2020 in Review:
Medavie Blue Cross supports pandemic relief, community wellbeing with new initiatives
Posted by Medavie Blue Cross on January 07, 2021
The events of 2020 will forever stay in our minds at Medavie as one of the most challenging and transformational periods in our history.
Meeting Needs
From our mobile COVID-19 testing clinics to our COVID-19 Relief Fund and the premium relief we offered our business clients, we supported the wellbeing of our communities and efforts to reduce the spread of the virus, while continuing to meet the health care needs of Canadians.
Expanded & Enhanced
For Medavie Blue Cross, 2020 was a year of accelerated initiatives and proactive responses to the pandemic, as we continued to make significant investments in technology and innovation, while maintaining our strong customer focus.
A review of Medavie Blue Cross initiatives in 2020 shows how, in the face of intense business pressures and health and safety concerns, we were able to enhance and expand our offering for our plan sponsors and their members. We did so with three main goals in mind: to make it easier to do business with us; to give optimum value for every benefit dollar spent and to provide the best, most immediate care possible.
2020 Highlights
Here are just some of our highlights from the past year.
Product & Service Launches
Optional Benefits — Optional Benefits provides extra protection against the financial impacts of a sudden, serious illness, injury or death and adds real value to your employee benefits package — at no cost to your organization. Benefits include critical illness, life insurance and accidental death & dismemberment, with new additions in store for 2021.
Rxperience — The new standard in flexible drug plan management, Rxperience is comprehensive and flexible solution designed to give clients an opportunity to take control of their health benefit challenges. Starting with increased standardized core benefits, Rxperience offers broader drug coverage, open access to traditional drug benefits and specialty drug management with less administration and more cost-savings. Look forward to more enhancements to our drug management solutions in 2021.
Online Doctors — Among the ways we strengthened our digital health offering in 2020 was by introducing a new Online Doctors group benefit to allow plan members greater flexibility and access to virtual consultations with licensed physicians. Online Doctors is also among the suite of services we offer through our digital health platform, Connected Care, which offers innovative, convenient health care options exclusively to members at preferred pricing.
Virtual Physio — A new addition to Connected Care is our new online rehabilitation service, providing all the benefits of in-person physiotherapy and featuring convenient assessment and customized treatment. In addition to Virtual Physio and Online Doctors, Connected Care’s offering includes Digital Therapy (online guided mental health support) and Personalized Medicine (pharmacogenetic testing). Watch for new services to be added in 2021.
My Home Rx — My Home Rx allows members to access their prescriptions for maintenance drugs through our home delivery services, which are available at no charge to all plan members and their families.
Medavie Mobile — To remove barriers and give members easier, faster access to expert care, we expanded and enhanced our offering that included upgrading our Medavie Mobile app and extending coverage for virtual care services and mental health supports.
Member Experience
Members First program — We launched a new program that ensures we “listen, learn and act” on feedback, helping us understand and meet our members’ needs through the pandemic and beyond.
Medavie Benefits + — We introduced a new client experience concept in health benefits sales and service, with the opening of Medavie Benefits +, a walk-in benefits and wellness centre in Halifax, and a first for Canada’s health insurance industry. The centre integrates digital tools and health education to help members become full partners in their health care.
COVID-19 Response
Financial relief — We offered financial relief options for small- and medium-sized businesses to help ease their financial burden during the pandemic, lowering premiums by as much as 50% on dental visits, health, drugs and extended health benefits.
Client check-ins — We strive to make sure that quality is rooted in every interaction with Medavie Blue Cross and to deliver exceptional customer service. To illustrate, our team made over 60,000 calls at the outset of the pandemic to check in with our clients, and ask: “How are you doing?” The goal was simply to show our clients that we care and that we are here to support them.
Travel claims — Our contact centre responded to thousands of inquiries from traveling members. In March alone, we answered more than 58,000 calls and opened more than 1,800 trip cancellation claims.
COVID-19 Microsite — We created dedicated web content to help members understand impact on their coverage, and a dedicated website presence to help clients to get the most up-to-date information on the crisis.
Other Noteworthy Items
- We hosted Benefits Together, a national, state-of-the-art virtual conference for an important dialogue on the major issues impacting our industry and featuring Gold medalist Hayley Wickenheiser, Superbowl Champion Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and UFC champion Georges St-Pierre (GSP) as keynote speakers.
- We launched Living Well Hub, offering the latest information and expert advice on health and wellness to help Canadians lead healthier, fuller lives This B2C online centre complements our B2B Insights blog.
- Medavie Blue Cross was named Finalist for The Advocis Award for Life & Health Insurer of the Year for excellence in Canada’s life and health insurance industry.
- The events of 2020 underscored the importance of helping one another, especially our most vulnerable and at-risk community members. That’s why, through our Foundation, we committed $5 million to support organizations with COVID-19 emergency relief and recovery efforts, with a focus on food security and mental health. Guided by our values of caring, accountable, responsive, innovative and community-minded, and our mission of improving the wellbeing of Canadians, we look forward to working with you in 2021 toward our shared goal of building safe, healthy and productive workplaces.
Medavie Blue Cross is a premier all-in-one carrier that provides health, dental, travel, life and disability benefits and administers federal and provincial government-sponsored health programs. Together with Medavie Health Services, we are part of Medavie, a health solutions partner committed to improving the wellbeing of Canadians. We are in the...