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Surgery Backlogs Remain

While the provinces ramp up the number of surgeries and procedures to pre-pandemic levels, significant backlogs and longer than recommended wait times remain, says an Eckler ‘Group News.’ Citing a study?by the Canadian Institute for Health Information which looked at trends over the first 18 months of the pandemic, it says wait times for priority surgeries and diagnostic tests fluctuated with each wave of the pandemic and created deepening backlogs. For example, even though wait times for elective surgery decreased over the 18-month period between April 2020 and September 2021, patients experienced delays for cataract, hip, and joint replacements, as resources were prioritized for more urgent procedures like hip fracture repair, radiation therapy, and cancer surgery. The study found that only 51 per cent of patients were treated within the recommended time frame of 182 days for hip and knee replacements in the first months of the pandemic. Those numbers gradually improved between April and September 2021 to 62 per cent of patients, compared to 71 per cent before the pandemic. Wait times for MRI scans were generally shorter after the first wave than before the pandemic, while wait times for CT scans remained the same. Although the volume of diagnostic imaging scans dropped by over 20 per cent during the first wave from April to September 2020, between October 2020 and September 2021, wait times for MRI scans were shorter by four to five days when compared with the pre-pandemic period. Noteworthy, however, is the variation in wait times among the provinces. Between April and September 2021, median wait times for MRI scans were six to 27 days shorter compared with pre-pandemic wait times in Prince Edward Island, Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Alberta and 11 and 30 days longer in Manitoba and Nova Scotia, respectively. The delays in wait times for procedures can prevent plan members from returning to work in a timely manner and can have a consequential effect on follow-up doctor’s appointments and potential therapy needed during the recovery period. As a result, private disability plans may experience additional cost pressures.

Demographics Support Employee Challenges

Many employers are having a challenging time recruiting new employees and the demographics of the Canadian workforce suggests things are not expected to get any better anytime soon, says Dean Newell, a vice-president at Actuarial Solutions Inc.?The unemployment rate in Canada was 5.1 per cent in May 2022, the lowest it has been in a generation. Furthermore, the baby-boomer generation is transitioning into retirement which means employers will face more challenges in recruiting employees than in times past.?For many employers, pension plans are becoming a strategic initiative used to attract and retain employees s they provide employees with a mechanism to save for retirement on a tax effective basis; give them the ability to retire by providing a pension; and increase the financial well-being of their employees and reducing the financial stress on employees trying to save for retirement. He says they are currently working with a number of clients to implement changes to their pension offering.?However, the influence of an ultra-competitive labour market on the plan design may be seen soon. “To be clear, we are not seeing a reversal of the longstanding trend for clients to move away from sponsoring single-employer defined benefit pension plans – even though today’s higher interest rates and the relaxing of the solvency funding rules in many jurisdictions does make sponsoring a defined benefit pension plan easier today than a decade ago.?With that said, we are seeing our clients express interest in exploring the potential to outsource their pension offerings to providers like the?CAAT Pension Plan,?Blue Pier, or other jointly sponsored pension plans,” he says. And it may just be a matter of time until these offerings gain broad-based appeal from employers who typically provide a defined contribution pension benefit to provide their employees with a lifetime pension without taking on the typical risks associated with a single-employer defined benefit pension plan.

For details on these stories, visit www.bpmmagazine.com

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