Health Care Literacy. Consumer Responsibility.

In today's environment, benefit plan and health care education and communication with company associates have never been more critical. Not only are plan designs becoming more complex, but associates need to understand their role and responsibilities with regard to the national health care affordability crisis. Finally, we need to collectively improve the health care literacy of plan members if we hope to influence their decision-making and behavior.

AIA Benefits Resource Group has developed cutting-edge methods, techniques and delivery approaches to communicate with and educate client associates. We support existing HR resources by deploying proven communication strategies that convert complex topics into easily understandable and digestible concepts.

In addition and very importantly, we help employers explain to their workforce that, with regard to the health care affordability crisis, "we are all in this together." Employees need to understand the impact their lifestyle and health care purchasing behavior has on the cost of health care and learn ways to modify their behavior for the benefit of themselves and their employer. We have found that employees typically do not understand their role and responsibility, and this is because no one has really explained it to them. Our experience is that employees respond very favorably when they are included in the discussion and come to understand the reason for benefit plan decisions.

As the trend continues towards Consumer-Driven Health Care (giving consumers/ associates and their families more incentives and control for managing their own health care purchasing decisions), we must continue to improve and increase our communication and education efforts. For example, we need to make sure consumers are aware and active with health plans available and independent published and internet-based resources (e.g., 24-hour nurse lines), provider (i.e., physician and hospital) quality and cost comparisons, health advocacy resources, and accurate wellness and health care information.

We typically utilize a combination of education and communication techniques including employee meetings, printed booklets, informative and motivational posters, and web-based communication through a dedicated client-specific employee benefits portal. Each client works with our client management team to determine the best strategy and tactics for their particular situation.