Navigating the rise in chronic disease – solutions to support a healthier workplace

Key Findings

The incidence of chronic disease – such as diabetes, arthritis, respiratory and cardiovascular conditions – is on the rise. Today, more employees are managing chronic health conditions than ever before. Here are some of our key findings:

• Almost half (45.1%) of Canadians live with at least one major chronic disease.¹
• Chronic diseases cost Canadian individuals and employers $122 billion annually in indirect income and productivity losses.²
• Younger plan members are increasingly impacted.³ Chronic disease drug claims have grown the most for those under 30 years of age. Women’s claims for diabetes drugs are growing 40% faster than men’s claims.⁴
• Digital solutions and new personalized health coaching can significantly improve employee health and minimize the impact of chronic disease on the workplace.

Helping you support your employees

The effects of chronic disease extend beyond just the individual. Disability, absenteeism, lost productivity and the costs of drugs and other treatments can all have a big impact on your organization and plan costs.

The good news is that if employees are able to manage their chronic conditions, the impacts to their health and your workplace can be significantly reduced. However, optimally managing a chronic condition is often not easy. That’s why our focus is on developing solutions to support you and your employees. Many of these solutions involve no cost to you.

Here are two important solutions we offer to help prevent and manage chronic disease

• Lumino Health^TM Pharmacy,⁵ provided by Pillway,⁶ including chronic disease coaching⁷
• Lumino Health Centre

Plan members who live in Québec have access to pharmacy services provided by Pharmacie Abd-El-Monem Osman, Inc. through the Lumino Health Platform.⁸

Staying informed

We encourage you to read and share our new report – Chronic disease in the workplace – New insights and strategies to support employee health.

We’ve outlined key solutions available to help you support employees in managing their conditions and remaining healthy and productive at work. As your Best in Health partner, we’re here to work with you to support the health of your employees.

Questions? We’re here to help.

Please contact your Sun Life Group Benefits representative to find out more about the solutions that are right for your workplace.

¹Statistics Canada, Health of Canadians, 2023

²Government of Canada. Evaluation of the Healthy Living and Chronic Disease Prevention – Multi-Sectoral Partnerships (MSP) Program 2014-15 to 2018-19

³Sun Life claims data

⁴Sun Life claims data

^TMUsed under license by Simpill Health Group Inc.

⁵Pharmacy services are provided by Pillway.

⁶SHG Pharmacy Inc. and SHG West Pharmacy Inc., doing business as Pillway pharmacies, are partially owned by Simpill Health Group Inc. For your information, and as a point of disclosure, Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada has partial ownership in Simpill Health Group Inc.

⁷Support Team members are from Pillway and LifestyleRx and include pharmacists, physicians, and registered dieticians. At this time, coaching for Québec-based plan members is not available due to provincial regulations.

⁸For employees who live in the province of Québec, Lumino Health online platform connects plan member to pharmacy services which are provided by Pharmacie Abd-El-Monem Osman, Inc.