Employers are planning a number of aggressive changes to their health plans. These changes share one common theme: making employees more accountable for their medical choices.

That’s one of the chief findings in the recent Towers Watson/National Business Group on Health Employer Survey on Purchasing Value in Health Care.

The study found that an increasing number of firms are turning to consumer-driven health plans (CDHP) in an effort to control costs.

In fact, 27% of employers plan to add a CDHP that combines a high deductible with an HRA or an HSA in 2012. Fifty-three percent of companies already have a CDHP in plan, according to the study.

Employers will also target specific areas. For example: 68% of employers plan to bump up contributions for dependents. Another one-third of companies are moving to reward or penalize workers based on their biometric screenings – for weight and cholesterol – in 2012. That’s a major increase from the 7% of employers who are doing so this year.

Tags: Accountable, CDHP, Consumer-driven health plan, Dependents, Health plan, Towers Watson/National Business Group on Health