The 2011 Employee Health Care Conference

Beyond Reform: New Strategies for a New Era

Presented by The Conference Board and sponsored by Towers Watson

New York: March 3 – 4 | San Diego: March 24 - 25

The Conference Board’s March 2011 health care events attracted over 950 human resource executives, industry experts, health care providers and insurers. Case studies, panel discussions and general sessions covered current reform issues, but also the longer-term strategic questions raised by anticipated shifts in the health care marketplace. Featured topics included:

• Competitive pressures in a tough economy: The health care cost burden 
• Workforce health as a business advantage 
• The rewards portfolio: Balancing costs, risks and value 
• The employer role in helping employees manage their health and wealth for the long term 
• Innovations that will transform health care as we know it  

Participant Feedback: How Attendees Responded to the Issues

Employers attending the conference have clear concerns about health care reform, but they’re also taking the opportunity to consider the fundamental question: What role, over the long term, can or should employers play in providing health benefits for their employees? 

Setting aside the mechanics of benefit financing, workforce health is an important issue for most employers. So whether or not they choose to pay or play in the reformed insurance markets come 2014, many of the conference attendees are already reassessing their investments in workforce health as part of a broader competitive strategy for their businesses.

As the day-and-a-half event unfolded, we polled participants on the key issues. Here’s what they said:

• Looking ahead five years, the top concern about health care reform is the cost impact.
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• Participants in New York were nearly equally divided on whether, as a result of reform, the employer role in health care will grow or shrink.
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• Respondents in San Diego were more likely to anticipate a reduction (rather than an increase) in employer involvement in health care coverage. San Diego respondents were also very likely to anticipate an increase in the employer role in supporting health and wellness.
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• Conference participants see employee engagement as very important to achieving desired health outcomes. However, attendees in significant numbers say that, when it comes to achieving healthy outcomes, employees are disengaged or neutral.
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• The current employer mindset, overall, suggests the climate is right for bold changes in health care strategy.
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• Bold moves under consideration focus on incentives for employee behavior change and new ways to communicate.
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Consumer Perspectives (Conference videos)

Employee engagement in managing health and health care finances was a much-discussed topic by participants in the conference. Hear what employees have to say about this topic — and about health care reform — in videotaped interviews prepared for the event.