1 A SPECIAL SECTION OF THE CALGARY HERALD

A SPECIAL SECTION OF THE CALGARY HERALD
– CORPORATE PROFILE –
Copeman Healthcare
has introduced a
highly personalized and
service-focused
approach to personal,
family and corporate
health care that
delivers excellence in
prevention and health
management.
Calgary’s leader in private family care
THE COPEMAN HEALTHCARE
CENTRE set a new standard for primary
care in Alberta when it opened the doors
of its Calgary Centre in October 2008.
The centre was developed to offer each
client a personalized and expert team of
professionals focused on all aspects of his
or her health.
The state-of-the-art, centrally located
17,000-square-foot facility was expanded
in 2011, and a second Alberta location
opened in Edmonton in May 2012.
Copeman Healthcare has created a
Western Canadian network of doctors,
specialized professionals and researchers
to develop and implement some of the
most advanced programs of screening,
diagnosis, prevention and health management available in the world today.
According to founder and CEO Don
Copeman, the company began with a
simple premise — to deliver unparalleled
access to medical expertise while providing each patient with a highly personalized and “unhurried” experience.
In addition to expert doctors, the
centres are staffed with a complementary
team that includes psychologists, psychiatrists, neuro-psychologists, physiotherapists, registered dietitians, kinesiologists,
exercise medicine specialists, nurses,
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Options | Fall 2012
health coaches and other specialized professionals who work together for the early
detection and treatment of disease.
The centres offer the only program of
its kind, recognizing that complete wellness must address all three areas of physical, psychological and brain health.
Copeman’s brain health program is the
first of its kind and is focused on early
intervention for age- and disease-related
cognitive decline.
Copeman Healthcare has become
Canada’s leader in collaborative, teambased health care, but the services and
technologies it has developed are now being shaped for implementation throughout the world.
One of the centre’s greatest contributions to the field of prevention and health
management is its computerized Health
Management System, which is a secure,
online personal health record combined
with sophisticated risk assessments, health
surveillance and self-management tools.
Changes in laboratory results, measures and lifestyle trigger personalized
reminders about important risk factors
and transmit both positive and negative
trends to the patient’s health team. This
advanced technology is made available to
every client of the centre.
The centre offers a warm and comforting environment, as well as an atmosphere of genuine caring that belies the
size and sophistication of its operations.
“We are committed to a large, expert
staff and the most current science and
technology, but creating a very personalized and highly available service is just as
important to us,” says Copeman.
“We have a simple motto, which is
to treat every client like we would have
our own loved ones treated. Our clients’
health teams are dedicated to them and
committed to looking after every aspect
of their health.”
Although the centre has numerous
subscription programs and services, the
most popular offering is LifePlus, an all
inclusive prevention and health management program.
This service costs $3,900 per adult in
the first year of service and $3,045 per
year thereafter. It includes a comprehensive, four-hour annual health assessment
and a complete package of professional
services to support a client’s individual
health plan. Family programs are also
available and the centre offers one of the
most advanced programs for the prevention of child illnesses available in the
world today.
Name: Copeman Healthcare Centre
Locations:
4th floor, 628 12th Ave. S.W.
Calgary, AB, T2R 0H6
10216 124 St., Suite 700
Edmonton, AB, T5N 4A3
Contact info:
Phone: 403-270-CARE (2273)
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.copemanhealthcare.com
Services: Advanced personal and family health
care; 24/7 physician on call; integrated physical,
psychological and brain health; exercise medicine and physiotherapy; comprehensive health
assessments; corporate wellness; registered
dietitians; concussion management services;
dementia and Alzheimer’s screening; stroke and
brain injury rehabilitation; integrated personal
training; cardiac health and rehabilitation; health
coaching and therapeutic lifestyle change.
By the numbers
Contents
9.5 weeks
Average wait for patients between seeing a
specialist and receiving treatment.
The Fraser Institute
FEATURES
11.8 million
Number of weeks Canadian patients waited in 2011
for non-emergency procedures.
The Private Cost of Public Queues/2012 report, Fraser Institute
11%
of patients experience significant difficulty carrying
on their work or daily routines.
The Private Cost of Public Queues/June 2012, Fraser Institute
$3.29 billion
Annual work-related costs of delays in receiving
treatment, combined with the off-hours value of
patients’ reduced capacities.
4
6
8
10
The Private Cost of Public Queues/June 2012, Fraser Institute
19 weeks
Canada-wide wait times for non-emergency medical
procedures, an increase of more than 50 per cent
since 1996/97.
12
14
Fraser Institute
$200.5 billion
Annual federal and provincial spending on health
care across Canada in 2011, or $5,800 per person.
Canadian Institute for Health Information
80.8 YEARS
Average Canadian life expectancy is 80.8 years,
compared with an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development average of 79.25 years
and a U.S. average of 78.7 years.
OECD
Options
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Making choices
Wait in pain or seek timely surgery – the choice was obvious for a
Calgary woman suffering with debilitating knee pain.
Paying the price
Lengthy wait times for medical treatments are taking their toll on the
Canadian health-care system.
Investing in health
The high cost of replacing executives has many companies working to
keep their high-priced talent healthy.
Conscientious care
Impressed by the thorough care received from her doctor, a Calgary
woman follows her physician into private practice.
Money matters
There are many payment options for private medical care. Some may
even be covered by existing health plans such as Alberta Health Care.
Total package
Treating the whole person in body, mind and spirit is the increasing
focus of many private health-care facilities.
Back to health
A Calgary woman, unable to find a good family doctor, finds help and
health at a private clinic.
Added insurance
Two new insurance options are giving Canadians better access to the
Mayo Clinic.
About time
Accessible health care for a Calgary man and his family led him to a
private health centre.
In stride
A Calgary man is looking forward to his retirement and travelling
after hip replacement surgery has given him back his mobility.
YOUR GUIDE TO PRIVATE MEDICINE
is a special publication of the Calgary Herald
Publication date: Saturday, Aug. 25, 2012
Special Projects Manager:
Barb Livingstone, 403-235-7339
[email protected]
Advertising: Susan Walker, 403-235-8784
Design/cover illustration: Jennifer Worley
CORPORATE PROFILES
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Copeman Healthcare Centre
5
Provital Health & Wellness
11
Canada Diagnostic Centres
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Radiology Consultants Associated
Options | Fall 2012
3
PROFILE
Calgarian Carol Kraychy’s debilitating knee pain led her to a private medical facility in Montana where she had knee replacement surgery in June.
— Wil Andruschak photo
‘You are number one and you know it’
By COLLEEN BIONDI
C
arol Kraychy and her husband have
owned an oil and gas company in
Calgary for 31 years. She served as a
public member on the College of Physicians
and Surgeons of Alberta for 17 years and the
self-described political junkie was an alderman
for Ward 14 for two terms from 1989 to 1995.
She is a proud mother and grandmother and
enjoys exploring the desert land of Arizona.
There is nothing much that could bring
this active 69-year-old down.
But about five years ago, after feeling
progressive and debilitating pain in her left
knee, she checked out local options for knee
replacement surgery. She was put on a list
but couldn’t get information about how long
it would take before her turn came.
“I could’ve been dead by the time I got
called,” she says.
She researched a facility in Phoenix, got
surgery and the worst thing happened.
It didn’t work. The surgeons could not tell
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Options | Fall 2012
Kraychy what had happened. They couldn’t
explain the pain she continued to have or why
rehabilitation was not recovering her function.
A second opinion in Phoenix suggested she
got a knee that was the wrong size for her leg.
She was researching options to redo the knee
when she read an article in an earlier issue of
this magazine about Northwest Healthcare
in Kalispell, Mont. “I started investigating
because I knew I had to do something or live
with this pain for the rest of my life.”
