Offering supplemental voluntary benefits like disability insurance, critical illness coverage, and wellness programs helps you attract and retain skilled healthcare professionals, which is critical in reducing turnover and boosting patient outcomes under VBP models.
Why it Matters:
- Attract and Retain Top Talent: Comprehensive voluntary benefits differentiate your agency and provide employees with a sense of security. When employees feel valued, they stay longer, helping to maintain consistent care and reducing the high costs of turnover.
- Improve Employee Productivity and Engagement: Benefits like wellness programs and mental health support improve staff morale and engagement, reducing absenteeism and burnout. Engaged employees deliver higher-quality care, which is key to VBP success.
- Lower Payroll Costs: Offering pre-tax voluntary benefits can reduce payroll taxes, allowing your agency to save on FICA and workers' compensation premiums, while also enhancing the well-being of your staff.
- Enhance Patient Care and VBP Metrics: A stable workforce directly impacts patient satisfaction, care quality, and clinical outcomes, leading to higher reimbursement rates under VBP programs.
By focusing on staff retention through voluntary benefits, you can foster a more stable, productive team while improving your agency’s financial success and performance in Value-Based Purchasing. It’s a strategy that delivers measurable results for your workforce, patients, and bottom line.
Three strategic steps home health agencies can take to save money and improve value-based purchasing (VBP) outcomes by leveraging employee voluntary benefits:
1. Offer Pre-Tax Voluntary Benefits to Reduce Payroll Taxes
- How It Saves Money: Offering pre-tax voluntary benefits such as health, dental, vision, and supplemental life insurance allows employees to pay for these benefits before taxes, reducing their taxable income. As a result, the agency lowers its payroll tax burden (FICA, Medicare, etc.) and reduces its overall payroll expenses.
- How It Improves VBP: Providing comprehensive benefits increases employee satisfaction and reduces turnover. High retention rates in home health directly contribute to better patient outcomes, continuity of care, and overall performance in value-based purchasing. A stable workforce minimizes errors, improves care coordination, and leads to higher patient satisfaction—key factors in VBP.
2. Implement Employee Wellness Programs to Improve Productivity and Care Quality
- How It Saves Money: Wellness programs (e.g., mental health support, financial wellness, or access to fitness programs) provided through voluntary benefits can reduce absenteeism, improve morale, and increase productivity. Healthy and engaged employees are less likely to experience burnout, a common issue in home health settings, and are more likely to stay with the organization, saving on recruitment and training costs.
- How It Improves VBP: Healthier, more engaged employees provide better patient care, leading to higher patient satisfaction, lower hospitalization rates, and fewer re-admissions.
3. Utilize Disability and Supplemental Income Protection to Retain Skilled Staff
- How It Saves Money: Offering voluntary benefits like short-term disability and supplemental income protection (through accident or critical illness insurance) ensures that employees who face unexpected health issues can still support themselves without needing to leave their jobs. This reduces turnover, which can be costly to the agency in terms of both money and time spent on recruiting and training replacements.
- How It Improves VBP: Skilled and experienced staff are critical in home health for delivering consistent, high-quality care. Employee retention improves patient continuity of care, which leads to better health outcomes and higher scores on patient satisfaction surveys. Staff retention also helps avoid disruptions in care that can negatively impact performance on VBP metrics, such as re-hospitalization rates and timely initiation of care.
If you’re living in the state of Nevada and seeking short-term disability coverage, your options would be through employer-provided plans or private insurance policies. Since Nevada does not have a public option for short-term disability insurance, residents must rely on one of these two alternatives for income protection in the event of temporary disability.
- Employer-Provided Plans: Some employers may offer short-term disability insurance as part of their benefits package, but it is not mandated by the state.
- Private Insurance Policies: Individuals can also purchase short-term disability coverage from private insurance providers if their employer does not offer it.
Ready to take your healthcare agency’s performance to the next level? Contact Dr. Andrea Barrett via LinkedIn DM or visit Our Website to explore how our VBP healthcare consulting services can help optimize your employee voluntary benefits and boost both retention and reimbursement outcomes.
