Healix has more than doubled its spending with private hospitals and other private medical service providers in the UK over the last year.
The healthcare trust provider said an increasing number of employers hit by the recession were choosing to cut costs on their corporate healthcare schemes by self-insuring.
Having established relationships with a number of private hospitals it is now looking to extend its network.
The news appears to buck the decreasing trend of spending on health service providers by private insurance schemes that was highlighted in the Laing and Buisson report.
Its authors suggested private healthcare providers risked becoming too dependent on NHS funded activities if the pattern continued.