As employers gear up for open enrollment, here are the trends to watch

With open enrollment on the horizon at many firms, employers are preparing for another likely hike in health costs and for the demands of COVID-19.

The Business Group on Health released a list of several trends to watch heading into open enrollment for many employer plans. Chief among them: meeting workers' demand for virtual care services, which ballooned amid the pandemic.

The Business Group's annual survey, released earlier this show, shows that 53% of large employers are planning to expand their virtual care options for 2021. In addition, many are extending virtual options to new spaces like chronic care management, prenatal care and weight management.

"We just saw this unbelievable explosion in the virtual landscape," Ellen Kelsay, CEO of the Business Group, told Fierce Healthcare.

RELATED: COVID-19 is pushing employers to offer new virtual care offerings, survey finds

Expanding virtual mental healthcare

In addition, the coronavirus pandemic is forcing employers to take another look at their offerings around mental health and well-being. Kelsay said that mental health has been a growing focus for employers for a number of years, but the pandemic has added additional challenges into the mix, such as travel restrictions and additional caregiving duties as kids attend school virtually.

She said that COVID-19 is "heightening" that focus, and the drive to provide new solutions for behavioral health needs is likely to play out as plan designs take shape ahead of open enrollment.

"[The pandemic] is really wearing on people," Kelsay said.

Absorbing rising costs

Employers are expecting healthcare costs to rise yet again in 2021, but relatively few are intending to mitigate those challenges by offsetting additional costs to employees, a new survey from Mercer shows.

RELATED: Employers will need to respond carefully amid roller coaster of health costs during COVID-19

Mercer has surveyed 1,113 employers since early July and estimates health benefit costs will rise by 4.4% on average for 2021. The Business Group's survey lands at a similar estimate, with project costs to rise by 5% on average next year.

Mercer found that just 18% say they plan to address rising costs by pushing more of those costs onto workers through steps like increasing deductibles or copayments. A majority of those surveyed (57%) said they plan to make no changes to their plans to reduce costs in 2021.

“This is different from what we saw at the start of the economic recession in 2008, which drove many employers to trim health benefits,” said Tracy Watts, a senior consultant with Mercer, in a statement. “Given all the turmoil employees have been through this year, employers are putting big changes on hold, looking to balance economics with empathy."

Kelsay said many employers are putting an emphasis on taking an empathetic approach as employees struggle amid the pandemic. 

RELATED: Private plans pay 247% more for hospital services than Medicare does, study finds

Changing care environments

Other trends to watch, according to the Business Group, include growing access to on-site health clinics and greater use of centers of excellence to drive workers to high-quality providers.

The group's survey showed that 61% of employers will offer an on-site clinic in 2021. Kelsay said that in the wake of COVID-19, these clinics will be critical in providing immunizations and backstopping virtual care, particularly chronic care management.

Despite challenges with travel under the pandemic, centers of excellence are a popular option for employers, with 81% of the respondents to the Business Group's survey saying they would have a condition-specific center of excellence in place for 2021.

Kelsay said that to address concerns with traveling amid COVID-19, some employers are using regional centers that can still push workers toward high-quality care while keeping them closer to home.

"Employers doing what they can to reassure employees, if they do have conditions … of safety and efficacy," she said.