EMPLOYEE RELIANCE ON MEDICAL INSURANCE AND CASH PLANS SET TO INTENSIFY

EMPLOYEE RELIANCE ON MEDICAL INSURANCE AND CASH PLANS SET TO INTENSIFY

Employees are set to increasingly rely on corporate private medical insurance (PMI) and cash plan provision to cover the cost of ‘low clinical value’ NHS treatments, according to PMI Health Group.

The employee healthcare and risk management specialist believes NHS access to certain treatments will diminish following the Audit Commission’s revelation that up to £500 million could be saved if primary care trusts (PCTs) carried out fewer low value procedures.

“We are already seeing PCTs decommissioning treatments in a bid to cut costs and with NHS budgets under mounting pressures, there is every likelihood this trend will continue,” said PMI Health Group Compliance Director Mike Blake.

“The Audit Commission is now calling for consistency with a single approach to defining low value treatments – but consideration must be given to how patients fund the treatments that are cut.

“Employers may suffer if employees cannot access treatment for medical conditions that affect them at work. PMI and cash plan schemes offer the most logical solution and an increasing onus will inevitably fall on businesses to provide cover as part of their employee remuneration packages.”

The independent watchdog published its briefing – Reducing expenditure on low clinical value treatments – on April 14.