She called Northwest in the spring, explained
she wanted another opinion on her left knee and
was invited down for an assessment. But by this
time, her right knee was hurting more than the
left and it was decided that both needed to be
dealt with, but they would replace the right knee
first due to advanced osteoarthritis. Surgery was
booked for mid-June.
“The experience was phenomenal,” says
Kraychy. She and her husband drove to
Kalispell a few days prior and, after the twohour operation, she stayed in hospital for
three days. She was up and walking almost
immediately post-op. Although nonsteroidal
anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are often
prescribed for pain, they bother Kraychy‘s
stomach so she was given a form of
Oxycontin and a non-narcotic medication.
“You’re not going to be pain free but they are
on top of it.”
Staff at the facility are respectful and
professional. Patients are involved in every
decision and questions are answered fully
and without hesitation. “You are number one
and you know it at Northwest. I have never
seen anything like it in any other hospital
and I have had my medical challenges.”
Now back in Calgary, Kraychy works with
a rehabilitation professional twice weekly and
does daily exercises at home. “There is pain,
but it feels different,” says Kraychy. This is
pain associated with recovery.
Within three to six months, Kraychy will
book surgery back at Northwest for the left
knee. This is called a “revision” and is not
something Kraychy is taking lightly, but
she is determined. She wants her quality of
I had to do something
or live with this pain
for the rest of my life.
life back. “I can’t wait to get back driving,
Nordic pole walking and keeping up with my
family when we go out as a group. I might be
almost 70, but I don’t feel that old.”
The assessment and knee replacement at
Northwest cost $25,000 US (this excludes meals,
gas and hotel). Kraychy and her husband took
the money out of a “rainy-day” fund.
“We take our health for granted, but we have
a choice not to,” says Kraychy. “The issue really
is: how do you want to spend your money?”
Kraychy is choosing to pay for getting well,
and she suggests others do the same.
“You deserve to get a second opinion,” she
says. “Look at your options before you make
a decision.”
– CORPORATE PROFILE –
As part of our ongoing
commitment to growth
and client care, we are
pleased to take this
opportunity to
announce our new
COO, Gary Iley.
Under his leadership we
are looking forward to
building and expanding
Provital to further meet
the long-term needs
of our clients.
Provital Physician & Co-Owner
Dr. Donovan Kreutzer (L-R) Dr. Mariette VanWyk, COO Gary Iley, Dr. Donovan Kreutzer and Dr. Sarit Sengar.
Provital – thorough and collaborative health care
MOVING TO THE United States to
practice medicine was not an option for Dr.
Donovan Kreutzer and Dr. Sarit Sengar.
Working together for years in a busy
hybrid family practice/walk-in clinic in
Calgary, they knew there had to be a better
way to practice the thorough and collaborative medicine they felt their patients
deserved. Critical to that idea was the need
to be able to spend the time each patient
truly required and to focus on two shared
health-care philosophies — practicing both
proactive and preventative medicine.
Dr. Kreutzer and Dr. Sengar wanted a
middle ground and they believe they have
found it with the formation of Provital
Health and Wellness.
The Provital clinic, centrally located in
southwest Calgary, provides what they call
“truly collaborative care.” It includes the
services of three physicians, a naturopathic
doctor, a chiropractor, nurses and specialists such as a dietitian, exercise kinesiologists,
psychologists, massage therapists, a pedorthist
and pharmacist. It also makes referrals to
numerous allied specialists.
“So many health concerns are interrelated that it just makes sense to be able to
provide an integrated, collaborative form
of health care,” says Sengar.
Each client enjoys 24/7 physician availability as well as access to Provital’s team
of specialists, including an initial “comprehensive, head-to-toe health assessment and
tailored health plan” involving the full range
of Provital specialists as a basis for ongoing “preventive and proactive health care.”
Blood tests are drawn on site and sent to
outside labs for analysis as a means of saving
their clients time. When referrals to outside
specialists are required, Kreutzer says,
Provital physicians and staff spend the time
needed to advocate for their clients in order
to help expedite needed consultations.
For this access to Provital’s team of
specialists (including educational seminars,
workshops, bootcamps and more), its clients
do pay an annual fee. Adult fees are $3,900
in the first year and $3,060 a year thereafter,
while children are free. There are also discounted rates for snowbirds and students.
“One of the biggest misconceptions
about our services is that all fees represent
out-of-pocket expenses,” Kreutzer says.
“The reality is that with even a traditional
benefit plan or health-spending account,
our clients can typically recoup a significant
portion of their annual fees, sometimes
even the full amount, as long as they access
the services covered by their plan.”
“We’d like to dispel the myths about who
actually uses health-care services like us,”
Kreutzer says.“It’s not just an option for
the wealthy. It’s simply for those who want
to be proactive with their own health and
want to ensure they get the thorough and
collaborative health care they feel they
deserve. Our clients range from young
families to single professionals to retirees to
companies — and everyone in between.”
“I think the most important thing to know
about our team here at Provital is that we
are all here based on our desire to practice
better collaborative medicine and to deliver
the preventative and proactive health care
our clients and their families deserve.”
Provital’s leadership team has also just
expanded with the recent announcement
of their new COO, Gary Iley, a veteran of
the health-care sector in Alberta. “As part
of our ongoing commitment to growth
and client care, we are pleased to take this
opportunity to announce our new COO,
Gary Iley. Under his leadership we are
looking forward to building and expanding Provital to further meet the long-term
needs of our clients.”
Name: Provital Health and Wellness
Location:
Suite 204, 2031 33rd Ave. S.W.
Calgary, AB, T2T 1Z5
Contact info:
Phone: 403-860-0838
Fax: 403-685-4525
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.provital.ca
Services: Providers of thorough
and collaborative health care services
to individuals, families and corporate clients. Provital provides timely,
preventative & proactive health care,
with the services of family physicians,
naturopathic doctor, chiropractor,
nurses, dietitian, exercise kinesiologists, psychologists, massage therapists, pedorthist and pharmacist on
site — plus numerous allied specialist
partners.
Options | Fall 2012
5
Waiting costs
stress need for
health-care
system overhaul
COVER
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Options | Fall 2012
By BRIAN BURTON
O
ur imperfect health-care system
now costs Canadians $200 billion
per year to maintain — but that
doesn’t count the costs imposed on society
and individuals by treatment delays.
The Fraser Institute, a Vancouver-based
conservative think tank, has for many years
decried wait times for medical treatment
and urged reforms to Canada’s medicare
system. It says queues for treatment amount
to rationing of health care and it backs its
position with yearly statistical reports on
increasing average wait times for procedures
(Waiting Your Turn) and separate estimates
of the hidden costs these waits impose.
In its latest report, The Private Cost of
Public Queues/June 2012, the Fraser Institute calculates that work-related costs of delays in receiving treatment amount to $1.08
billion per year. And it says the off-hours
value of patients’ reduced capacities adds
another $2.21 billion to the tab, for a total
annual cost of some $3.29 billion.
The report does not deduct from its estimate of losses to account for inevitable wait
times in any alternative system. But report
author and Fraser senior fellow Nadeem Esmail says it’s important to measure the entire
cost of waiting for treatment.
“We calculated the wait time in its entirety,”
Esmail confirms. “Waiting for health care imposes important physical and emotional impacts on individuals and we have to recognize
that burden.”
If supporters of the Canadian system are
tempted to call this an overestimate, it’s also
true that Esmail only counts the average
9.5 weeks patients wait for treatment after
seeing a specialist. He attaches no value to
the additional 9.5 weeks of average waiting
time between first seeing a family doctor and
eventual access to a specialist.
