Partnerships between hospitals and employers could be a means to cutting health insurance costs, a new report suggests.

The report, released by Aegis Health Group, explores the growing market demand for initiatives that enable hospitals to attract privately insured consumers while assisting employers with one of the greatest financial challenges they face today: rising health care costs.

“Hospitals and employers that work together in the name of health management discover an enormous value proposition,” said Henry Ross, chief executive officer of Aegis Health Group. The Nashville, Tenn.-based company providing workforce health initiatives to more than 60 healthcare organizations and 4,000 employer sites in the U.S.

“At no time has this been more relevant than it is in today’s challenging economic climate,” he added.

Worksite health-management initiatives have been shown to help employers cope with rising health care costs as America confronts such growing problems as obesity, diabetes, cancer and heart disease risk, according to the paper. By attending to these issues early on, employers repeatedly recognize significant dollar savings in employee health costs, absenteeism, health care premiums, workers’ compensation and other health care-related expenditures.

The benefits also extend to the hospitals. The report says hospital partners increase their presence in the community and open the door to attracting commercially insured consumers, which can benefit them in a bad economy.