Engaging Health Care Consumers: The Lowe’s Experience

Time will tell, but it appears that employers are not giving up on providing health insurance to their employees — even with the availability of health care exchanges. That’s at least what the results of a new study sponsored by the National Business Coalition on Health (NBCH) suggest.

Brian Klepper, CEO of the NBCH, speculated in his recent Health Affairs Blog post: “…there is an alternative view of what is possible in health care, and that self-funding and a willingness to continue trying to control the health care value monster remains alive and vibrant.”

As self-funded employers strive for a value-based health care marketplace, they’re looking at ways to drive value at an individual level — through strategies to engage employees as better consumers and managers of their own health care.

Over the last couple of decades, Lowe’s has been on a journey to encourage its employees to become engaged health care consumers. What Lowe’s experience teaches us is that health care systems are complex, and individuals value guidance from a trusted source, particularly when faced with difficult or challenging decisions.