This, he says, is because data is less reliable
from general practitioner (GP) to specialist
than from specialist to treatment. Accordingly, he attaches no value to the first waiting
period, even though this could easily more
than double his cost estimate.
“This is a very conservative estimate,” he
says. “It’s really only the tip of the iceberg.
“It’s a measure of the diminished ability to
participate fully in the (patients’ own) lives, both
at work and at home,” Esmail says. No value is
attached to the lost time of family members supporting patients while they wait for treatment.
By comparison, a 2008 study by the Canadian Medical Association estimates the value
of time lost waiting for just four procedures
— joint replacement, cataract surgery, coronary bypass and MRI — was $14.8 billion, not
including $4.4 billion in lost government tax
revenues. The CMA said those numbers only
included wait times in excess of medically recommended maximums and only for the period
from specialist appointment to treatment.
“They’re different ways of looking at a system that is either unwilling or unable to provide
timely health care,” Esmail says. Either way, he
says, it’s another indicator that the Canadian
health-care system needs an overhaul.
Meanwhile, 2011 saw annual federal and
provincial spending on health care across
Canada surpass $200 billion for the first time,
reaching $200.5 billion, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).
CIHI says health-care spending doubled
between 1998 and 2008 before slowing its rate
of growth thereafter and that spending per
person in Canada is now $5,800 per year.
The Fraser Institute says Canadian federal spending on medical services has outstripped inflation and population growth
by $97.6 billion in the past 13 years. That’s
an average of $7.5 billion per year beyond
covering the effects of inflation and population. But rapid increases in spending have
made little difference in improving service
delivery, the think tank says. Since 1997/98,
average Canada-wide wait times for nonemergency medical procedures have increased by more than 50 per cent, to stand
at 19 weeks. The 19 weeks was evenly split
between GP-to-specialist and specialist-totreatment queues.
Waiting for health
care
imposes important
physical and emoti
onal
impacts on individ
uals,
and we have to
recognize that burd
en.
Also released in June, a report by the Wait
Times Alliance (WTA), a group composed primarily of doctors’ professional associations, throws a
spotlight on the wait times patients endure before
seeing a specialist. The WTA says most of the
attention on improving wait times has been directed at the wait between the specialist visit and
the start of treatment. In 2004, the College of
Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) stated that:
“Wait times should be defined from when patients experience a problem and attempt to seek
care through being seen by family physicians,
through specialist consultation and specialty interventions, until definitive care is carried out.”
This approach considers the patient’s whole
experience, not merely a portion of it.
The WTA says that part of the front-end delay
is caused by a lack of family doctors that has left
some four million Canadians dependent on walkin clinics and emergency rooms for primary care.
The report also notes there is very little reliable information on speed of access to specialists, once a referral is made by a general
practitioner.
But a WTA survey of family doctors in 2011
found patients waited longest to see specialists
in orthopedics; ear, nose and throat; gastroenterology; psychiatry and neurology. And
a survey of gastroenterologists found total
wait times (GP to treatment) of 126 days for
patients with severe inflammatory bowel disorder, a condition that causes pain and bloody
diarrhea and typically renders patients unable
to work. Average total wait times for all gastroenterological treatments was 161 days and for
screening colonoscopy (colon cancer prevention) the wait was 279 days.
The WTA says “the most important action
to improve access” is improving alternative
levels of care for long-term care patients who
are taking up acute-care hospital beds. It says
dementia is the key diagnosis causing the backlog, accounting for a third of the problem. The
WTA urges alternative care approaches to free
up acute-care beds.
Placing a value on Canadians’ time
spent waiting for medical treatment is
bound to be a judgment call.
Here’s how the Fraser Institute does it:
The Private Cost of Public
Queues/2012 report says all Canadian
patients waited a total of 11.8 million
weeks for non-emergency procedures in
2011. The report says various specialist
groups estimated between 14 and 88 per
cent of their patients experienced “significant difficulty in carrying on their work
or daily duties.” To be on the safe side,
the Fraser report uses a Statistics Canada
figure of 11 per cent as a predictor of substantial incapacity.
Report author Nadeem Esmail says this
11 per cent figure should be used as a fair
minimum measure of total impairment
because, although some in that group
are able to maintain some level of daily
activity, many patients outside the 11 per
cent face lesser levels of impairment that
should also be factored in.
The report therefore takes 11 per cent of
the 11.8 million weeks of waiting time, or
1.3 million weeks. It then multiplies by an
average 36-hour work week and then by an
average wage of $22.99 per hour. (Note:
report authors used provincial and territorial figures for weeks on waiting lists and
— Thinkstock photo
Experts attach value to lost productivity
average wages — and then added provincial totals together for a national total.)
This calculation shows lost working
time for all Canadians in specialist-totreatment queues to be worth at least
$1.076 billion in 2011. It attaches no
value to the time from general practitioner to specialist, because Esmail says
those numbers are less precisely gathered
by provinces.
The Private Cost report values off-work
hours at the same $22.99, based on classic
economic theory, which says this is the average amount a person would have to be
paid to forgo an hour’s leisure. Whether
time watching Golf Channel, mowing the
lawn or reading People magazine should
be valued as highly as time at work may
be open to debate. But the report concludes that, counting evenings and weekends and excluding eight hours a night for
sleep, impairment of personal time was
worth another $2.21 billion.
In total, it says that the lost value attributable to specialist-to-treatment queues is
at least $3.29 billion Canada-wide. But it
focuses on the estimated $1.08 billion it
says is lost from job-related productivity.
Health care queues and cost increasing
Critics of the Canadian health-care system say costs are too high and wait times for
treatment are too long. Worse, they say, costs
are rising rapidly while wait times get longer.
And they have the numbers to prove it.
The Canadian Institute for Health
Information (CIHI) says health-care
spending doubled between 1998 and
2008, and in 2011 total costs reached
$200.5 billion or $5,800 per person,
per year. In 2010, health-care costs
surpassed 11 per cent of gross domestic
product. And the Fraser Institute says
wait times for treatment have increased
50 per cent since 1997/98.
By themselves, Canadian numbers all look
pretty bleak — until you look at the struggles other countries are facing in the effort
to pay for ever more complex and advanced
medical procedures and facilities, as well as
growing lists of expensive new drugs.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recently
found the per capita cost of United States’
free-enterprise health-care system exceeded
most socialized, universal health-care systems in Europe, reaching $8,233 per person
(U.S. purchasing power parity) in 2010. The
American figure was more than twice as
much as in France ($3,974), Sweden ($3,758)
and the United Kingdom ($3,433).
Using the OECD method, based on purchasing power parity, Canada’s per capita
cost was $4,445 US. (Note: purchasing power
parity is not a currency conversion but a measure of purchasing power of dollars spent.)
The rate of increase in Canadian healthcare costs was 4.6 per cent per year from
2000 to 2009, compared with an OECD average of 4.7 per cent per year over the same
period and 4.3 per cent in the United States.
Canada’s health-care spending in 2010
was 11.4 per cent of national gross domestic product (GDP), compared with an
OECD average of 9.5 per cent. In Europe,
only Germany and France spent a greater
portion of GDP than Canada, both reaching 11.6 per cent. But the U.S. spent a
chart-topping 17.6 per cent of GDP on
medical expenses in 2010. And the U.S.
hasn’t been below 15 per cent since 2001.
Critics would say Canadian numbers
would be far less competitive if our system
was properly funded and they point to
Canada’s 10th place showing among 11
developed countries in relation to hospital
beds per capita, as well as our lengthy treatment queues.
