Abstract
Background/Aims Value-based health insurance products are rapidly gaining popularity and interest among large employers. To date, few data exist to inform policymakers regarding the impact of these plans on health, productivity and costs. The aims of this study are to determine the impact of a novel value-based health plan on employee worksite productivity, health status, healthcare quality, and employee satisfaction at a large employer.
Methods This study is a quasi-experimental time-series design with two groups. The intervention group is employees of Group Health Cooperative (GHC) who receive health benefits; the control subjects are employees of Kaiser Permanente Colorado (KPCO). Starting in 2010, the Group Health employees’ health plan introduced free and reduced copays for drugs associated with treatment of six chronic diseases, waiver of copay for a fixed number of chronic care visits and devices and increased cost shares for high end imaging. Staff receives a 450 dollar discount on premiums if they complete a health assessment and engage in health behaviors. No changes were experienced at KPCO. Key outcomes will be assessed with a combination of linked survey (for workplace productivity, health status and behavior, satisfaction); claims (for utilization, quality, cost); and human resources (for absenteeism and demographics) data from 5000 randomly selected subjects at each site. Descriptive statistics and GEE regression will be used to characterize differences in outcomes over time between groups.
Results Ninety two percent of GHC employees completed the baseline health assessment to qualify for a premium discount. Baseline survey results sent to selected subjects resulted in 73% and 59% response rates from GHC and KPCO respectively. Approximately 62–64 percent agreed to linkage of survey and administrative data. Baseline survey data indicate comparable populations with respect to gender (both 80% female), marital status (both 69% married/partner), education and race (both 79% white) with modest differences in age (GH older), household income (KPCO higher) distributions, and education (54% KPCO vs. 44% 4 year college graduate). Six percent of both groups self-rated health as fair or poor. Additional results will be provided.
Conclusions This evaluation will provide novel health and productivity data associated with value-based designs.
