Continually rising healthcare costs have driven executives in the C-Suite to get creative. In his post, Employer Working to Drive Down Health Insurance Costs, Kyle Murphy, PhD said,"The realization that consumers using less care but paying more to receive services and treatment is leading employers to rethink their approaches to providing health coverage to their employees". With deductibles, premiums and out-of-pocket healthcare costs continuing to rise, organization leaders are taking note that employees are waiting longer to seek care and seeking care less often.

"The cost of employer-provided family coverage is likely to surpass $20,000 annually in 2019, reports Anna Wilde Mathews in her article on the report in The Wall Street Journal. This trend is bad for health outcomes, workforce productivity, employee satisfaction and the company's bottom line.

Aon PLC Senior Vice President Jim Winkler told the journal,“The CEOs of our clients are more involved in the health-care benefits program than I’ve seen in 25 years. It’s, ‘What are we spending our money on, and does it make sense?’”

Employers are leveraging their leadership collateral to affect change in how healthcare is delivered. Findings from a report by the National Business Group on Health (NBGH) Health Care Strategy and Plan Design Survey in August show an interesting trend. For the first time in four years, the survey indicates a "decrease in the offering of consumer-directed health plans — that is, high-deductible plans that are typically paired with a health savings account — from 39 percent in 2018 to 30 percent in the coming year."

Those in the C-Suite are looking at cost saving solutions like Direct Primary Care (DPC) to provide care for their employees. Most areas have doctors who offer concierge medicine as a paid membership. Other DPC business models include virtual doctor visits via video call, urgent care clinics and some that are the traditional insurance model with premiums for access to Direct Primary Care. Healthcare2u DPC memberships provide "No-claims healthcare" with teleheath and unlimited doctor visits.

A direct relationship with healthcare providers removes insurance claims and processing costs from the equation and makes doctor visits more accessible to employees. No wonder the C-Suite is driving the trend towards more direct care. When employees pay less to see doctors, they are more willing to go, which leads to quicker, healthier and more cost effective outcomes.