{"id":16502,"date":"2018-08-16T00:29:10","date_gmt":"2018-08-16T07:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=16502"},"modified":"2020-01-16T00:32:20","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T07:32:20","slug":"telus-jumps-into-business-of-health-clinics-buys-national-chain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=16502","title":{"rendered":"Telus jumps into business of health clinics, buys national chain"},"content":{"rendered":"
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PAMELA FAYERMAN<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n
Updated: August 3, 2018<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Telus Health is plunging into the business of elite medical clinics, spending just over $100 million to acquire Medisys-owned corporate and employee health clinics across Canada.<\/p>\n

The acquisition involves about 30 boutique clinics, which operate under the Medisys<\/a>, Copeman Healthcare<\/a> and\u00a0Horizon Occupational Health Solutions<\/a>\u00a0brands. Some of them charge hefty annual membership fees for affluent families and executives.<\/p>\n

Josh Blair, the head of Telus Health<\/a>, said buying Medisys, \u201ca profitable entity,\u201d lets Telus improve its presence and capabilities in areas like virtual care appointments, private and secure personal health records, mental health applications, mobile health delivery and emergency response tools for seniors.<\/p>\n

The purchase ensures that Telus\u00a0digital products \u2014 which it calls wellness solutions \u2014 are used by the 800 health professionals working in the clinics.\u00a0Telus has spent a few billion dollars developing electronic health records software, systems for virtual health visits with doctors,\u00a0apps for patients, and more.<\/p>\n

The company says it has become the leading provider of digital technology used by patients, doctors and pharmacies across Canada.\u00a0Blair said Telus Health expects to eventually to expand the reach of Medisys programs and services to more consumers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look south of the border, you see American tech giants moving into this space \u2026 so together with Telus and Medisys, our intention is to create a Canadian health tech champion that can be an alternate to the American tech giants,\u201d Blair said.<\/p>\n

Telus, he said, will work with health-care professionals and government bodies to ensure its products safely store personal health records on Canadian soil.<\/p>\n

Asked why Telus would go into the bricks and mortar medical clinic business rather than just trying to sell digital products in the sector, he said: \u201cGood question. At the end of the day, high-tech solutions need to be complemented by health professionals, so with the Medisys team, we have 800, particularly doctors and nurses, who can help patients on their health journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blair said the deal \u2014 which closed a few weeks ago but was announced on Friday \u2014 allows Telus to expand its relationship with the two million employees of the 4,500 companies that use Medisys.<\/p>\n

Medisys was using some Telus products, Blair said, but nowhere near the full array.<\/p>\n

Paul Lepage, president of Telus Health told employees this in a statement:<\/p>\n

\u201cAt Medisys clinics across Canada, we\u2019ll deliver employee-centred care, backed by Telus\u2019 world-leading broadband networks and supported by digital tools such as patient portals, virtual care, wellness and mental health applications, electronic prescribing, electronic benefits claims and secure messaging. Every clinic will be outfitted with the full suite of Telus Health solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Medisys acquisition includes\u00a0Medisys subsidiary Copeman Healthcare, the Vancouver company founded in 2005 by Don Copeman, a Vancouver computer technology entrepreneur. He sold his clinics to Medisys in 2014; his non-compete agreement expires in 2019 and he plans to re-enter the healthcare field.<\/p>\n

Copeman Healthcare has\u00a0four swanky clinics<\/a> in B.C. and Alberta, catering to well-heeled patients, corporate health programs and business executives. Annual membership fees range between $3,500 and $4,500. It offers publicly funded primary care but also offers expedited, private fee services that focus on prevention of health problems through appointments with kinesiologists, nutritionists, exercise medicine experts, personal trainers, physiotherapists and mental health professionals.<\/p>\n

Copeman, who is no longer involved in the company, said in an interview the acquisition by Telus is as fascinating as it is curious.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the only rational explanation is that the clinics will be like living labs for Telus Health to refine their digital tools, develop and test new ones. It allows them to keep their products moving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Brian Day, the co-owner of the private Cambie Surgery Centre that is leading a lawsuit challenging B.C. government\u00a0attempts to limit private clinics, said the purchase makes sense because\u00a0large U.S. and International corporations, such as Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JP Morgan Chase, are all getting into the business and targeting technology solutions as a way to improve the health-care system.<\/p>\n

He said the fact that Medisys is a private company means Telus gains the\u00a0flexibility to introduce \u201ccreative initiatives and solutions\u201d that are sometimes difficult to do under the constraints that government imposes on public facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI expect to see positive and much-needed disruptive innovation.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the announcement to Telus Health employees today, president Paul Lepage said every clinic will be outfitted with the \u201cfull suite of Telus solutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy our estimates at Telus Health, employer and employee spending on health-care services represents nearly a third of all healthcare spending in Canada. At Medisys clinics across Canada, we\u2019ll deliver employee-centred care, backed by Telus\u2019 world-leading broadband networks and supported by digital tools such as patient portals, virtual care, wellness and mental health applications, electronic prescribing, electronic benefits claims and secure messaging.\u201d<\/p>\n

pfayerman@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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https:\/\/vancouversun.com\/news\/national\/telus-jumps-into-business-of-health-clinics-buys-national-chain<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PAMELA FAYERMAN Updated: August 3, 2018 Telus Health is plunging into the business of elite medical clinics, spending just over $100 million to acquire Medisys-owned corporate and employee health clinics across Canada. The acquisition involves about 30 boutique clinics, which operate under the Medisys, Copeman Healthcare and\u00a0Horizon Occupational Health Solutions\u00a0brands. Some of them charge hefty […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[103,3,139],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-canada","category-health_and_safety","category-telus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16502"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16504,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16502\/revisions\/16504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}