Healthcare spend is no longer just a cost center, it’s an emerging battleground for financial performance. In 2023, U.S. employers spent over $1.3 trillion on healthcare benefits, making it the second-largest business expense after payroll for many organizations (KFF, 2023 Employer Health Benefits Survey).

And the outlook is worsening:

• PwC projects a 7% medical cost trend in 2025, up from 5.6% in 2024, driven by inflationary pressures, workforce shortages, and specialty drug costs (PwC Behind the Numbers 2025).
  
• Nearly 75% of CFOs rank healthcare costs as a top-five financial concern, according to Deloitte’s 2023 Q4 CFO Signals survey.
  

Traditional levers—raising deductibles, narrowing networks, negotiating marginal carrier discounts—are no longer sufficient. To unlock real savings, CFOs are stepping in to co-own benefit strategy and treat healthcare spend like any other major operational cost: with design, accountability, and ROI expectations.

The Core Problem: Price Variance and Inefficient Plan Design

The U.S. healthcare system’s opacity is fueling massive overspending. The Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) reports that the same procedure can vary by up to 300% in cost depending on the provider and geography, with no correlation to quality. For example, a knee replacement might cost $20,000 in one network and $65,000 in another.

A 2022 RAND Corporation study found that employers pay, on average, 224% of Medicare rates for hospital services, and in some regions, as much as 300% (RAND Hospital Price Transparency Study).

For CFOs, this means that simply being “in-network” isn’t enough. You might still be overpaying by 2–3x for common procedures, every single time.

A Smarter Strategy: Carving Out High-Cost Care to Centers of Excellence

The most effective cost transformation strategy today? Carving out specific high-cost procedures—like orthopedic, cardiac, bariatric, and fertility care and routing them through Centers of Excellence (CoE).

According to Mercer and the Business Group on Health, CoE programs can reduce the total cost of care for major procedures by 30–70%. And Leapfrog Group reports that complication and readmission rates are 40–60% lower when care is delivered at high performing facilities with standardized care pathways (Leapfrog 2024 Hospital Safety Grades).

These savings are achieved not by denying care but by delivering better care, more consistently, with transparent pricing and bundled payments.

Global Value Networks and Navigation: The Next Efficiency Frontier

Even more advanced employers are adopting global Centers of Excellence and concierge care navigation to further stretch their benefits dollars, particularly for elective and shoppable care.

According to McKinsey, 45% of medical spend is considered “shoppable”, meaning the cost and quality vary significantly, and patients are willing to travel if benefit design supports them (McKinsey: Redefining the Role of Benefits). This unlocks a powerful opportunity to reduce costs and improve outcomes without narrowing access.

Employers using this strategy, like those partnered with World Class Health report:

• 6–8% reduction in total annual healthcare spend
  
• Up to 85% savings on select procedures compared to U.S. averages
  
• 90+ NPS scores from employees who value the zero out-of-pocket experience and seamless navigation
  

This isn’t medical tourism, it's benefit design that treats healthcare like a financial asset, not an uncontrollable liability.

Financial Impact Beyond Claims

The ROI of this model extends beyond claims and reimbursements:

• U.S. businesses lose $575 billion annually to worker illness and injury, according to the Integrated Benefits Institute (IBI, 2023 Report).
  
• 41% of insured adults still carry medical debt, which affects absenteeism, presenteeism, and workforce morale (KFF, 2024 Medical Debt Survey).
  
• 61% of employees say health benefits are a top reason for staying with an employer, making benefit design a key retention lever (MetLife 2023 Employee Benefits Trends Study).
  

When employees can access world class care with no financial burden and organizations realize savings simultaneously, the benefit becomes a differentiator, not just a cost.

CFO Playbook: How to Take Action

Here’s how finance and benefits leaders are taking control of healthcare spend:

1. Analyze claims for categories with high cost and price variance
   
2. Identify shoppable procedures and consider CoE carve-outs
   
3. Design incentives that steer members to value (e.g., $0 cost-sharing, paid travel)
   
4. Integrate navigation and recovery services to support experience and outcomes
   
5. Model ROI based on real claims, not just carrier projections
   

This approach turns benefit design into a lever for EBITDA improvement, workforce health, and long-term cost predictability.

Final Thought: Healthcare Strategy Is Financial Strategy

Healthcare inflation isn’t slowing—but your spending can. The employers winning in 2025 and beyond are those who stop accepting benefit costs as fixed and start treating them like any other operational investment: optimized, accountable, and performance-driven.

Strategic benefit design is your most powerful underleveraged asset.

Ready to see what reimagined healthcare spend could look like for your organization?
Request a custom claims-based savings analysis or benefit design workshop at sales@worldclasshealth.com