optimatum Group
Savings are Possible in Nine Months Without Increasing Premiums or Cutting Benefits
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Employers are overwhelmed by spiraling health plan costs, but many of these costs could be reduced quickly – starting within nine months – without raising premiums or reducing benefits. According to Optimatum Group, LLC, a healthcare consulting group, better plan performance is a matter of expert due diligence.
“Most health plans have built-in cost controls, but companies don’t know how to use them,” said Optimatum Group CEO David Neikrug. “The typical plan involves several vendors. Just managing vendor interactions is hard enough for the average firm, let alone having the expertise, knowledge and time to dig into the details to really manage costs.”
In addition, Neikrug asserts, employers have controlled costs by shifting them to employees (e.g. increasing co-payments and employee contributions). This leads to decreased morale, when the real problem is holding the vendors accountable for what they signed up to do. Fixing this problem requires a balance of managing healthcare vendors and giving employees real incentives to get and stay healthy.
Sorting out accountability in a sea of healthcare data requires subject-matter expertise in pharmacy, medicine, nursing, actuarial science and plan management. That expertise isn’t practical for most firms, so they default to higher employee premiums and reduced benefits. “And that’s unfortunate,” notes Neikrug, “because costs and morale could both be improved dramatically.”
Optimatum Group, LLC, founded in early 2007 by industry experts, assists clients across the US in optimizing health plan costs without raising premiums or reducing benefits, operating from offices in Atlanta, Boston and New York. Independent and vendor-neutral, Optimatum Group provides strong expertise in pharmacy, medicine, nursing, actuarial science and plan management. The company delivers comprehensive, immediate, visible plan savings, maintained by ongoing plan and vendor management. Company principals draw on long experience designing over 300 health plans for various types of organizations including private, family-owned, public and non-profit entities.
If you'd like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with David Neikrug, please call Bill Wear at 212/652-8512 or e-mail Bill at bwear@optimatumgroup.com