To reduce healthcare costs, address chronic conditions

Your company is spending a lot on traditional healthcare coverage — and probably multiple supplemental wellness offerings — to help workers manage chronic conditions. Providing a single-point solution that helps employees manage multiple conditions can improve their health, consolidate benefits and cut down on employer costs.

Compared with other high-income countries, the U.S. has the highest rate of adults with more than one chronic condition, according to the Commonwealth Fund. Data from the CDC shows six in 10 have at least one chronic illness and that the majority of healthcare costs are connected to patients with these issues. In addition to direct costs, research from multiple sources puts employer financial loss — due to lost productivity and absenteeism — in the hundreds of billions.

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Management of chronic conditions means higher prescription drug usage and cost, as well. Sixty percent of the general population report being on at least one prescription medication, according to KFF, but this number skyrockets for people with certain chronic health issues: For instance, data from Georgetown University shows that adults with diabetes typically take four times as many prescriptions as those without it. 

Many of the people managing chronic conditions do not fall into the super high-claimant category, but they require far more than just basic wellness perks to improve their health, says Kurt Cegielski, chief commercial officer at MOBE, a platform that helps people manage their health, including chronic conditions, lifestyle habits and medications. 

"The average person we work with has 15 different maintenance medications prescribed by nine different providers," he says. "You go to the doctor, then they typically write you a script. And you don't even talk to a pharmacist. You drive through, they ask you your address, maybe your phone number to make sure it's you. And they say, 'Do you have any questions?' Now imagine you're one of these people with 15 different drugs and three chronic conditions."

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Cegielski describes this middle-ground population as one that interacts frequently with the healthcare system, but trying to navigate numerous employer-provided solutions for individual health issues makes things needlessly complicated. By offering a platform that specializes in cross-condition care, employers can make it easier for participants to engage with healthcare experts and information, leading to better outcomes, Cegielski says. 

MOBE members are paired with a guide — a health professional who can help with areas such as sleep, stress, nutrition and fitness — and a clinical pharmacist. Relevant educational resources are provided through its app, and it has an AI predictive analytics feature which can help identify members at risk for new or worsening conditions based on their connected claims information and personal interactions with the platform. 

"[People] need someone to help them through each and every step of this process, because the path to better health and improvement is complicated and long," he says. "I know I can message [my guide] 24/7, [and they're] pushing me content relevant to our recent conversation. It just fills a need that our healthcare system, unfortunately, is not filling."

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The platform's average employee engagement within the first year is 30%, their data shows. Additionally, by making it easier for employees with chronic issues to connect the dots to better overall health, employers stand to see a return on investment in the forms of improved health outcomes, happier employees and lower long-term costs, says Cegielski. 

"We need to rethink how we serve [these employees], and if we do so, we're going to create solutions that work better, engage more people, and ultimately impact cost, not only today, but tomorrow, as we hopefully keep some of them from progressing into that large claim bucket."