Employers who do collect andtrack waste-related data tend to take a more active approach tomanaging health care, either internally or through avendor.

Employers are concerned about waste and inappropriate care in the health care industry,with the total mounting to an estimated $750 billion, but 60percent of bosses aren't actively managing the problem.

That's according to a survey on employers' perceptions andactions related to waste in the health care system released by theNational Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitionsand Benfield, a part of the Gallagher Human Resources &Compensation Consulting Practice.

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The survey finds that while 57 percent of employers believe thatup to 25 percent of treatments their employees and dependentsreceive are wasteful, most employers don't collect or analyze datato track waste (59 percent), and those that do leave it up to theirvendors (34 percent).

They think that the biggest contributors to waste are medical imaging, such as X-rays, andmedications, and they don't have a great deal of success inmanaging perceived waste; just 25 percent report being effective onmedical imaging and 12 percent on physician referrals. And whilemost of them plan on more strategic/activated benefit design, theydon't have actual plans in place, although they hope to within thenext five years.

The ones who do collect and track waste-related data experiencechanges in attitude on the topic, and they tend to take a moreactive approach to managing health care, whether they do itinternally or through a vendor. In addition, the survey finds thatactivated employers are less likely to rate treatments ascontributing significantly to waste, but also more likely to managetreatments to reduce waste. They also report greater success inmanaging waste than employers that don't collect data.

Suggested ways for employers to approach the problem includeasking vendors to share information on health care waste and reportwhat they're doing to address overuse; considering value-basedbenefit design strategies that encourage less use of low-valueservices, such as increasing copays, prior authorization andprovider steerage; and moving toward alternative payment mechanismsthat do not reward waste or unnecessary services, such as bundledpayments.

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