We all know the health caresystem is rife with wasteful spending. But when researchers from aprestigious institution like the University of Pittsburgh School ofMedicine estimate that waste at 25 percent of all spending, alarmbells go off. And it got me to wondering what the magnitude ofemployer health care spending might be.

The University of Pittsburgh research, published in JAMA in October, was referenced ina HealthLeaders article that cited more research pinning total 2019U.S. health care spending at $3.82 trillion. OK, 25 percent of thatgives us $955 billion.

Let's take the next step: The Integrated Benefits Institute, ahealth research group that works with U.S. employers, said in itsreport that U.S. employers spent $880 billion on health carebenefits for their workers and dependents last year. A quarter ofthat equals $220 billion. Lots of nations don't have GNPs of $220billion.

Now, let's take a look at how the University of Pittsburgh teamsubdivided the cost of wasteful spending. The six main wastefulspending categories:

• The annual cost of wasteful spending fromadministrative complexity accounts for the highestcategory of waste, estimated at $265.6 billion.

• The annual cost of waste from pricingfailure is estimated between $230.7 billion to $240.5billion.

• The annual cost of waste from failure of caredelivery is estimated between $102.4 billion to $165.7billion.

• The annual cost of waste from overtreatment orlow-value care is estimated from $75.7 billion to $101.2billion.

• The annual cost of waste from fraud and abuse isestimated between $58.5 billion to $83.9billion.

• The annual cost of waste from failure of carecoordination is estimated between $27.2 billion to $78.2billion.

Most of us in the employee health care industry have come acrosssome of these issues in several silos, but rarely are all sixcalled out in an article.

Seeing these pain points laid out in this format has shown methat there is a common theme trending between all of them. Thetheme is knowledge… Or lack of it. Or lack of sharing it.

Amidst deep blue ocean of employee health and benefits solutionproviders, some solutions have been developed, implemented and areactively being deployed to combat each of the six essential items.Every single one of these categories has generated ways to reducespending. Unfortunately, employers are not in a position to addressall of them. But even by banding together and targeting three–forinstance, administrative complexity, failure of pricing, andovertreatment or low-care value–businesses could save billions theynow dedicate to health plans, using those precious dollars to drivenew business, attract top talent, and seek innovations in criticalproducts and services.

The problem

We have to get the information out there. Most employer groupsor, more specifically, those who are in decision making rolesregarding employee health benefits and risk, do not know that thesesolutions exist. There is a knowledge gap that is continuing towiden daily, in part due to the way that solution providersapproach employer groups with this knowledge. Unfortunately, thereare less and less consultative minded front-line professionals whoare solely dedicated to educating and providing value without theneed for reciprocation. As always, there are two sides to everycoin, and this one is no exception. Either the status quo, hubris,or many other reasons impede employee health decision-makers fromopening a curious ear to new ideas and solutions to the problemsthey face.

The resolution

Free-flowing knowledge–not pitching, but freelyeducating those who are eager to listen and learn–is what we need.This presents a challenge to those like me who provide solutions.Sure, my job is to sell our products, but if our potentialcustomers don't even know such products exist, don't I have anobligation to talk about our products in the context of a healthplan spending revolution? The pieces for that revolution are inplace. The challenge is to engage those who would be freed by therevolution.

Related: 10 tips for innovation, collaboration & fixinga broken system

Spend 30 minutes in a "learning session" without saying yourcompany's name. Make the time to listen and learn. Thirty minutesof listening won't ruin your day; however, what you may discover inthose 30 minutes can improve the health care experience for youremployees and reduce the waste in spend that your company losesyear after year.

Simply put

Waste in health care is real, and no one disputes that itsimpact is evident. Employers who are the most educated about theavailable solutions in the market are leading the charge inreducing the knowledge gap, positioning themselves to actively takecontrol of their spend and futures.

Joseph Hopkins is the director of business development atPremise Health.