Manulife announces Cleveland Clinic Canada as new Medical Director

January 26, 2023

For business owners, plan sponsors and administrators

  • Announcement underscores Manulife’s focus on helping Canadians and their families live longer, healthier, and better lives
  • Collaboration to promote better health outcomes by helping Canadians navigate an often complex and increasingly stretched health care system 

TORONTO - Today, Manulife announced Cleveland Clinic Canada as the new Medical Director for its Group Benefits operations. Cleveland Clinic Canada will bring global healthcare expertise to advise Manulife and support their ongoing commitment to helping its approximately 5 million group benefits customers manage personal health issues, and navigate Canada’s stretched and often complex healthcare system. This relationship reflects another significant step in Manulife’s goal to help Canadians live longer, healthier, and better lives.

“To empower the sustained health and wellbeing of Canadians, we must remove barriers to accessing healthcare services, programs, and solutions,” said Ashesh Desai, Head of Group Benefits, Manulife Canada. “We’ve appointed Cleveland Clinic Canada as our Medical Director to leverage their world class medical and healthcare experts and to develop industry leading research that will continue improving health outcomes for our customers and their families.”

As Canada’s largest insurer, Manulife works with more than 25,000 employers and unions to provide comprehensive workplace benefit plans to millions of Canadians. These plans support the health of workers and their families by helping them access prescription drugs, health care professionals, mental health supports, and dental care, among other health services. Working with Cleveland Clinic Canada will assist Manulife in achieving its goal of helping Canadians prevent, treat, and recover from physical and mental health complications.

“Cleveland Clinic has been at the forefront of modern medicine since 1921, and in recent years has worked with progressive companies in Canada and around the world to prioritize the health and wellbeing of their employees, customers and communities,” said Michael Kessel, the President and CEO of Cleveland Clinic Canada. “As an organization with a patient first mandate, we are looking forward to being Manulife’s Medical Director and impacting the millions of lives in their ecosystem.”

To learn more about Manulife Canada and its group benefit solutions for employers and unions, please visit Manulife.ca

About Manulife

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider, helping people make their decisions easier and lives better. With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we provide financial advice and insurance, operating as Manulife across Canada, Asia, and Europe, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States. Through Manulife Investment Management, the global brand for our Global Wealth and Asset Management segment, we serve individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. At the end of 2021, we had more than 38,000 employees, over 119,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving over 33 million customers. We trade as 'MFC' on the Toronto, New York, and the Philippine stock exchanges and under '945' in Hong Kong. Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulife.com.

About Cleveland Clinic Canada

Cleveland Clinic Canada is the Canadian location of Cleveland Clinic, a nonprofit academic medical centre that has provided world class patient care to people from around the world since 1921. Cleveland Clinic Canada’s multi-disciplinary team of physicians and wellness experts provide in-person care at our clinics in Toronto as well as virtual care across Canada. Their medical experts also work with companies to help them manage organizational risk and improve the health of their employees in a wide range of industries. Patients benefit from the expertise of dozens of Canadian physicians, specialists and wellness experts, as well as over 3,500 physicians and specialists across the Cleveland Clinic network. Visit clevelandclinic.ca to learn more.

Media contact

Jeremy Laurin
Jeremy_Laurin@Manulife.com 
647-327-4349

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