Meanwhile, average Canadian life
expectancy is 80.8 years, compared
with an OECD average of 79.25 years
and a U.S. average of 78.7 years. And
while cancellations of employer-funded
health-care killed medical coverage for
14,000 to 15,000 Americans per day
who became unemployed at the height
of the recent global recession, the unemployed do not lose health-care coverage in Canada.
Options | Fall 2012
7
— Thinkstock photo
EXECUTIVE
HEALTH
SPENDING
Keeping high-priced talent healthy
By BRIAN BURTON
H
ealthy business executives may be
fugitives from the law of averages,
Canadian critical illness statistics
suggest.
Some 2,800 Canadians per week are diagnosed with cancer and there are about
45,000 strokes per year in this country. Heart
disease is projected to affect half of men and
a third of women. In total, nearly one-third
of Canadians suffer critical illnesses sometime in their working lives.
For human resources managers, applying
these numbers to corporate executives can
be chilling, especially when they’re combined
with executive replacement costs. Those costs
top out around four times annual pay for
chief executive officers, according to a study
by the Brighton Group of Bellevue, Wash.
Keeping the high-priced talent healthy is a
better way to go, even if you only count the
dollars and cents, the operators of Calgary’s
private medical clinics say. Each of the private
clinics offers a corporate or executive health plan
for between $3,000 to $3,600 per person each
year, with first-year costs about $1,000 higher to
include a comprehensive baseline health assessment and personal health plan.
“With the cost of turnover (replacement),
you want to make sure your executives are
healthy and able to perform their duties,”
says Laura Hansen Somers, president of the
Human Resources Association of Calgary.
Risk reduction is the big financial motivator for a large number of Calgary companies
that offer executive health plans. But Hansen
Somers says attracting top talent is also an
important factor for companies purchasing
8
Options | Fall 2012
executive health plans.
While some foreign-based companies send
their Calgary executive teams to the United
States for annual health assessments, she says it’s
far more common for companies in Calgary to
use local providers of private medical services.
John Kemp is president and CEO of First
Medics International, a Calgary-based supplier of paramedical and nursing services to
remote oilfield and mining operations. He says
his health is vital to the operations of his business and he wanted to protect himself and his
company against any sudden surprises.
“What I really wanted was a baseline assessment,” Kemp says.
He became a client with the Calgary office
of Vancouver-based Copeman Healthcare,
and says the initial health assessment was “an
amazing session” that took about three hours
with a physician and other health professionals,
including a nurse, dietician and kinesiologist. In
addition to the standard tests, he added an Alzheimer’s test for an extra fee, just to be sure.
He says it’s a detailed appraisal, in which
most tests were done on site at Copeman’s office. He says the same thing wouldn’t be practical or even possible in a family doctor’s office.
“You’d have to convince the GP it was necessary” — and it would have to be booked
through various diagnostic facilities with long
wait times.
“If there’s something wrong, they’ll spot
it and take appropriate action,” Kemp says
of the Copeman plan. “The real benefit is
knowing the president is in sound health.”
He says many of his client companies have
executive health plans to prevent illnesses
to senior people and avoid costs of replacement, lost knowledge and lost business op-
How can your health
be a once-a-year thing?
You spend more time
looking after your lawn.
portunities that occur when the top decision
maker is out of commission.
Gary Iley, chief operating officer with Calgary-based Provital Health and Wellness, says
his company offers a corporate health plan for
any group of employees. The plan, Iley says,
includes a comprehensive assessment geared
to identifying people at risk — due to lifestyle,
heredity or other issues — and taking action
before they develop serious health problems.
“That’s more likely to have a better outcome than treating disease. And people are
more likely to change lifestyles if they know
they’re at risk,” he says.
Companies are attracted to corporate
health plans, such as those offered by Provital,
because of the costs of replacing employees
and because healthy people tolerate stress better than those who are unhealthy. In addition,
health plans, often including family coverage,
are an attractive perk that helps companies
retain valued people longer.
“At the executive level, everybody’s vying
for the same talent pool” and an enriched
health plan can be a competitive advantage.
But, whether companies or individuals pay
for the plan, Provital makes a concerted effort to help people take personal ownership
of their health, says Illey.
The website for Calgary-based Preventous
Collaborative Health offers extensive information on its executive health plan. But Dr. Rhan
Bissoondath says executive health is something
of an outdated notion and a “misnomer.”
“Everybody needs the same assessment,” Bissoondath says. He adds the website maintains
the executive health page as a way to reach those
searching for services using that term. “We try to
attract and educate those people.
“I think many companies are missing the
mark on executive health care.” He says
many large Calgary companies send their
top people to the United States once a year
for exhaustive exams not available in the Canadian public health-care system. But when
those people come back to Calgary there’s no
follow-up and they tend to fall back into bad
habits that continue to erode their health.
“Next year the results are a little worse,” he
says. “How can your health be a once-a-year
thing? You spend more time looking after
your lawn.”
He adds companies tend to shop for these
once-a-year executive check-ups by asking how
many tests will be done and at what cost.
“We only do stress tests for those who need
them,” he says. “We’re not trying to impress
you by saying everybody gets a stress test.”
Instead of extravagant annual testing with
little or no face-to-face follow-up, he says Preventous offers a thorough assessment, a personalized health-care plan and constant access
to a team of medical professionals who help
clients maintain and improve their health.
“You have a team of people managing
your money — why not your health? It’s your
only real resource,” Bissoondath says.
Just an hour south of the Canadian border, North Valley Hospital provides the leading-edge
technology of a large medical center with the pa�ent-centered care of a small, bou�que hospital all in a beau�ful se�ng.
Center for Minimally Invasive Surgery ▪ General, Urology, Gynecology
Featuring the da Vinci® robot for smaller incisions, the utmost precision, and faster recovery.
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Board-Cer�fied and Fellowship Trained Surgeons experienced
da Vinci® Robot for General, Urological, and Gynecological surgeries.
in
using
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the latest in custom-fit knee replacement designed for each pa�ent’s unique anatomy.
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One-on-one pa�ent educa�on and care provided by Cer�fied Orthopedic Nurses.
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Enjoy a pre-surgery massage, pet therapy, live music and the
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how they rate the hospital overall. (HCAHPS 2012)
Ask for the Canadian Medical Concierge at 1-866-223-9190
Whitefish, Montana ǀ www.nvhosp.org
Copyright © 2012 North Valley Hospital
Options | Fall 2012
9
PROFILE
Impressed with her doctor’s commitment to patient care, Heather Rogan continued to see him after he set up a private clinic, Provital Health & Wellness.
— Wil Andruschak photo
‘They look at you as a total person’
By COLLEEN BIONDI
H
eather Rogan, 33, is at the top of
her game. She is a professional
engineer and manager of the Long
Lake Development Group, an oilsands division at Nexen. She has a boyfriend, with
whom she plans to travel to Dubai and Morocco, and three beloved “fur babies” — two
cats and a dog. She has friends, is active,
happy and healthy.
What a difference a decade makes.
When Rogan was in her 20s, she had constant colds. By Friday night, when friends
were ready to party, she was exhausted and
in bed. She consulted a variety of doctors
and specialists who could not determine what
was wrong; most dismissed her symptoms as
residual effects from a bout of mononucleosis
she had in university.
Then she met Dr. Donovan Kreutzer, general practitioner, at a medical clinic in Bowness.
“He said my symptoms were not normal
and he would get to the bottom of it,” says
Rogan. “He was the first doctor who took
that approach.”
10
Options | Fall 2012
Sure enough, she had a form of anemia
which required a weekly regime of intravenous injections. But she was allergic to the
normal iron serum, so Kreutzer found a mix
that worked for her. It was time-consuming
to attend the clinic for her shots; with a backlog of sick patients in an always-crowded
waiting room, it could take four hours for her
to get her minute-long treatment. But she
continued to go there — for Kreutzer.
