In part 2 of this article series, I explained how evidence-based wellness programs have the potential to improve health outcomes and lower costs for employers.
If you’re looking to level up your workplace wellness and improve your ROI for healthy employees, consider value-based insurance design, or V-BID.
How V-BID Works
V-BID is an innovative health plan design that encourages employees and their covered dependents to use high-value clinical services. These are services which have the greatest potential to improve health and create better health outcomes.
This plan design encourages participants to get recommended preventive care for their age and health status and appropriate treatments to manage any health condition.
By guiding individual care, V-BID plans may actually help prevent illness (or worsening of conditions) and the possible need for expensive medical procedures in the future. There are benefits for everyone – the employer paying for health care and the individuals who are heeding to the care recommendations given for their age, health history and health status.
Simply put, V-BID helps:
- Steer employees toward healthy behaviors for more positive health outcomes
- Employees get the care they need, when they need it
- Employers reap potential cost savings with healthy employees
How to Establish a V-BID Plan
Your broker or health insurance consultant is your best resource for this. There are several ways a plan can be designed. It may include one or all of the following:
- Offering financial incentives for participation or disincentives
for nonparticipation - Making maintenance care and drugs more affordable by waving or reducing
copays for chronic conditions - Using personalized, targeted communications and outreach to encourage
program compliance
For example, a company might implement a V-BID plan that doesn’t require cost-sharing or copays for doctor visits or medications needed to treat chronic conditions like asthma, high cholesterol or diabetes.
Likewise, there can be disincentives for not participating, such as higher copays and deductibles.
By adopting a V-BID plan and eliminating some of a participant’s out-of-pocket spending to manage chronic conditions, there’s a greater chance they will:
- Keep their doctor’s appointments needed to manage the illness
- Take their medications, as prescribed, to manage the condition
- Avoid costly complications and longer-term care down the line
There are many benefits to having healthy employees. By helping them make effective health care choices, employers may gain more control of health care spending.
Interested in Learning More About Healthy Employees and V-BID?
To explore options for your business:
- Read this whitepaper
- Talk to your broker or account manager
- Visit WellSpark Health
About Roberta (Bert) Wachtelhausen
Senior Vice President, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer oversees sales, underwriting and marketing for all ConnectiCare health plans. Her responsibilities also include senior leadership of WellSpark Health, an affiliate of ConnectiCare that offers wellness programs that improve employees’ health outcomes while controlling employer costs. Visit wellsparkhealth.com for more information.
