I was absolutely thrilled with the turnout at a webinar I recently presented for HR Executive: Navigating the changes: strategically communicating about health care reform. Over 2,300 people registered and over 1,500 listened in.
We focused on how to use communication to turn health care reform from a messy set of new requirements into a strategic opportunity to engage employees and families in their health—a topic we’ve been discussing on our blog since health care reform passed.
We’re including the full presentation below which includes strategy and planning checklists as well as next steps for open enrollment/compliance communication:
Get an update out now (if you haven’t already) linking to philosophy
Be real about costs and “what’s changing”
Determine your approach for the model notices (with your legal team!)
Plan for ongoing communication
Please check out all the details in the presentation.
We asked three questions about health care reform communication during the presentation and the answers are pretty interesting…
1. Have you communicated with employees about health care reform?
54% – No, we haven’t said anything 30% – Yes, between April and now 8% – Yes, immediately after 7% – Yes, before the legislation
This is not surprising, even though we’ve been encouraging companies to communicate since health care reform was initially passed. If you haven’t said anything yet, now is the time!
2. How are you planning to deliver the required notifications?
50% – Combination of print materials and electronically 22% – In print materials 16% – Don’t know yet 12% – Electronically
These answers are not surprising to me and we’ve been seeing a lot of different approaches for delivering the required notices.
3. What are your primary objectives for health care communication? (select up to 3)
63% – Educating employees about enrollment 54% – Meeting legal/compliance requirements 53% – Showing the value of our plans and costs to the company 49% – Helping employees be good health care consumers 23% – Increasing participation in wellness programs 20% – Migrating employees to more cost-effective plans
These responses really show the challenge of health care communication—meeting legal requirements and guiding employees through enrollment while also tackling strategic challenges like showing the value of programs and helping people be better consumers of their health care.
With legislation of this size, there will always be questions and concerns. If I haven’t answered yours, I invite you to look through the presentation below. Or, check out all of our posts on health care reform.
P.S. Big thanks to HR Executive for hosting and to Ceridian for sponsoring the webinar (allowing so many people to participate at no cost!).
Jennifer Benz, SVP Communications Leader, has been on the leading edge of employee benefits for more than 20 years and is an influential voice in the employee benefits industry.
