GreenShield Insurance, GreenShield Health and GreenShield Administration, which together serve approximately seven million Canadians, have come together to publish the non-profit company’s inaugural Health Outcomes Report. Focused on telemedicine and mental health, the whitepaper reveals a 132 per cent increase in the number of mental health claims made since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with a 14 per cent rise in chronic disease-related drug claims.
One in five Canadians do not have regular access to a primary care physician, they add; the average wait time to see a publicly funded mental health counsellor is 31 days.
Disability claims
The report looks at the resulting direct costs (health care costs, medications and reactive mental health services, along with short term and long-term disability claims), indirect costs (absenteeism, presenteeism) and employee turnover – 50 per cent of full-time employees have quit their jobs in the past for mental health reasons. Among those who stay, 62 per cent of their missed workdays can be attributed to poor mental health, with an average of 12 days lost per employee, each year.
Digital healthcare solutions offered by employers’ benefits plans, however, are filling those gaps, they add, noting that 97 per cent of all employee assistance program (EAP) counselling appointments in 2023 were accessed virtually.
Virtual mental health services
Younger employees and women are the top users of digital workplace health supports. Employees between 25 and 34 account for 35 per cent of virtual mental health service users and 42 per cent of telemedicine users; 75 per cent of all mental health service use is by women, who also make up 52 per cent of all telemedicine users.
“Employees continue to face barriers to accessing health care while health care costs to employers rise,” the report states. “There is a distinct need for better digital health solutions in the workplace.”