Then he explained he was leaving the
clinic to set up Provital Health & Wellness
Centre. “I had never had a doctor that conscientious or committed to patient care,”
explains Rogan. “There was no way I wasn’t
going to follow him.”
Today, attending the clinic in Marda Loop
is a pleasant and quick experience. “I can
leave my office, get to Provital, chat with
staff, get my shot and be back at my desk in
25 minutes.”
“Provital takes a preventive, holistic approach to medicine,” explains Rogan. “They
look at you as a total person.”
The team is diverse with massage therapy,
psychology, kinesiology, chiropractic, phar-
macy, nutrition and dietitian services available. There is ready access to specialists, such
as gynecologists, and a blood lab onsite, adding to the one-stop shopping concept.
The staff practise due diligence, calling
if it has not seen you for your annual or if
your recommended blood work has not been
completed.
Plus, if your fever spikes at 11 p.m., you
can talk to the on-call doctor. If you need an
immediate prescription, it will be submitted
– STAT. If the situation is not emergent, the
doctor will advise you and will follow-up by
phone or e-mail the next day.
Because Rogan travels for work, she has
even called the clinic for a consult from overseas destinations if she was not feeling well.
Her question: Do I need to go to a local medicentre or can this wait until I am back home?
“You don’t want to take chances with your
health,” she notes.
Rogan carries tension in her neck so she
sees the massage therapist at Provital regularly (she is allowed 12 sessions per year
in her plan). She has met all of the team
members as part of a comprehensive intake
I had never had a
doctor that conscientious or committed to
patient care. There was
no way I wasn’t going
to follow him.
process, but sees mostly Kreutzer. For this
service she pays $3,050 per year out of her
own pocket.
“I am privileged to have a profession that
allows me to pay that. It would be great if
everyone could afford it,” she adds. Everyone
deserves this level of care — professional,
efficient and respectful, but many have accepted a lower level of service.
“You don’t have to,” says Rogan. “At Provital, you never feel you are anything but their
priority. These people are passionate about
health care.”
– CORPORATE PROFILE –
Our company mandate is
really very simple;
Exceptional Patient Care
is paramount to every
aspect of a patient’s
CDC experience. I am
proud to be a member of
a team of talented individuals who ensure that
CDC is a company that
delivers on our promises.
Medical Director Dr. Benjamin Wong
CDC: Providing ‘Exceptional Patient Care’
CANADA DIAGNOSTIC CENTRES
is a leader in both public and private
medical diagnostic imaging services.
Since 1993, Canada Diagnostic Centres
(CDC) has been providing Exceptional
Patient Care in the medical imaging field.
Formerly known as Western Canada
MRI Centres, CDC opened its doors in
Calgary becoming the first non-hospital
private MRI facility in Western Canada.
In the following 15 years, Western
Canada MRI Centres expanded into to six
locations across Alberta including Calgary,
Edmonton and Okotoks as well as a network of affiliate DI centres in Vancouver,
Toronto, Mississauga and Hull adopting
the new name Canada Diagnostic Centres.
As a multi-modality service provider,
CDC is committed to delivering Exceptional Patient Care to the public through 2-D,
3-D and 4-D real-time ultrasound, mammography, pain management, bone densitometry, fluoroscopy, and X-ray services and
well as the private sector with MRI and CT
services. Private MRI and CT scans offered
include a wide array of preventative health
scans including full body, joint, lung and
heart scans and virtual colonoscopies.
In the past 10 years, CDC has seen nearly
a million patients come through its doors.
With nine dedicated radiologists and
more than 100 highly trained and skilled
medical technologists, CDC is able to
provide patients and health care professionals with advanced diagnostic imaging of the body’s most important organs
and systems. The state of the art clinic
facilities and imaging equipment, patient
care standards and physician reporting
set CDC apart from other DI service
providers.
CDC’s team of radiologists is headed
by the Medical Director Dr. Benjamin
Wong, BSc. MD, FRCPC, one of Canada’s
leading MRI specialists with fellowship accreditation in musculoskeletal, cardiac and
general MRI including neurological and
body MRI. As former head of MRI at the
Ottawa Civic Hospital, assistant professor
of radiology and head of adult cardiac and
body MRI at the University of Alberta
Hospital, Dr. Wong brings his years of experience across all modalities to CDC and to
its patients.
CDC’s ownership group, medical and
administrative staff are committed to the
patients every step of their experience.
David Wetter, director of Business Development with CDC, describes CDC’s
methodology.
“From the first point of contact with one
of our dedicated booking agents through
check in and thorough examinations and
services at our clinics to the highly accurate
and timely reporting of the members of our
talented radiology team, everybody at CDC
strives to provide every patient who comes
through our doors with professional, courteous and expedient service. Our company
mandate is really very simple; Exceptional
Patient Care is paramount to every aspect
of a patient’s CDC experience. I am proud
to be a member of a team of talented individuals who ensure that CDC is a company
that delivers on our promises.”
From its beginnings as a private-only
MRI centre to today’s multi-modality
imaging service provider committed to
patients, physicians and the community
in Alberta, Canada Diagnostic Centres
will continue to uphold its Exceptional
Patient Care standards and leading edge
reputation while working towards a
healthier future.
Name:
Canada Diagnostic Centres
Locations: Five Calgary & Okotoks;
one Edmonton
CDC Chinook
1-6020 1A St. S.W.
Calgary, AB T2H 0G3
Contact info: [email protected]
Phone: 403-212-5855
1-877-420-4CDC (4232)
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: CanadaDiagnostics.ca
Services: Diagnostic medical imaging,
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed
tomography scan (CT Scan), preventative
health scans, heart scan, lung scan, virtual colonoscopy, 2-D ultrasound, 4-D ultrasound, bone
mineral densitometry (bone density), gastrointestinal studies (GI studies), mammography,
pain management injections, pain management therapy, fluoroscopy, X-ray.
Options | Fall 2012
11
— Thinkstock photo; illustration
PAYMENT
OPTIONS
Premium health care for the cost of two lattes a day
By Jacqueline Louie
F
or those who might find the cost of
private medicine a challenge, there are
a variety of options to help people find
the money to pay for private medical care.
When you look at it carefully, it’s not so
difficult to find the money, according to the
people who run private health-care clinics in
Canada and the U.S.
“Even to enroll in our most expensive program, the Life Plus Program, you can do that
for the cost of two lattes a day,” says Chris
Nedelmann, CEO of Copeman Healthcare,
which offers medically supervised programs
of therapeutic lifestyle change, with a focus
on helping people achieve greater longevity
and quality of life through physical and psychological wellness.
“The reality is we serve people of all socioeconomic backgrounds. What they have in
common, is they all want to be healthy and
happy. If health is important, people will find
the money somehow.”
Having said that, Nedelmann adds, Copeman provides a wide variety of service offerings.
“Not every client at Copeman spends
$3,000 a year,” he says.
Clients can come in and have an annual
medical for a lower amount, and they can see
various clinicians on an hourly rate basis.
“There are lots of different options,” says
12
Options | Fall 2012
Nedelmann, who encourages people to explore what their needs are.
“Our goal as an organization, is to serve the
greater population, to really effect change along
the lines of prevention. And as we continue to
evolve, we will have more and more services
that will be available at lower price points.”
Copeman’s Life Plus program has an
annual fee of approximately $3,000, and
Copeman offers payment plans for those who
prefer to pay monthly.
“Many people have a third-party benefits
plan through their employers, and often a
good part of, if not the entire part, of our
fees can be covered by those benefit plans.”
Many people who come through Copeman’s doors don’t end up spending a full
$3,000 a year because they are only interested
in certain aspects of what Copeman has to
offer, such as personal training, a variety of
counselling, or the facility’s brain health program.
