Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER DECEMBER 2019 24 FEATURES DISABILITY MANAGEMENT Reducing the wait for care National union CLAC offers timely access to specialist care through new program By Angela Johnson T he statistics are stag- gering: 54 per cent of Canada's workforce has at least one chronic disease or condition, according to the 2019 Sanofi Healthcare Survey; in 2016, organizations spent $7.5 billion on long-term dis- ability coverage, according to RBC Insurance; and, each year, $2.1 billion is lost in wages due to long waits for surgery and medical treatment, according to a 2019 report from the Fra- ser Institute. While the numbers are trou- bling, they're not actually the problem. e problem is that when em- ployees have a serious illness and require medical care, they are regularly forced to wait. In fact, Canadians experience the longest wait times for health care in the developed world, according to the Fraser Institute. Likewise, wait times for specialist care are at an all-time high. From both an employee and employer perspective, this lack of timely access to appropriate care undermines both parties' efforts to help employees who are on medical leave recover and return to work. Research has repeatedly indi- cated that wait times for medically necessary treatments are not be- nign inconveniences. Wait times can have serious consequences such as increased pain, suffering and mental an- guish. In some instances, they can also result in poorer medi- cal outcomes — transforming potentially reversible illnesses or injuries into chronic, irreversible conditions or even permanent disabilities. e impact of delayed access to care is especially significant when you consider that more than two- thirds (68 per cent) of Canadians have taken time off due to disabil- ity at some point in their career, according to RBC. CLAC provides members with access to specialist care CLAC is a national union repre- senting more than 60,000 work- ers in almost every sector of the Canadian economy. e CLAC group benefits plan (Western Canada) provides coverage to more than 22,000 participants covered by CLAC collective agreements. e union partners with Man- ulife to provide short- and long- term disability case management services. In 2018, Manulife added Medi- cal Confidence, an organization focused on offering Canadian consumers timely access to spe- cialist care, to its roster of services available to support a disability claim. is addition recognized that navigating the health-care sys- tem has become more and more challenging for patients. In turn, delays in accessing care are in- creasingly costly for employees, employers and insurers. Effective, quality solutions that not only support the wellness of the employee but also demon- strate an ability to help manage or reduce the costs associated with employee absences from work and the management of the plans themselves help alleviate this burden. From CLAC's perspective, the new program supports its com- mitment to member well-being. It knows there is a tremendous amount of anxiety and fear as- sociated with receiving a critical diagnosis and then being unable to work. It can be a lonely and scary time for many employees. As a result, CLAC welcomes approaches that help members feel like there is a team behind them. It wants each member to be empowered to make informed, confident decisions related to their health and their particular situation. Candidate members for the program are identified in consul- tation with their Manulife case managers who review details such as location, barriers to treatment and potential length of wait for specialist care. If the case manger feels the ad- ditional support might be help- ful, the member is offered access to the Medical Confidence team, but participation is not manda- tory — when members are feeling vulnerable, it's important for them to have choices. When a member accesses the service, they receive education and coaching from a nurse to help them understand their medical condition. A health-care navigator lever- ages the company's database of more than 16,000 Canadian phy- sician specialists to map out the most appropriate specialist can- didates to the member's medi- cal need, geographic location and the specialists' practice and availability. e nurse then works with the member's primary care practitio- ner to co-ordinate the referral to the selected specialist. Requisitions for any required testing and imaging are also co- ordinated by the Medical Confi- dence team. e team then secures the ear- liest possible appointments and helps the member prepare for their appointments. Following the appointment, the nurse reviews the specialist's con- sultation report with the member, schedules treatment and answers any employee questions along the way. Impressive results after launch Each of Manulife's representa- tives were fully trained ahead of the launch of the new program, ensuring they felt confident in- tegrating the program into their existing toolbox. Feedback from the case managers has indicated that the program was easy to introduce and the rollout was seamless. Since the launch of the pro- gram at the end of 2018, 11 CLAC members have worked with the Medical Confidence team. To date, access to the new ser- vices has resulted in savings of an estimated 2,425 wait days (actual days waited minus the estimated wait time without Medical Con- fidence services), meaning mem- bers accessed physician specialist care an average of 245 days sooner than they would have without that support. At CLAC, the goal is to provide exceptional support to members during all the phases of their work life. e option to work with a team such as Medical Confidence helps ensure they are accessing the best care they can, when they need it and as soon as possible. is partnership has had a posi- tive impact on CLAC members, and the union has been encour- aged by both the hard and soft cost savings it's seen in a relatively short amount of time. With such tremendous return on investment for both members and the organization, the union looks forward to the program's continued benefits. Angela Johnson, founder and presi- dent of Medical Confidence in Rich- mond Hill, Ont., wrote this article in collaboration with CLAC. For more information, visit www.medicalcon- fidence.com. 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