Two years after GreenShield Canada integrated its health services and benefits into one platform for plan members, the insurer has seen significant positive health outcomes.
Through the platform, plan members who arrive looking for a service such as internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy or fitness coaching are nudged to speak with a counsellor, who directs them to other available resources through their plan that match their needs.
Plan members can choose their counsellor, because research has found making that decision makes them seven-times more likely to progress clinically, said Mike Mousseau, the organization’s mental-health programs and business development manager, during a session at Benefits Canada’s 2026 Vancouver Benefits Summit.
Since GreenShield introduced the platform, it has seen a 64 per cent decrease in mental-health claims and a 14 per cent decrease in drug claims, he said, estimating that translates to about $240,000 per year in savings for a 5,000-member group.
Integrated care is so effective because it leverages behavioural science insights, said Mousseau. Research has found Canadians spend 2.5-times more time navigating the public health-care system than actually accessing it — and as a result, seven in 10 say they’ve put off necessary care. As well, despite many plan members saying they’d switch jobs for better mental-health coverage and major mental-health investments by plan sponsors, insurers and health organizations in recent years, there are still “failed solutions in the market today.”
Read: 2022 Mental Health Summit: The role of digital solutions in accessing mental-health supports
In addition, access alone isn’t enough, he said, noting people aren’t likely to engage when faced with fragmented and inconvenient systems since it creates decision fatigue. He also said any new benefit is essentially plan sponsors asking members to make a behavioural change — something the brain will actively resist once it becomes used to a certain routine. “The whole signal in your head is going to be [that change is] a threat.”
When plan members need support, whether for their mental or physical health, it’s often when they’re under stress, said Mousseau, a moment when their brain isn’t primed to make a rational decision.
“Integration, I believe, creates a decrease in your cognitive load and emotional load. When everything is accessible . . . and maybe even guided towards you, there’s no friction. We’re using biology to push a lot of these health outcomes and behavioural changes.”
Read more coverage of the 2026 Vancouver Benefits Summit.