For younger clients, “what is often ideal is
to simply have a comprehensive annual assessment, where there is a big fitness component and a big nutrition component.”
Heading south to the U.S. for premium
health care is another option for Canadians.
They will often choose a U.S. facility for surgery or other treatment because they want to
be taken care of faster than the typical wait
time they may be facing in Canada, says Ted
Hirsch, senior executive director at Kalispell
Regional Healthcare, a hospital located in
northwestern Montana’s Flathead Valley.
If the client is able to pay up-front for
a medical procedure, Kalispell Regional
Healthcare can offer package pricing for a
decreased amount. For those who are not
able to pay cash, the facility will work with
them to help them manage the financing.
For instance, for the many Canadians with
additional health insurance through their
employer, or who have taken out insurance
with Alberta Blue Cross or another plan, Kalispell Regional Healthcare can contact insurance companies to check whether patients
require prior authorization for procedures.
Mary Strauss, is the nurse in charge of
Kalispell Regional Healthcare’s international
medical services division, and Wellness Compass, a program offering health assessment
and prevention. Strauss will supply patients
with the documents they require to obtain
reimbursement for a medical procedure.
Or, if clients need to borrow to pay for a
medical procedure, she can provide a letter
for them to give to their bank, backing up
their medical need.
For all clients, Strauss will gather the
documentation they need in order to obtain
reimbursement from Alberta Health, which
will reimburse a portion of costs. Alberta
Health’s website explains what will and will
not be covered.
Kalispell Regional Healthcare seeks to be
As we continue to
evolve, we will have
more services that will
be available at lower
price points.
as clear and up-front as possible so that clients
understand how the financing aspect works.
“We put it into one easy-to-understand
price. Unless there are other medical conditions that come up when someone gets here,
our price is what it is,” Hirsch says.
In Whitefish, Mont., an hour south of
the border, North Valley Hospital offers patients a number of options when paying for
medical services, including cash, credit card,
cheque and debit card.
“For emergency care or elective surgeries we are happy to take PIN debit cards,”
says Catherine Todd, North Valley Hospital’s director of marketing and medical
concierge program, noting the hospital has
a new system that works with Canadian
Interac PIN debit cards under a Canadacertified payment program processor.
North Valley Hospital and its outreach
clinics will bill all Canadian travel insurance providers directly.
Options | Fall 2012
13
North Valley Hospital in Whitefish, Mont. is patient-centred, providing a healing environment that includes music therapy and pet visitations.
— Courtesy North Valley Hospital
— Courtesy Northwest Health Care, Andy Apple photo
WHOLE
HEALTH
— Courtesy North Valley Hospital
Treating ‘whole’ patient key to healing process
By Jacqueline Louie
M
ind, body and spirit — increasingly, private health-care facilities
are treating the whole person, not
just the illness.
Technology is a major focus at North Valley Hospital in Whitefish, Mont. Equally
important is its focus on whole health.
“What we practise is really focusing on the
person as a whole, healing the mind, body
and spirit,” explains Catherine Todd, North
Valley Hospital director of marketing and
medical concierge program. “If we can make
them very comfortable and treat them as a
person, they have a better experience, and
the expectation is they will heal faster.”
For example, North Valley Hospital combines the latest in high technology with such
elements as music therapy, pet visitations,
serving delicious food made using local fresh
ingredients, and therapeutic massage before
surgery. “It helps them relax, plus it feels
good at the same time,” says Todd.
North Valley Hospital is aligned with Planetree, a non-profit organization that helps
hospitals become more patient-centred. And
the hospital itself has been designed to be a
healing environment.
“It’s very warm, with lots of natural colours
and lots of natural light. It really looks more
14
Options | Fall 2012
like an upscale hotel than a hospital. It’s helping
people be comfortable and feel they are welcome and important as a whole person — and
not just somebody’s appendix coming out.”
Treating the whole person is also the focus
at Kalispell Regional Healthcare, which offers a full range of health-care services, with
close to 200 physicians on staff and 2,400
employees throughout 100 departments.
Dr. Brad Roy, Kalispell Regional Healthcare
lead for all research programs, oversees the
Summit Medical Fitness, a 115,000-squarefoot medical fitness centre that is fully integrated with Kalispell Regional Healthcare prevention, rehabilitative and medical programs.
As part of clients’ journey to wellness,
Kalispell Regional Healthcare uses personal
trainers, wellness coaches, physicians, nurses
and clinical exercise physiologists, in order to
help clients create their own wellness vision,
and for those with chronic health conditions,
to make lasting changes.
“The real answer is putting emphasis on
prevention and lifestyle changes,” Roy says.
“The two biggest pieces are nutrition and
exercise,” he adds. “It’s not about putting
people on a diet — it’s helping them understand what appropriate nutrition is, and making changes gradually.”
A second key component to wellness is
physical activity.
“Most of us sit way too much. We push
the whole concept of moving throughout the
day.”
Easy-to-do exercise strategies can include
standing up to take a phone call, or making
time for a five-minute walking break.
As part of Kalispell Regional Healthcare,
the Montana Centre for Wellness combines
the treatment of chronic and acute pain with
traditional medical treatments, including surgical interventions and medication, counseling, physical therapy, chiropractic care, massage, acupuncture, nutrition and exercise.
Another of its programs focused on whole
health, is the Wellness Compass program,
which evaluates patients’ health with input
from a variety of health care professionals using a holistic lifestyle approach.
The program includes a health assessment
tailored to each patient’s specific needs, with a
comprehensive evaluation featuring advanced
laboratory testing, a physical examination
and physician consultation, cardiovascular
and pulmonary fitness evaluation, preventive
screening tests, and lifestyle assessment and
physical activity coaching — to create an individualized personal health care and wellness
road map to follow.
As Kalispell Regional Healthcare senior
executive director Ted Hirsch puts it, “We are
responding to requests from folks travelling here
and wanting to spend time in Kalispell. Our hospital is in a beautiful part of the world. Northwest Montana has mountains, lakes, streams,
snow skiing and Glacier National Park. And
more and more people are coming to realize that
we have a great health-care service.”
In Canada, too, private health-care facilities
are taking a similar approach. At the Copeman Healthcare Centre, for example, “it is
about the interdisciplinary care team-based
care approach we take to managing client
issues,” says Brenda Poole, executive director
for Copeman Healthcare’s Calgary site.
The Copeman Healthcare model is based
around a wellness wheel that includes psychological, physical and brain health.
“Prevention happens across the continuum, and it happens at every age and stage of
life,” says Poole.
As part of its philosophy, Copeman takes an
comprehensive and unhurried approach to coordinating health care. Physicians make up part
of a multi-disciplinary clinical team that also
includes family health nurses, dietitians, kinesiologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, and neuropsychologists, who specialize in brain health.
“One of the things we feel most proud of,
is that we are able to personalize health care,
have those face-to-face conversations with
clients and really understand and work with
them as a partner,” Poole says.
– CORPORATE PROFILE –
Radiology Consultants
is committed to giving
everyone time and
dedication from the
moment they step
through the door.
Good customer service
to the patients as well
as to the referring
doctors is vital.
Dr. Sarah Koles, chair of Radiology
Consultants Associated Dr. Sarah Koles, right, chair of Radiology Consultants Association and Lynn Kostenuk, CT technologist.
Quality diagnostic services, great customer service
WHEN YOU THINK of leading edge,
customer service oriented health care, Mayfair Diagnostics comes to mind.
