Looking ahead to 2020, the big story for health benefits is often avoided because it isn’t easy to address. It’s the elephant in the room. Over the past year, there’s been no shortage of momentum in new and emerging product offerings in the health benefits space — everything from digital cognitive behavioural therapy to virtual […]
While medical advancements and drug therapy innovations have been life-changing for patients and plan members, they also come with increasing costs, said Victoria Shaw, drug benefits manager at Alberta Blue Cross, speaking at Benefits Canada’s 2019 Calgary Drug Trends Summit on Oct. 24. Between 2011 to 2017, the number of high-cost drugs doubled. From 2016 to 2017, in […]
Only eight per cent of Canadian women who are eligible for a vaccine that covers nine strains of the human papillomavirus are actually receiving it. While one barrier is a lack of knowledge among health-care professionals and patients alike, another is the lack of coverage in group benefits plans, said Dr. Angel Chu, an infectious diseases physician at Foothills Medical Centre, […]
The Health Association of Nova Scotia, which has a number of different employers in its benefits plan, cites rheumatoid arthritis medications as its top drugs in terms of cost. “Chronic disease, in terms of inflammatory disease — not just for rheumatoid, but for Crohn’s disease as well — those are what we’re seeing from a […]
While “brain fog” isn’t a clinical condition, it feels like forgetfulness, slow thinking and difficulty concentrating. It happens to everyone at some point and can often impact productivity at work. Some common causes of brain fog include stress, lack of sleep, dehydration, hormonal changes from pregnancy or andropause/menopause, an unhealthy diet, vitamin B12 deficiency, chemotherapy and side-effects […]
Specialty medications and high-cost drugs for common conditions are driving up private plan drug spending, according to Express Scripts Canada’s annual drug trends report. The report found the rapid increases in drug spending for private plans over the last 20 years have started to slow. The average annual drug spending per plan member was up just 0.9 per cent […]
In September 2018, Health Canada approved, for the first time, the use of a chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) therapy. Called Kymriah, it treats pediatric and young adult leukemia and adult lymphoma. The federal regulator is also reviewing a second gene therapy, called Yescarta, for an aggressive kind of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Both therapies are […]
On Feb. 27 in Toronto, the 2019 Employers Cancer Care Summit addressed cancer-related concerns tied to benefits plans in the workplace. Here’s what you missed: Gap services one solution to evolving developments in immunotherapy When it comes to cancer treatment, immunotherapy is a game changer with an exciting future ahead, according to Dr. Jeff Rothenstein. […]
When it comes to cancer treatment, immunotherapy is a game changer with an exciting future ahead, according to Dr. Jeff Rothenstein. However, the therapy, where a patient’s immune system is used to help their body help itself, is a field that’s difficult to track, said Dr. Jeff Rothenstein, medical oncologist and lung cancer site group leader at R.S. McLaughlin Durham […]
Since today’s cancer patients are much younger than they were in the past, doctors are treating patients who are actively working and are young parents, said Dr. Christine Brezden-Masley, oncologist and division head of hematology/oncology at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. “When you get a cancer diagnosis, it changes your entire life,” she said at a session at Benefits Canada‘s Employers Cancer […]