How do the following sound as headlines for the cover of Benefits Canada? Are they likely to make the cut any time soon? • “My boss is 89” • “Remember when we went to the doctor’s office?” • “On-the-job diagnosis” • “Machines don’t need benefits” • “Artificial benefits” • “Shareholders elect first AI CEO (actuary’s […]
Visitors to BenefitsCanada.com who type in a web address for a broken link will find a page with a lighthearted reply that reads: “Like a newly launched defined benefit plan, this page also does not exist.” It doesn’t seem like a wild claim to make, but one employee at a pension plan did, at one […]
With a national pharmacare program potentially on the horizon, many plan sponsors will be wondering about the impact on their benefits plans. At Benefits Canada‘s Calgary Benefits Summit on May 29, Joe Farago, executive director of health-care innovation at Innovative Medicines Canada, discussed some of the implications of national pharmacare. Farago began his session by […]
By taking the use of data to the next level, employers and insurers can improve their ability to promote better health through benefits plans. That was a key message from Tarick Fadel, director of analytics, research and pricing at Alberta Blue Cross, during a presentation at Benefits Canada‘s Calgary Benefits Summit on May 29. “We […]
Canada could save an estimated $280 million a year in drug costs if biosimilar uptake here reached the levels seen in Norway, a speaker told attendees at a recent event in Calgary. “One problem with biosimilars is their uptake,” Andrea Staruch, a pharmacy services consultant at Green Shield Canada, said during a presentation at Benefits […]
With the workplace changing rapidly, the health-care landscape will be evolving along with it, a speaker told the audience at Benefits Canada‘s Calgary Benefits Summit last month. “We believe there is an unmet need in Canadian health care today that we need innovation to address — not just to get people well but to keep […]
While a recent court ruling has given some relief to plan sponsors concerned about having an obligation cover medical marijuana under their benefits plans, they still face a number of questions with legalization of the recreational version of the drug coming fast. That was a key message from Loretta Bouwmeester, a partner at Mathews Dinsdale […]
Business continuity planning is integral to being ready to react in an emergency, but few companies find themselves having to deal with a situation on the scale of the 2016 wildfire in Fort McMurray, Alta. At Benefits Canada‘s Calgary Benefits Summit on Tuesday, Jay Falcone, senior leader for pension and benefits at Syncrude Canada Ltd., […]
With permanent behavioural change so difficult to instil, how can employers ensure their wellness programs achieve their intended results? At Benefits Canada‘s Healthy Outcomes conference in Toronto on Friday, Dr. Steven Grover, a professor of medicine at McGill University, shed some insight from his experiences dealing with the impacts of digital health programs. He’s the […]
With annuities largely comprised of fixed-income investments, can the sponsors of pension plans gain an advantage by replicating such a portfolio on their own with a focus on private debt? During a presentation for plan sponsors in Toronto on Thursday, Michael Augustine, a managing director at TD Asset Management Inc., touted the option of reducing […]