NU Online News Service, July 16, 11:55 a.m. – The Center for Studying Health System Change, Washington, says panelists agreed at a recent forum it sponsored that employers will be focusing more on cutting costs and shifting costs to workers.
In the mid-1990s, the rise of managed care cut costs so dramatically that plan sponsors were able to focus on adding benefits and increasing the flexibility of cost control programs.
Recently, increases in prescription drug costs have pushed plan costs through the roof. The increases in drug costs appear to be tapering off, but now hospitals, doctors and outpatient facilities are all negotiating big increases in rates, according to Norman Fidel, a mutual fund company executive who spoke at the health system forum.
