Health Savings Accounts: Communication to Employees Critical to Success!

Communication, Information Tools Critical to Success of Consumer-Directed Health Plans, Watson Wyatt and RAND Corporation Study Finds

August 7, 2007 - Watson WyattMost employers that offer a consumer-directed health plan say communicating with workers about these plans is their greatest challenge. Additionally, most employers are not pleased with the availability of information on provider cost and quality, according to a new study conducted jointly by Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a leading global consulting firm, and the RAND Corporation, a non-profit research organization.Nearly all of the respondents - 90 percent - cited employee communication as their greatest challenge in introducing the consumer-directed health plan (CDHP) and during the plan's first year. Employers, on average, began communicating information about the new plan to workers four months prior to open enrollment. The study was based on 42 large employers that offer a CDHP to their workers.