Weighing the Benefits.

• Author: MCKIMMIE, KATHY
• Position: Health insurance costs rise, benefits management - Statistical Data Included

What are Indiana employers offering?

What a difference a year makes. A year ago, "unemployment was so low, you were recruiting someone away from their current job," says Teresa Worman, director of business development at Kansas-based Compdata, a pay and benefits survey firm. "As a result, hire-on rates were up a little and bonuses were being used. Additional perks and benefits were given. Because we're seeing layoffs this year, companies aren't going to pay quite as many extras." A bonus for employers in a slower economy is that employees tend to stay put, she says, choosing the security of the job-in-hand, reducing turnover.

Compdata has been surveying Indiana employers for more than 10 years, and conducts similar surveys in 35 other states. In every state, medical costs continue to top the list of concerns, says Bob Sinn, Compdata's vice president of operations. "The cost of health-care benefits is going to continue to skyrocket, and employers are taking a wait-and-see attitude" about the potential financial impact of the Patient Bill of Rights legislation pending before Congress. But many Indiana companies are not waiting to pass rising costs on to employees, with 31.2 percent increasing the employee's portion of premium this year (compared to 25 percent in 2000) and 16.6 percent increasing deductible levels (up from 12 percent in 2000).

"The CPI is 3 percent and the medical trends are up 12 to 14 percent and drugs almost 20 percent," says Mike Weiss, president of Key Benefit Administrators, Indianapolis, providing third-party administrator services to self-funded employers in the Midwest and Southeast. He's taking a proactive approach to controlling costs for his clients, mid-sized to large employers. "The old model of managing health care was utilization management. Wait 'til you're sick and have to go to the hospital; then continued-stay review; then case management--like for high-risk pregnancy." He thinks the question should be: "How do we keep you healthy in the first place?"

"Population health management" and "chronic disease management" are tools Weiss uses to zero in on the 20 percent of people that cause 80 percent of the claims. Those with chronic diseases such as diabetes, asthma and heart disease, when monitored and educated about controlling their disease, will have fewer hospitalizations or shorter stays when they are hospitalized. "We'll call and say 'you missed your EKG,"' he says. "We call people up and they fall out of...