Abysmal mental health and a shift in consumer trends are driving health-tech adoption and success in workplaces across B.C.
“In the last couple of months, we’ve seen the well-being index drop to a level that we had not seen since the beginning days of the pandemic,” Telus Health chief mental health officer Dr. Matthew Chow told BIV.
Telus Health, a division of Telus Corp. (TSX: T), provides a range of health services to a variety of organizations. Among these services is a mental health support platform that connects employers and employees with a network of counsellors.
Burnout and fatigue at work have been on the rise, as have sick leaves and disability claims, said Chow.
Based on the platform’s mental health index—which tracks the well-being of thousands of employees each month across Canada—the state of mental health is where it was at the beginning of the pandemic.
The need for more mental health resources could be one of the main factors driving innovation in health-tech, which Dr. Chow says is thriving in B.C.
The use of health-tech in the workplace is also increasing, as is the application of AI to reduce wait times for family doctors or support therapy.
One key change is a shift in the way consumers expect to access health care after the pandemic.
Prior to COVID, there was a provider-centred model where people looked for services directly, explained Chow. Today, people expect to receive services where they are, using their phones.
“We’re seeing an explosion in the use of those types of services, and I would expect that that’s just going to continue to grow,” he said.
Access to information is also making people more aware of their health.
If someone gets a blood test, they expect to see the result on their phone and to be able to talk to someone about that result, said Chow.
That level of access isn’t always possible in a health-care system in crisis.
One local startup is trying to tackle an acute systemic pain point—long wait times—head on.
Victoria-based HiBoop offers an app and desktop self-assessment screening platform that expedites diagnoses for patients suffering from mental health.
“We want to take what could be 11 years to get a more comprehensive assessment, to 11 days,” CEO Jason Morehouse told BIV.
According to the National Institutes of Health, the time between when initial symptoms of mental illness present themselves and treatment can sometimes take over 10 years. That, Morehouse said, it is way too long.
HiBoop’s assessment questions are generated by an algorithm, which provides health-care providers with insights into a patient’s condition.
Once the assessment is completed, the algorithm then reports and guides the caregiver to what the issue could be and where to start treatment. It can also track the efficacy of prescribed therapies and pharmaceuticals.
A clinical pilot program with six health-care providers is ongoing to collect feedback and tune the HiBoop platform based on its interaction with patients. The feedback, Morehouse says, has been outstanding so far.
When asked if the platform could also be used as a workplace resource, Morehouse said there is no shortage of areas for expansion.
HiBoop director of client success Madeline Geneau, who previously worked with Telus Health’s employee assistance program (EAP), added that outcome measures are more important than ever in employee wellness programming—something the startup’s platform could facilitate.
“Health-care professionals, whether they are EAP counsellors or virtual-care providers, could use our tools to easily and efficiently collect assessment data over time and use these insights to inform their programming,” explained Geneau.
Morehouse, who has been in the tech sector for over 25 years, founded the company in 2024 after going through his own mental health struggles.
“I couldn’t get any resources, which as we know in Canada is hard,” he said. “To get an assessment for ADHD is either private, $2,000 or you’re going to spend 18 months on a waiting list.”
The impact of innovation in the sector is multifold, said Chow: It not only provides support, but also spurs more innovation and attempts to overcome the numerous issues found across the health sector.
“We’ve got millions of Canadians without a family doctor. We’ve got 20-hour waits in the emergency department,” he said.
“We need to do better, and the only way we’re going to do better, especially given global health-care worker shortages, is to innovate.”
Estimates vary, but Chow said there are around 800,000 people in the province without a family doctor.
And while there may be greater need for innovation and increased activity in health-tech, he said he has witnessed some backsliding toward provider-centred care.
The system as it is, he added, is not sustainable.
“When your health system spending is growing at 15 times the rate of growth of your economy, it does not take an economist to figure out that’s not sustainable growth,” Chow explained.
