What You Should Know:
– Color Health, a provider of precision health solutions released its second annual Employer Insights Report, revealing a disconnect between employer priorities and the reality of cancer care benefits offered to employees.
– The survey, conducted by The Harris Poll, explores how benefits leaders make decisions regarding cancer program benefits, including their current offerings, perceived effectiveness, and strategies for managing costs.
Disconnect Between Employer Priorities and Cancer Care Offerings
The survey revealed that employers’ cancer programs remain largely focused on treatment and management, despite benefits leaders recognizing the need for a more comprehensive approach to cancer care. Leaders emphasized the importance of resources beyond what is provided through their health plans, particularly for prevention, early detection, and post-treatment support.
Key findings of the report include:
- 88% of benefits leaders advocated for greater investment in prevention and early detection initiatives, a sentiment that persisted in 2024. In practice, though, 82% of benefits leaders reported spending significantly more on cancer treatment and management programs in 2023—a number that remained almost unchanged (81%) in 2024.
- 9 in 10 benefits leaders (91%) agreed that organizations should prioritize early detection and survivorship support alongside active cancer management, fewer than half (43%) have offered comprehensive cancer benefits as a strategy for reducing costs.
- About three in four benefits leaders feel the need to expand their cancer offerings beyond what’s currently provided through their health plans (75%) or primary care providers (72%)—but only about 1 in 4 do, typically focusing on point solutions like survivorship support (27%) or genetic testing (24%) rather than comprehensive programs.
- Benefits leaders identified the most critical cancer care benefits as: cancer screening and early detection (73%), treatment center networks and center of excellence (CoE) programs (67%), and cancer risk assessments (66%).
- There has been no improvement in benefits leaders’ perception of cancer screening management by their health plan. In 2023 and 2024, nearly 3 in 4 (72%) agreed their health plan is not getting enough employees screened for cancer.
- Most benefits leaders agree that the best ways to reduce cancer costs are through cancer prevention and screening (56%) and comprehensive benefits programs (52%) that span the full cancer journey.
- Costs aside, benefits leaders cited support for employees’ mental and emotional health as their top concern – but only half (54%) offer enhanced mental health and emotional support services for cancer patients and survivors.
- 93% of benefits leaders agree that their organization should invest more in supporting cancer survivors as they transition from treatment back to health – but only 1 in 3 (33%) offered dedicated cancer survivorship programs in 2024.
“As cancer rates climb among working-age individuals, employers are recognizing cancer as an increasingly common concern in their employees’ lives, not to mention for their business,” said Josh Sturm, Chief Revenue Officer at Color Health. “Benefits leaders need help bridging the gap between awareness and implementation of comprehensive cancer programs. At Color, we are 100% focused on cancer and have built the only Virtual Cancer Clinic, which goes well beyond care navigation with an in-house medical group that cares for everyone on your team – in every state of the country.”
