Evolving our disability solutions improves outcomes

With the growing complexity of disability management, we remain focused on finding opportunities to promote early intervention and recovery – and refining our model to address new trends.

Here are some recent initiatives we’ve taken to help address the increasing complexity of claims:

• Innovation in gathering holistic health information. Our use of the innovative Psychosocial Questionnaire provides us with a comprehensive view of a plan member’s health. It helps us identify new, crucial information, potential barriers to recovery, and tailored supports that can achieve an optimal health outcome.
• Faster access to specialty care. We can quickly connect our plan members to specialist care through our partnership with Medical Confidence. Through this process, we’ve been able to reduce average wait times to see a specialist by 360 days.¹
• A specialized case management model. The assessments, supports, and treatments needed in the short term can differ significantly from those in the later stages of disability. As a result, we’re seeing an increasing need for specialization at these different stages. Throughout 2026, we’ll be transitioning Disability Case Managers and Disability Managers to one of two areas of specialization: short-term disability/salary continuation or long-term disability.
  
  This approach will help us maintain efficiency and service quality, while deepening case management expertise in this changing disability landscape. As well, it allows us to support product-specific complexities and better target return-to-work strategies.
  
  We will reach out to you directly if any changes affect your plan. No action is required from you at this time.
  
  
• Digital claims innovation. We’ve digitized information gathering from health-care practitioners. This reduces time to complete a request by over 40%. We’ve developed intuitive digital forms for our plan members in our long-duration portfolio to make it easier and faster to provide regular updates. In addition, we’ve enabled our Disability team to leverage our provider search to quickly identify health practitioners that best meet a plan member’s needs.
• Back-to-work supports. When a plan member transitions back to work, we’ve built free employer and employee toolkits (containing videos, handbooks, and our research report) that outline best practices and clarify roles, expectations and legal obligations. 

Better support, enhanced sustainability

These innovations represent some of the key ways we’re tackling case complexities to promote early intervention and support faster recoveries. We’ll continue to evolve and enhance our offerings to ensure the long-term sustainability of your plan while providing improved supports for plan members.

Questions? We’re here to help.

Please contact your Sun Life Group Benefits representative.

¹Cumulative average for the 2024-2025 calendar years, as measured and reported by Medical Confidence. Wait days saved are measured based on confirmed wait times for appointments with a specialist (where a specialist referral was already in place) or using published research on median regional and provincial wait times (where a specialist referral was not already in place). Wait days saved don’t reflect the additional savings associated with Medical Confidence coordinating tests and investigations before the first specialist appointment. They also don’t reflect any additional time a plan member may have waited for a specialist referral, without the involvement of Medical Confidence.