Medaca Health Group Expands Canada's Leading Psychiatry-based Workplace Mental Health Service

TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - December 08, 2016) - Medaca Health Group, Canada's leading psychiatry-based early intervention service for workplace mental health, today announced a number of enhancements to its treatment platform.

Medaca's network of over 100 of Canada's top psychiatrists, assists employers and insurers to support employees with mental illnesses. Through its flagship TeamCare™ service, psychiatrists work with family physicians to provide rapid access, accurate diagnosis and specialized treatment in the early stages of employee illness. Since 2005, this innovative early intervention approach has helped employees return to health and work faster¹, resulting in reduced disability and productivity costs for their employers. Access to psychiatrists is by far the best in the market today.

Medaca's TeamCare™ service has been expanded to provide the following suite of services:

TeamCare Stay at Work™ - Working with the employer to embed psychometrics into wellness and employee survey tools, we help identify employees at high risk or in the early stages of clinical mental illness and, when necessary, provide rapid access and treatment to foster recovery. Employees receive the help they need to stay at work, avoiding costly absenteeism, presenteeism and disability costs.

TeamCare Early LTD™ - Tailored to fit more complex situations, TeamCare Early LTD™ assists insurance claimants in the later stages of short-term disability (STD) or early in the long-term disability (LTD) period. With effective, sustained treatment, claimants recover and return to work. This significantly reduces employer disability costs.

TeamCare FR™ - Psychiatrists and psychologists with expertise diagnosing and treating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), team up with family physicians to co-ordinate care for first responders and veterans.

"I have known Medaca since its inception," says Bill Wilkerson, Executive Chairman of Mental Health International (successor to the Business and Economic Roundtable for Addiction and Mental Health -- the roundtable operated from 1998 to 2014) and a globally-recognized thought leader on mental health in society and the workplace.

"It is focused on a simple, yet innovative premise. Like any other serious medical illnesses -- for example heart disease, cancer, diabetes -- mental illnesses require early diagnosis and treatment. With effective treatment, employees will recover to health and work. With delay, the illness will worsen and costs will increase dramatically. Canada is in the midst of a workplace mental health crisis that costs employers $20 billion a year. We need more solutions like this."

"Early intervention by medical specialists is critical to the workplace mental health challenge," says the Honourable Michael Wilson. A long-time advocate of mental health in Canada, Mr. Wilson is chair of the Mental Health Commission of Canada and former CEO of the Economic and Business Roundtable on Addiction and Mental Health and also the former federal Finance Minister and Canadian ambassador to the United States. "I applaud efforts to help insurers and employers provide access and care to employees. Mentally healthy employees are critical to helping organizations improve their strength and performance. This will become even more important as we move further into a brain-based economy."

Medaca Health Group (medaca.ca) was created in 2005 to assist insurers and employers manage the emerging workplace mental health crisis. The National Post described it as the "first company of its kind in Canada…it could not have come at a better time." For 12 years, its flagship TeamCare™ service has provided accurate diagnosis and effective treatment for thousands of employees in the early stages of absence with a mental illness. TeamCare™ has consistently reduced duration of disability. It helps 90 percent of the employees it sees return to work before they transition to LTD.¹ It has also supported employer efforts to manage productivity and presenteeism resulting from the most serious health issue in the workplace today.

OTHER QUOTES:

Dr. Richard Guscott, Chief Medical Officer

"We are proud or our team of psychiatrists, who have helped deliver the most innovative medical model in workplace mental health," says Dr. Richard Guscott, Medaca's Chief Medical Officer. "In 2005, we were a voice in the wilderness. As the understanding of mental illness has developed, the demand for our work has grown. Our medical team feel privileged to help with this serious issue."

Chris Anderson, President

"We focus on the health of the employee," adds Chris Anderson, Medaca's president. "That's our guiding philosophy. If we can help an employee, everyone wins. Employees return to health and work. Employers get a healthy employee, reducing disability and productivity costs. Insurers offer early access to and treatment by specialists in a country with an acute shortage of psychiatrists. Family physicians receive psychiatric back-up that is largely absent in our health care system today."

¹ Cost, Effectiveness and Cost Effectiveness of a Collaborative Mental Health Program for People Receiving Short-Term Disability Benefits for Psychiatric Disorders - University of Toronto, CAMH - June, 2009