Healthcare benefits

Advisers should consider these programs to help employer clients control medical expenses while maintaining employee coverage levels.

By tying its clinical database to physicians’ EHR systems, the drug chain hopes to avoid patient sticker shock and prescription abandonment at the point of sale.

Three hundred large hospital systems are teaming up to control rising drug costs. But even their firepower might not be enough.

A rumored acquisition could give the nation’s largest employer control of healthcare for its 1.5 million U.S. employees, drive down costs and increase the number of employers looking to disrupt the industry.

For small to midsize employers, these vehicles provide numerous advantages previously only available to larger enterprises.

Three of the country’s most important companies have allied to take control of their healthcare costs.

Advisers take note: Industry expert Lindsay Resnick says runaway costs are driving employers of all stripes to reject the benefit market’s status quo.

Medical trend, workforce health and operational efficiency and employee productivity are three key metrics to consider when evaluating ROI.

Despite arguments to the contrary, the combination is unlikely to lower prescription costs for employers or employees.

Because marijuana is still treated as an illegal substance at the federal level, providers don’t get the same write-offs as other federally regulated business.