Hospitals slow to manage employee health care costs.
Many hospitals pay more for employee health care, mainly because the health care industry has not effectively managed costs, according to a new report from Towers Watson.
"For a variety of reasons, the industry has not moved as quickly as others to manage health care costs and trends," notes the article, entitled: Wellness Programs and In-House Care: How Hospitals Can Lower Employee Health Coverage Costs. "As a result, many hospitals provide more services and pay a greater share of per-employee cost for benefits than other organizations. And, in a somewhat ironic twist, they also tend to have less healthy workforces, so employee use of health plan services (often at competing facilities) is frequently higher as well."