In 1999, Radiology Consultants Associated
opened Mayfair Diagnostics, a private MRI
and CT facility. Aware that many patients were
pursuing private medical options in the United
States, necessitating significant travel costs and
inconvenience, Mayfair Diagnostics wanted to
offer a local choice to the Calgary community.
Mayfair Diagnostics is wholly owned and
operated by Radiology Consultants Associated, which has been providing the highest
quality of diagnostic services in partnership
with hospitals and community practitioners
since 1911.
The radiologists at Mayfair Diagnostics
and Radiology Consultants Associated are a
team of experienced professionals and caring partners. They are the same radiologists
working 24/7 in the Peter Lougheed and
Rockyview hospitals as well as at the Sheldon
Chumir and South Urgent Care Calgary
Health Centres.
“This speaks to the breadth of experience,
expertise and uniformity in terms of patient
care for being able to access images from the
hospitals and our clinics which is important
for the outcome of the patients and better
report quality,” says Dr. Sarah Koles, chair of
Radiology Consultants Associated.
“This also allows our radiologists to build
relationships with the physicians both in the
community and within the hospital environment. None of our radiologists work exclusively in private or paid medicine, everyone is
actively involved in the public system.”
Radiology Consultants’ mission is to provide the highest quality of diagnostic services
and is committed to providing unparalleled
service value through constant innovation
and investments in state-of-the-art technology that help deliver the safest and most
efficient imaging results.
Helping physicians and their patients from
start to finish — no step is overlooked. The
company strives to get patients in for their
exams quickly and have the reports back in
the physicians’ hands promptly.
While timeliness is vital to patient care, Radiology Consultants makes certain this is done
without sacrificing the quality of its reports;
consequently Radiology Consultants has implemented a peer review process throughout its clinic practice. This ensures the highest standards for
image quality and diagnostic accuracy.
“Quality is obviously very important for any
patient and also for the referring doctor, but
we see a lot of pathology and a lot of different
cases on any given day and this is one area in
medicine we are more capable to assess each
other’s ability and give appropriate feedback.
Getting this feedback from cases allows us to
tweak our reports and produce better quality
results for the patients and doctors. It is an important process and one of the many that we
have that is necessary to maintain a high quality diagnostic imaging practice,” says Koles.
Radiology Consultants is committed to
giving everyone time and dedication from the
moment they step through the door.
“Good customer service to the patients as
well as to the referring doctors is vital,” says
Koles. “Our practice is based on patients’
important factors like ease of booking, and
access, and, of course, their time. We try to be
cognitive of patient time, especially when we
know there is usually wait times in health care.
“We properly adjust our practice for patient needs. We’ve had success with this and
we are committed to giving all our patients
the best in customer service,” she adds.
Technologists are all specialty trained and
offer patients the best attention, care and
compassion during every visit.
Radiology Consultants is changing the
standards on what good health care means.
Name: Radiology Consultants
Associated
Location: 6707 Elbow Dr. S.W.
Calgary, AB T2V 0E3
Contact info: [email protected]
Phone: 403.777.3000
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.radiology.ca
Services: Diagnostic imaging — X-ray, mammography,
breast biopsy, ultrasound, bone
densitometry, nuclear imaging,
echocardiography, exercise stress
testing myocardial perfusion scans,
fluoroscopy, pain and musculoskeletal therapy, vascular centre, MRI
and CT.
Options | Fall 2012
15
PROFILE
‘You can’t put a
price on health’
By Jacqueline Louie
A
year-and-a-half ago, Calgary
resident Alice Itterman would be
doubled over in pain from recurring
gallbladder attacks.
She went to several doctors before opting
for private medicine at the Copeman Healthcare Centre in Calgary, which offers medically
supervised programs for therapeutic lifestyle
change, focused on timely, convenient access
to professional expertise.
Before turning to Copeman, Itterman, 71,
had been going to walk-in clinics after her
family doctor retired.
After she began experiencing a variety of
health problems, she decided she needed to
find another doctor. She saw several in Calgary and one in Strathmore, but “nobody
could really find out what it was,” she recalls.
“I just did not feel very good at all. I always
had a problem with my stomach, and then
my heart started to go.”
She looked online, and finally came across
16
Options | Fall 2012
Copeman, whose goal is to help people
achieve greater longevity and quality of life
through physical and psychological wellness.
With the encouragement of her husband, she
went in for a consultation.
Itterman had several appointments and “all
the tests” before a Copeman physician was
able to diagnose what was going on. Itterman had had her gall bladder removed three
decades earlier, which turned out to be part
of the problem. She saw a registered dietitian
at the centre, who helped her tailor her diet
to maximize her health, by avoiding certain
foods that aggravate her condition. As long as
she watches what she eats, it’s manageable.
The physician also put Itterman on a different heart medication, which helped as
well. She had previously gone to emergency
several times because of her heart and hasn’t
been back since switching her medication.
Another issue was anxiety and the medication
prescribed has “made a world of difference.”
Itterman is still going to the Copeman
Centre, but less often now that her health is
under control. “I go maybe once every two
Alice Itterman says the care she has received at Copeman Healthcare Centre has helped her get
her health back under control.
— Wil Andruschak photo
months, more or less for a check-up, to keep
on top of what they’ve done. Everything is
going really well — I would say at least 90
per cent overall,” she says.
Itterman says going to a private clinic such
as Copeman may be costly, “but you can’t
put a price on health. If you can afford it,
you have very personal service.”
For Itterman, who has lived in Calgary for 40
years, going to the Copeman Centre has been a
whole new experience. “At the Copeman Centre, I can get an appointment if I phone today. ”
Itterman, who raised a family, also worked
outside the home for 20 years before retiring.
“I have a wonderful family of three — two
boys and a girl, all grown up; and we have six
grandchildren.”
One son lives in San Diego, their daughter
and other son are in Vancouver — so travel
is important.
“We want to see them as much as we can,
but sometimes it’s very hard when you’re not
feeling well,” Itterman says. “Now that I’m feeling better, we’ll be able to travel more again.”
By Jacqueline Louie
G
iving Canadians more choice in their
health-care options when they’re facing
serious illness is the goal of two new
private health insurance products now out on
the market.
This past April, Mayo Clinic and Assured
Diagnosis Inc. (ADI) of Calgary launched two
new health insurance options that are intended
to provide more Canadians with access to Mayo
Clinic’s expertise and care in the event of serious
illness.
“We are working collaboratively with Canadian attending physicians, the patient and the
Mayo Clinic to get an initial diagnosis or to
confirm a diagnosis. We are thrilled to be able
to help Canadians get that initial diagnosis in a
timely manner,” says Jim Viccars, president of
ADI, which has contracted with Mayo Clinic to
bring the MyCare group benefit plan to Canada.
“Mayo Clinic has developed an expertise because of its collaborative approach to medicine.
It has developed systems that successfully allow
multiple physicians to make diagnoses on an immediate basis.”
Canadians have been travelling to Mayo Clinic
for medical care since the early 1900s, Viccars
adds. “What the Mayo Clinic has developed for
patient care is truly phenomenal.”
The MyCare program is made up of two
components: the Heath Benefit Option (HBO),
available to all employees of an organization. The
HBO provides access to medical expertise and
diagnosis when there is a serious illness affecting
an employee, their spouse or children, and will
cover everything that Mayo Clinic would need
to make a diagnosis, such as diagnostic scans and
specialist assessments. MyCare HBO members
will receive access to Mayo Clinic expertise, delivered remotely via an electronic medical opinion
consultation.
MyCare Advantage, the program’s second
component, provides members with the option
to upgrade to MyCare Advantage Insurance at
group rates, for on-site care at Mayo Clinic locations in Jacksonville, Fla.; Scottsdale/Phoenix,
Ariz.; and Rochester, Minn.
