Toromont Industries Ltd., a construction equipment business with about 3,500 employees, has been on a long journey to revamp its drug plan after it noticed its benefits costs were increasing quickly several years ago. “Our plan at the time was a pretty simple gold-plated plan. Whatever you wished to obtain, you’re good, but you’re paying […]
With the cost of health benefits projected to rise by another eight per cent in 2017, plan sponsors have yet another incentive to find ways to curb their spending on drugs. So what can they do? Participants at the Face to Face Drug Plan Management Forum in Toronto heard about some of the solutions. From […]
There was a solid interactive element to Benefits Canada’s Face to Face Drug Plan Management Forum as participants took part in a live-polling session on the various myths surrounding drugs. Are prescription drugs the same price at all pharmacies? Are biosimilar and biologic drugs the same thing? Those were among the issues the audience weighed […]
With the cost of health care rising, employers would do well to consider the productivity impacts of illness on their business, participants at Benefits Canada’s Face to Face Drug Plan Management Forum heard last month. “Billions of dollars are spent,” said Dr. Aslam Anis, a professor at the University of British Columbia’s School of Population […]
How can employers implement a strategic wellness program to make a difference to employees’ mental health? Eric Pfeiffer, senior health management consultant at Manulife, presented four of the top findings of the Salveo study at the Mental Health Summit in Toronto. The study looked at more than 2,000 employees in 63 different companies, specifically focusing […]
What do finances have to do with our mental health? Quite a lot, actually. “When we look at surveys where we ask what causes you stress, the answer that tops the charts is consistently personal finance,” said Marie-Hélène Pelletier, assistant vice-president for workplace mental health at Sun Life Financial, during Benefits Canada’s Mental Health Summit […]
With growing awareness of the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder, what’s the role of employers in supporting employees dealing with it? That was the focus of a panel discussion during Benefits Canada’s Mental Health Summit in Toronto last month. As Ann Malain, executive vice-president for clinical practice and stay-at-work services at with Homewood Health, explained, […]
At $45 million per year, antidepressant claims are “the biggest spend in our drug portfolio,” Peter Gove, health innovation leader at Green Shield Canada, told Benefits Canada’s Mental Health Summit in Toronto. The insurer looked at 36,000 claimants who had newly started on antidepressant medication. The data showed that 15 per cent of the claimants […]
Major depression is more likely to be a heterogeneous group of disorders rather than a single condition, Dr. Sidney Kennedy, professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto, told Benefits Canada’s Mental Health Summit in Toronto. In fact, research has identified more than 200 different combinations of symptoms that qualify for the diagnosis of a […]
Lakeside Process Controls Ltd. had gone eight years without a disability claim, but the company took notice when it saw three mental health-related short-term disability claims in the last two years. “That’s where our journey on adding mental health to our wellness programs really began,” said Stephanie Enright, director of talent management and administration at […]