Manulife Financial has launched Health Management Services, a new service to help plan sponsors manage their benefits costs.
The new service offers employers a “unique and practical solution that takes the traditional approach of promoting employee health and wellness two steps further,” according to a release from the company.
Health Management Services creates an analysis of group health data that give employers an overview of key health costs and metrics for the common chronic diseases and risk factors in their employee population, and it includes the Workplace Health Profile, Manulife’s proprietary assessment tool based on workplace health models promoted by Health Canada, the World Health Organization and the National Quality Institute.
“Employers don’t always consider the larger picture of workforce health and its impact on health and disability claims,” explains Christine MacDonald, Manulife’s assistant vice-president of Health Management Services. “But it’s crucial to have this broad understanding. Employers need to ask themselves, ‘What’s behind the data? Can we make changes that will help support our employees to be healthier or safer on the job? Will these changes make a difference in our benefits plan costs?’”
Health Management Services is currently available to Manulife group benefits clients with 400 or more active plan members and is designed for plan sponsors with high drug and disability benefit utilization, as well as those looking for assistance with the elements that are driving their benefits plan cost and utilization.