Manulife Leading Five Pilot Programs for New Treatments

Providing Innovative Treatment in Mental Health and Musculoskeletal Disorders to Improve Quality of Life

Waterloo, ON (Nov. 30, 2017) – Manulife today announced five pilot programs designed to find new and innovative ways to deliver treatment to its plan members in group benefits. These programs aim to deliver quicker access to treatment in the areas of mental health and musculoskeletal disorders.¹

By exploring innovative treatments in these areas, Manulife hopes to improve quality of life and shorten recovery times for plan members. This in turn may help plan sponsors benefit from having employees back at work sooner, potentially reducing their costs associated with disability, and delivering added value for employers.

The pilots are being carried out in collaboration with leading providers in their respective fields, including CBT Associates and UHN Altum Health in partnership with Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).  Each pilot offers a different combination of rapid and more personalized treatment, allowing plan members to benefit from a wider array of treatment options than are currently available, based on their varied needs.

The five pilot programs are:

Mental Health Conditions:

1. Direct access to virtual cognitive behavioural therapy to help make it easier for plan members to cope with their mental health struggles 
2. In-person and digitally‑delivered therapy to help plan members dealing with mental health issues
3. Earlier, specialized and collaborative care to help plan members suffering from major depression
4. Pharmacogenetic testing to help speed up plan member treatment

Musculoskeletal Disorders:

5. Earlier, intensive treatment to help plan members with recovery

Manulife is working with some of Canada’s top healthcare providers to make best-in-class technology and treatment options accessible to our plan members, so they can return to health faster, and bring their best to work each day,” said Cori Lawson-Roberts, Assistant Vice-President, National Disability Services at Manulife.

“UHN Altum Health and CAMH believe in Manulife’s approach, that multidisciplinary and collaborative care is key to putting members with a mental health condition on the path to recovery and getting their lives back,” added Sylvia Boddener, Senior Director, Altum Programs & Quality at Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

The pilots will run for twelve months, with the results expected to be released sometime in Winter 2019. To find out more about each of these pilot programs, and other initiatives Manulife has undertaken, please contact Manulife directly, or consult Advance Hub for more detailed information.

Notes

¹ Injuries or pain, such as low back pain, neck strain or carpal tunnel, caused by repetitive movements, uncomfortable posture or from carrying heavy loads.

About Manulife

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services group that helps people achieve their dreams and aspirations by putting customers’ needs first and providing the right advice and solutions. We operate primarily as John Hancock in the United States and Manulife elsewhere. We provide financial advice, insurance, as well as wealth and asset management solutions for individuals, groups and institutions. At the end of 2016, we had approximately 35,000 employees, 70,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving more than 22 million customers. As of September 30, 2017, we had over $1 trillion (US$806 billion) in assets under management and administration, and in the previous 12 months we made $27.1 billion in payments to our customers. Our principal operations are in Asia, Canada and the United States where we have served customers for more than 100 years. With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we trade as ‘MFC’ on the Toronto, New York, and the Philippine stock exchanges and under ‘945’ in Hong Kong.

SOURCE: Manulife Financial Corporation