HLTH Recap & Thoughts on Benefits in 2023

BenefitPitch and HLTH partnered together this past November and we are excited to continue working towards a better healthcare ecosystem.

HLTH's annual conference has been a must-attend event since it began in 2018. Now in its fifth year, HLTH continued to draw an impressive caliber of attendees and speakers—a veritable "who's who" of health care.

HLTH 2022 Recap 

While many organizations have resumed conferences post-pandemic, HLTH 2022 truly felt like a grand return. An impressive event, it's hard not to get swept up in both the scale of the event and the social and networking engagement components of the conference.

The uncertain economic outlook was hard to ignore when considering who attended and the major trends. For example, there were a lot of vendors meeting with other vendors, which was initially surprising. However, when you consider the way the economy appears to be turning toward fewer funding options and more constricted budgets, it made more sense.  If an employer has a smaller budget, then they won’t be choosing 3 point solutions. Maybe just 2. But what if the three solutions had partnered up in a way that it was one vendor offering the other partners’ services?. It will be interesting to see what vendor partnerships come out of HLTH 2022!

HLTH 2022 was a fantastic event that brokers and vendors shouldn’t miss next year. It was exciting to meet with so many incredible benefits professionals in-person. The connections I made and conversations I had got me thinking about what benefits will look like in 2023. 

My Thoughts on Employee Benefits in 2023

Benefits aren't likely to change drastically if the economy continues to constrict and as inflation increases, but there are a few trends that brokers and vendors may want to pay attention to. 

• It's no longer a candidate's market. The days of candidates demanding what they want (and employers giving it to them) are done for now. This means that the perk benefits and things used to attract will likely scale back.
• Employers need to cut costs. Core benefits will be under the microscope. Are they delivering on the promised ROI? If not, shopping for new/different vendors may be on the horizon for employers.
• Programs that can demonstrate immediate savings will be of interest. For example, employers will likely want to hear more about pharmacy tools that help members change medications or save money on medications.
• Employers won't make major cuts just yet. It's difficult for employers to remove benefits that have already been offered, so don't expect benefits to disappear overnight.
• Mental health is still a priority. Mental health will continue to be a focus for employers in 2023 and beyond.
• Vendors are joining forces. As mentioned above, vendors were connecting at HLTH. This approach for vendors to seek other strategic vendor partners may become more common as employers have less to spend on individual point solutions. 

Feel free to pull up this blog in December of 2023 and tell me I’m wrong. Or maybe I’ll get one of them right…