Stopping the trend? A search for solutions as health-plan costs run double-digit increases.

• Author: Held, Shari
• Position: EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

FACED WITH OVERwhelming employee healthcare costs, more Indiana employers are offering increasingly innovative programs and benefits to their employees. This trend benefits both employers and employees, with the biggest perk of all being a healthier workforce.

The health-care challenge. According to Ken Williams of Indianapolis-based Tobias Insurance Group Inc., 95 percent of employers require employees to contribute to the cost of their health-insurance program, and their approaches are "all over the board." Programs range from heavily contributory but comprehensive to consumer-driven plans with high deductibles. "Cost-sharing is probably the No. 1 innovative approach employers are taking," he says.

When it comes to insurance programs and incentives, employers are all searching for that perfect combination that provides their employees with resources they not only need, but resources they will actually use.

"The key to any initiative is that you really look at the culture of your people and make sure that whatever you do matches that culture," says Bryan K. Brenner, CEO and consultant, Indianapolis-based Benefit Associates Inc. "If you just try to do what someone else has done, it is probably not going to work real well. You need to find out what is important to your people and tap into that in as many ways as possible. Try to meet people where they are. People are in different stages of readiness for change, so you have to have programs that speak to each stage."

Williams says health-care costs have risen two to five times the rate of inflation for the last 10 to 15 years. With a current inflation rate in the neighborhood of 3 percent, employers are looking at a 6 to 15 percent increase in the cost of health care this year. There are innovative measures employers can make to slow the trend, however.

"Our trend in '04 to '05 was just under 14 percent, says Patrick Board, CEO, Terre Haute-based Associated Physicians & Surgeons Clinic. "Like any other business we simply could not afford that trend increase to continue. It put in jeopardy our ability to either give our staff raises or give them health insurance. That is not an acceptable alternative as an employer. We want to be able to afford good working conditions for employees, including competitive salary and benefits."

Under Board's leadership, AP&S made some significant change to its health-care programs. It was good news for the organization as well as for its employees. "From '05 to...