ConnectYourCare is excited to announce the release of its first benefits broker research report, “The Broker Guide to Refining Benefits Strategies for 2020 and Beyond.”

This report, which surveyed health care benefits brokers across the United States, uncovers current challenges brokers are facing and how the role has evolved due to changing employer needs.

Reported findings show that navigating the rising costs of health care benefits, while considering employee experience and the need for integrated technology, are top challenges for benefits brokers. When asked to rank the importance of certain topics to their position, 68 percent of benefits brokers reported that ways to maximize client cost savings was considered of utmost importance.

Cost wasn’t everything, however. When brokers were later asked the most likely reason they would consider changing their clients’ third-party administrator, “service and support for participants” won out at 56 percent, while “better pricing in the current market” came in far behind at 15 percent.

Technology is also top of mind for brokers, as 44 percent reported that giving clients access to a self-service platform to manage their employees would make it easier to manage and recommend tax-advantaged accounts.

Based on the study results, the report also offers insights for refining the health care broker benefits strategy to better service employer clients—and their employees—in the new decade, including tips for recommending cost-effective technology and ways to remain a valuable advisor in a tumultuous health care benefits landscape.