Surveys. Polls. Studies. Industry Reports. More than any other industry, health care is overflowing with information about trends, views and needs of interest to employers. From technology to benefits to health reform, we have all kinds of data to, in theory, help us with our strategic business planning. In many ways, though, this glut of information is too much, even overwhelming at times, leading to the dreaded but sometimes all too real paralysis by analysis. So what are we to glean from all these surveys, and how do we apply it to a practice?
One approach is to carve out a niche where a practice can be successful by focusing on a specific application. Some examples where brokers are succeeding in this way include total compensation statements, cost transparency tools, wellness and online enrollment. These solutions, however, do not fully leverage the information available to us. Maybe, if we look deeper, we can find a common theme weaving through the tapestry of surveys and studies that gives us a clearer view of what employers expect in the coming years. This, I think, is found in the new math of employee benefits where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
