EQ Care will become TELUS Health Virtual Care as of April 27, 2022, Quebec Blue Cross reported in the April 5, 2022 edition of InsuranceINTEL Weekly, a sister publication of Insurance Portal.
In its announcement, the insurer told its customers and group plan members that the migration to the new virtual care entity will have little impact on them. For example, plan members will be able to use the same logins as before to access the new platform through their mobile application or web portal.
Starting April 27, 2022, the transition from EQ Care to TELUS Health Virtual Care will occur when clients access their web portal or download the TELUS Health application. TELUS will maintain the EQ Care service “until all eligible clients have had the opportunity to transfer to the new TELUS Health Virtual Care platform,” says Quebec Blue Cross.
Through EQ Care, TELUS Health is partnering with Benefits Alliance Group, Hub International and Sun Life to offer virtual care. The telecom titan launched its virtual pharmacy earlier this year.
Logical follow-up to acquisition
The name change is a logical next step after the acquisition of the EQ Care telemedicine platform, completed in December 2020. Daniel Martz, founder of EQ Care, is now president of TELUS Health Virtual Care and Vice-President, Virtual Care.
He told Insurance Portal by email that the organization has been working hard to bring together the best features of its virtual health services, “to ensure not only a seamless experience for all current clients, but also a more robust and thoughtful service for any Canadian organization.” He adds that “the integration also included streamlining to one brand.”
Expanding depth
The president of TELUS Health Virtual Care points out that his company is taking advantage of the integration to expand the breadth and depth of its virtual health care service. On April 28, 2021, TELUS announced the launch of a national employer-focused virtual health care service designed to bring together the best-in-class features of Akira by TELUS Health and EQ Care. According to TELUS Health, the new service would serve 2.8 million Canadians with access to over 500 professionals.
The company calls its virtual health care service the first in Canada to allow secure sharing of patient data with 30,000 clinicians providing patient care who use TELUS Health's electronic medical record solution. “By connecting care teams across the health ecosystem we are improving the patient’s continuity of care,” says Martz.
21 per cent of mental health requests
Martz also mentioned that TELUS Virtual Health Care offers a digital tool that provides easy access to personalized care 24/7. “As demand for virtual care continues to surge in Canada, it is one of our primary areas of focus which perfectly aligns with our vision of increasing access to care and improving the experience for Canadians,” he explains.
Requests to TELUS Virtual Healthcare rose by 24 per cent between 2020 and 2021, he adds, noting that mental health consultations accounted for 21 per cent of requests in 2021.