MyCare Health Benefit Option (HBO) and
MyCare Advantage Insurance are available to
companies and associations as an addition to
their benefit packages.
Although the MyCare program is new, it’s already attracting interest. David Ross, president of
Ross & Associates Consulting Ltd. in Edmonton, a
third party administrator of employee benefit programs and consultant, signed his company up for
the MyCare program in July.
“I’m hoping to bring confidence to our employees and clients that there is a backup to our system,” Ross says. “Our health-care system is really
challenged. We are hearing more and more about
people being stuck in wait times, when their situation could be getting more and more critical.
“What the MyCare program does, is it offers us
that sense of an alternative to ensure that we’re
being properly cared for, to the best of the healthcare system’s ability. The Advantage program
takes it one step further by offering alternatives
to our local health care system, so that if can’t be
resolved properly under our provincial system, it
can be resolved through the Mayo Clinic. I think
this product suits every organization out there that
has as its culture, care for its employees.”
— Thinkstock photo
Insurance program offers
employees confidence
I was born with a severe and complex heart
condition, and wasn’t expected to live past my 16th
birthday. Then I went to Mayo Clinic. Thanks to
their pioneering bypass surgery, I’ve celebrated over
50 birthdays since. My answer was Mayo Clinic.
ca r o l a l l a n
Calgary, Alberta
Like Carol, you have full access to Mayo Clinic’s world-class health care. As a not-for-profit
organization, we have been putting the needs of our patients first for more than 100 years.
Our expert teams of specialists and premier medical facilities are available to you for diagnosis
or treatment of a serious condition, a comprehensive wellness exam, or even a second opinion.
In most cases, a physician referral is not needed. To make an appointment please visit
mayoclinic.org/canada or call 1.888.441.2133. If you want to connect with others who’ve
been there, please visit connect.mayoclinic.org/
Phoenix / SCoTTSDALE, ARIZONA
ROCHESTER, MINNESOTA
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA
Options | Fall 2012
17
PROFILES
‘I really wanted to
make changes’
By JACQUELINE LOUIE
C
algarian Herman Van Reekum
turned to a private health-care clinic
because he needed a family physician. He also wanted to lose some weight.
A client at Preventous Collaborative
Health since October 2011, he’s been diligent about following the clinic’s advice, and
is delighted with the results.
Van Reekum has been going to the private
Calgary health centre for all of his medical
needs after his regular family doctor closed
his practice. He first heard about Preventous
through an insurance company, which referred him there to get some insurance tests
done.
“I really liked the people there,” says Van
Reekum, 54, a married father of two sons,
ages 15 and 26, whose family has taken
advantage of a variety of services at Preventous.
His younger son, who is a hockey player,
turned to Preventous for treatment after being injured twice last year. And his wife chose
the Preventous travel clinic for her travel
shots before going on a trip to Africa.
“The access is certainly important for me.
I’m pretty busy, and (with Preventous) I’m
able to schedule appointments when I need
to,” says Van Reekum, a business owner
whose immigration relocation recruiting
firm, VRV Global, specializes in international labour mobility issues. “There’s no
waiting — you just get right in. They know
who I am, which is huge for me.”
His doctor has been “fantastic” with excellent follow-up through phone calls or e-mails.
Van Reekum is especially pleased with his
results from the Preventous weight-loss program. Since starting the program last October,
Van Reekum, who is six-foot-two, dropped 60
pounds, going from 280 to 220 pounds.
Preventous, which focuses on helping clients achieve better health through healthy
living, helped him accomplish his goal
through dietary changes and exercise. A
nutritionist set up a weight-loss program for
him, and created a system of accountability
with regular check ins, weigh ins, and discus-
Herman Van Reekum has lost 60 pounds with help from the experts at Preventous.
— Wil Andruschak photo
sions of what he needed to do next.
During his initial assessment, Van Reekum
also spent about an hour with a Preventous
fitness consultant who assessed his fitness
level, and then created a program with recommendations on what he could do to work
off the weight, with a program of weight
training, cardio and stretching.
Among other things, he spent a lot of
time working out on an elliptical trainer,
“pretty much every day for half an hour.
I’ve seen a huge improvement in cardio for
the last six months.
“For me, it has been the best part of the
whole program. I knew I needed to do something and that was definitely a big part of
what sold me on going there.
“The Preventous environment really
works for me, and the people I’ve been
able to connect with. I’ve been able to take
their advice, and I really wanted to make
changes as a result of their advice. Everything I heard from them, especially from
the nutritionist, doctor and fitness person,
made sense. That’s been huge — the holistic part of it.”
‘If you are really suffering, it is worth it’
By COLLEEN BIONDI
B
When Calgarian Murray Greenberg
learned he would have to wait 17 months
for hip replacement surgery, he opted
for speedier treatment at Benefis Health
System in Great Falls, Mont.
— Wil Andruschak photo
18
Options | Fall 2012
y year’s end, 70-year-old Murray
Greenberg of Calgary will be in Italy.
He and his wife have travelled extensively over the years and when they started researching places where they might retire, Puglia
(the “heel” of the “boot”) topped the list.
They’re restoring an old property there and
look forward to an active life walking, cycling,
exploring wine country and taking advantage of
a lifestyle they’ve worked very hard to achieve.
A mere two years ago, this dream came
close to going up in smoke. Greenberg started
feeling pain in his hips. It was in the joints and
“referred” pain radiated down both legs. The
condition of the right hip, which showed better
on X-ray, was worsened due to a floating bit of
cartilage that was pinching the nerves.
“I was having excruciating, shattering pain,”
he says. “It was horrible.”
He visited a surgeon in Calgary who said
surgery for his “non-critical” condition would
take place in approximately 17 months. He
recommended exercise therapy and anti-inflammatory medication, but the exercises hurt
too much and the drugs didn’t work.
Greenberg’s mobility and stamina were
compromised. He couldn’t walk any distance;
he couldn’t stand at a party.
“It is hard to explain how bad the pain
was,” he adds. “It is like someone had a handful of big, red-hot needles and was driving
them into my leg.”
In 2010, Greenberg had undergone successful surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff at Benefis Health System in Great Falls, Mont.
He called them to discuss his hip issues. He
sent along his medical files, they agreed he
needed a double-hip replacement and offered
him surgery on the right hip a week later.
Greenberg drove down with his wife, Gail,
two days prior to surgery. The day after the
operation, in November 2011, he was up walking; he walked twice daily for five days before
he was released.
When the hip collapses due to deterioration there is length loss in the leg. The way the
surgeon attached the replacement pieces recovered that two-centimetre loss so, post-surgery,
Greenberg’s legs were matching in length.
Back in Calgary, Greenberg started hip- and
leg-strengthening exercises. He used forearm
crutches to help with walking. He took care
not to do three things: move his hip beyond 90
degrees, turn his toes in and cross his ankles.
The rehabilitation was hard because the left
hip remained painful.
That wouldn’t be an issue for long. By midJune of this year, he was back in Great Falls to
have his left hip replaced.
He had the same exceptional experience
and the rehabilitation is going more smoothly
as his new, right hip is healthier and stronger.
‘I am almost back to normal. I can’t tell you
how happy I am about that.”
Each hip replacement cost $25,000 US.
Additional costs (hotel, gas, meals) brought the
total, for both procedures, to almost $70,000.
“I had a successful financial planning business
and had the resources to pay,” he admits. He got
a 10 per cent rebate back from Alberta Health
Care. Patients can also claim these costs as tax
deductions on their annual income tax returns.
“If you can find the right facility, with the
right expertise, and you can afford it, don’t
wait,” suggests Greenberg. “If you are really
suffering, it is worth it. It is only money.”
19
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Options | Fall 2012
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