In The Conference Board 2005 CEO Challenge survey, 20 percent of responding U.S. executives chose "cost of employee healthcare" as being "of greatest concern," and the issue ranked seventh in the list of top 10 U.S. concerns. In response to companies' increasing interest in controlling expenses, healthcare providers have started offering alternatives to the predominant restrictive care model of HMOs and PPOs. Consumer-directed healthcare (CDHC), which combines a high-deductible health plan with a tax-advantaged spending account, is one of the newest options. Consumer-Driven Healthcare: Current Practices, Future Upgrades draws on presentations to The Conference Board Consumer-Driven Healthcare Working Group, a review of the limited research on the subject that currently exists, and interviews with employers and health plans to create a portrait of how CDHC is being adopted and implemented. It also contains case studies that examine CDHC's impact on companies that employ it as either one of several plans or as a company-wide replacement for their existing healthcare delivery systems.

Topics Covered

• Key Findings
• Defining a New Paradigm
• Reports from the Front: Investigating Adoption and Implementation
• Is Consumer Behavior Changing
• Next Steps for CDHC

Special Features:

• Case Studies: Medtronic, Inc.; Apogee Enterprises, Inc.; Logan Aluminum, Inc., Schneider National, Inc.; and Union County Government North Carolina