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Debbie Johnston, Interactive Health

The St. Louis Business Journal recently hosted a panel of health care experts for their Health Care Discussion. One key issue: What are best strategies for firms to control health care costs?

Debbie Johnston, regional market leader at Interactive Health who has consulted with national employers on HR, benefit and wellness programs over the last 14 year said: “Organizations have tried ideas such as, changing plan providers, negotiating lower administrative fees, or restructuring plan design. However, the feedback we’ve received is that these techniques only impact medical spend a small amount. Having a wellness strategy in place creates health awareness so individuals understand their risks at the earliest possible stage. Prevention and year- round access to tools and resources creates a strategy for an individual
to improve or maintain good health. Healthier employees result in lower health care costs for employers.”

Added Jane Arnold, shareholder at Polsinelli: “In a system where the only source of payment is treating sick people, there’s little market incentive to change the way care is rendered. I think there’s a marriage coming between the government, private payers and employer-sponsored plans, that’s going to force that change. And that necessarily means the entire economic construct of health care has to change. And so it’s going to be a period of enormous experimentation over the next decade.”

Danielle Solomon, partner at BKD and a member of the BKD National health Care Group, added: “I work with providers as well, and we’re coaching them on the importance of really understanding their cost structure. Know what you do well. Changing that environment, innovating, thinking of different ways to do things is critical. There are community needs for facilities, but you have to understand what those needs are. You may not need a full- service hospital, which is extremely expensive to run. Determine those needs so you can serve that community. A hub-and-spoke environment is what I think we’ll see in the future.”

But that question of community caused Johnston to think again about preventative measures. She noted: “If a community
in total was more ‘healthy', you could find the cost to receive and provide care to be less expensive. By creating health awareness in communities you are more likely to engage people before they become high-risk with a higher success of intervening appropriately.”