Employers expect health benefit costs to increase 5.4% per employee on average in 2024, new data from Mercer shows. This is due to inflationary pressures and health system consolidation.

The major healthcare players have no incentive to bring costs down. Insurers, pharmacy benefit managers, and other healthcare interests profit by charging higher and higher rates. However, one entity has the scale and incentive to meaningfully lower costs: employer health plans.

Companies in every industry are now hiring a chief medical officer—an executive once found only in healthcare organizations—to implement and oversee programs that optimize employee well-being.

Researchers examined a program that paid workers between $25 and $500 for using price transparency tools and choosing a lower cost provider for 131 different elective medical services.