Independent Health said Tuesday that almost half of its employer groups will see insurance premiums rise by 10 percent or more next year.

The Amherst-based health insurer, the region’s second-largest, said the average rate increase across its entire book of business will be 10.5 percent in 2010. That would be down from as much as 19 percent last year.

The insurer’s executives said that even higher increases were avoided due to medical and pharmacy management efforts, more engagement with members about how to spend wisely and more use of lower-cost generic drugs.

“The system is still broken and needs to be fixed, but we are seeing improvements that translated into lower rate increases this year,” said John R. Rodgers, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Independent Health.

Independent Health’s rate increases are higher than national projections by two research firms.

New York-based Mercer says that rates will rise next year by an average of about 9 percent but that companies will reduce the figure to 5.9 percent by modifying the plans. Similarly, Hewitt Associates of Lincolnshire, Ill., projects a 6 percent hike.

For the second straight year, Independent Health is first of the local insurers to put out its rates, appealing to businesses that want to be able to budget for next year.

Karen Merkel-Liberatore, spokeswoman for HealthNow New York, parent of BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York, said the company hopes to have a “snapshot” of its rate trends shortly, while Univera Healthcare spokesman Peter B. Kates said the health plan wants rates out next week.

Rodgers, of Independent Health, acknowledged that the Buffalo market has typically seen increases that appear to be higher than the national figures. But he noted that Independent Health’s estimates are before employers change plans to reduce their costs.

For about 55 percent of Independent Health’s clients, rates will rise by less than 10 percent, Rodgers said, and an additional 44 percent of the clients will pay as much as 15 percent more. Only 1 percent of its employers — those with traditional, higher-end products that get used much more—will see rate hikes exceed 15 percent, Rodgers said.

Large groups of more than 50 employees that are still “community-rated” will see rates rising by 7.1 to 10.5 percent, but averaging 8.8 percent, Rodgers said.

Large, “experience-rated” groups and small groups, which are always community-rated and include Chamber of Commerce and association plans, will see an average increase of 10.8 percent, he said.

“This is a vast improvement from several years ago. We’re getting better,” Rodgers said. “My objective is to get us down to the low single digits, and we’re slowly getting there.”

Pharmacy rates will rise by an average of 9.5 percent for the health maintenance organization plans, and they’ll fall 8.5 percent for consumer-directed health plans, he said.

That demonstrates the success of the concept, Rodgers said. And it has grown in popularity. A report Tuesday by MVP Health Care of Schenectady found that enrollment in such plans grew to 8 million in early 2009, compared with 4.5 million in 2007.

That includes 213,715 in New York State, or 1.1 percent of the population — a much lower percentage than in other states, although it’s rising as employers try to control costs.

To cut costs, Independent Health is stressing education, prevention, wellness, disease management, health coaching, incentives and generic drugs. Almost 70 percent of prescriptions are filled generically. “This isn’t perfect, but it’s on the right track,” Rodgers said. Even so, he said, “we . . . haven’t solved the problem of redundant medicine. There is still a lot of use.”

Medical expenses, including payments to doctors, hospitals and pharmacies, are expected to rise by 6.5 percent next year, as provider fees increase every year. And utilization costs are expected to increase by 4.5 percent, driven by the area’s older population, growing occurrence of chronic and at-risk conditions such as heart disease and diabetes, and increased demand for costly new technologies and treatments.

Rodgers said that one outside factor driving 5 percent of the total premium this year are the costs of fees and assessments imposed on the industry by the State Legislature to help erase the state’s budget deficit.

“It’s something we can’t absorb,” he said. “They end up going back to the employer or the individuals. These are just taxes that don’t add value and don’t improve care.”