Employers are less satisfied with their health carriers today, according to a new study by PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Health Research Institute. Among large employers, satisfaction has dropped to 59%, down significantly from 64% in 2008. Among small employers, the figure remained steady — but low — at 52%.

Both large and small employers cited three issues as most important: claims processing, administrative fees and provider discounts. Large employers also cited wellness programs.

Overall, wellness and disease management programs are fairly widespread; 71% of respondents offer wellness programs and 67% offer disease management programs. However, employee participation in wellness programs remains stuck at about 50%, and traditional incentives like premium savings and cash are no longer working as a way to engage employees, respondents said.

Employers are looking for their health plan providers for information, technology and strategies to help reduce waste in healthy care spending and better engage employees in managing their health, the study reported. “Employers realize that it’s better to manage the health of their workforce than to manage the cost of illness, and they want their health plan to manage the entire health continuum,” says Paul Veronneau, principal and U.S. health care payer leader at PWC. “There is only so much insurers can do to manage health and cost through provider discounts or on the back end of a claim. This is an opportunity for health insurers to look beyond traditional strategies and get more aggressive about health care quality and value.”

The PWC report has some recommendations that insurers and advisers alike should heed:

• Be a consultative partner with employers to help improve their workers’ health, and advocate for employer health strategies.
• Take a more active role in eliminating waste.
• Provide actionable, higher-quality data to help employers better understand the health of their workers, find intervention points for better outcomes, and create targeted outreach and engagement campaigns.
• Deliver consistent and transparent health plan reporting.
• Provide personal technology tools for employees to use.
• Provide education that will simplify health plans and benefits, engage workers in real behavioral change and translate benefit information into actions that promote wellness.

The report, “What Employers Want from Health Insurers in 2010,” is based on a survey of executives at 100 large companies (over 11,000 employees) and 130 small firms (less than 200 employees) conducted in the second quarter of 2009.