Beth Johnson has been recognised in US publications as one of the top women in the industry for her work with rural providers to reduce cost for employers, improve benefits for employees and increase market share for providers.

Deke Lape has been a faculty member of the World Health Congress since 2018 and has a proven track record of simultaneously reducing employer health spend and reducing employee out-of-pocket cost.

Johnson and Lape are nationally recognised authorities on the creation and deployment of direct provider contracts. They have spoken at top national conferences on the subject and are sought out by advisers across the US for their assistance in creating direct provider contracts.

What are the most common mistakes you see employers in the US make in terms of health spend? How can you help them with these?

CONTROL

Employee benefit spend is typically the second-largest line item in an employer’s budget, second only to payroll. Employers have been trained, by status quo consultants, to give up on this expense and buy into the notion that the healthcare spend is uncontrollable, when that couldn’t be further from the truth. D2E shows employers how to take control of their health plan. The second-largest business expense is no longer controlled by disinterested third parties whose incentives are to make money, not control cost. Employers control their own health plan through direct to provider contracts and independent medical and pharmacy management. D2E Health Plans works with C-level executives to manage the healthcare supply chain in the same manner executives manage other expenses within an organisation.

REDUCED CLAIM COST

Going direct to providers for healthcare allows employers to pay less. Providers are willing to give deeply discounted services to employers who design benefit plans that steer employees to high-quality preferred providers. It is a win-win-win for employee, employer and provider. Plans are designed to reward employees by reducing or eliminating out of pocket costs for employees who chose D2E providers.

BETTER BENEFITS

Employers who provide employees with stable benefits are rewarded with higher morale and greater productivity. There is an intangible benefit from eliminating “healthcare insecurity” for employees and replacing it with financial security, confidence, and appreciation. Enhancing employee benefits improves not only the job, but also the lives of families.

What are the benefits of working with a healthcare consultant?

The top healthcare consultants align their financial incentives with the employer. D2E Health Plans is a next-generation healthcare advisory with a single goal: to improve the quality of care and lower healthcare costs for both employers and employees. D2E Health Plans deploy proven cost-saving strategies that deliver measurable results to employers in the form of reduced cost and improved benefits.

In what ways has the pandemic affected your work?

COVID-19 and the economic downturn devastated many employers' cash position almost overnight. With CEOs and CFOs desperate to conserve cash, we have been able to make healthcare a controllable cost. The shutdown of elective medical procedures highlighted the value of a self-funded health plan vs. a fully insured health plan. When essentially all non-emergent care ceased over the course of 60-90 days, employers with fully insured health plans continued to make monthly premium payments. For what? When employees were not receiving care, other than prescriptions, self-insured employers were conserving cash, paying only for the healthcare their employees used. D2E Health plans give employers the tools to take control of their health plan.