Seven Questions Every Broker Should Ask a Mental Health Vendor
By CorpCareAugust 27, 20261 min read
Before you recommend a mental health vendor to a client, put them through these seven questions. The answers separate real medical care from well-marketed support - and asking them makes you the advisor who did the diligence.
- Who can diagnose on your team? If no physician, it's not medical care.
- Who can prescribe and manage medication? Essential for treating many conditions.
- How fast can an employee see a physician or psychiatrist? Days, or a referral to a months-long public wait?
- What outcomes do you measure and report? Insist on clinical improvement and disability metrics, not just utilization.
- What happens when a case exceeds your scope? Owned handoff, or dropped into the public queue?
- How do you coordinate with EAPs, disability carriers, and return-to-work? Integration or another silo?
- How do you handle privacy and consent? Especially critical for medical data.
Why these seven
They map directly to the difference between benefits and care. A vendor that answers all seven cleanly is delivering medical care; one that dodges questions 1-3 is selling support with a clinical veneer.
Keep this list in your renewal kit. It protects your clients and demonstrates exactly the kind of rigor that keeps them loyal to you.
CorpCARE answers all seven without flinching. Ask us - and bring the answers to your next client meeting.
Sources
- Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety. "Employee Assistance Programs (EAP)" — EAPs defined as confidential, short-term counselling services. OSH Answers. https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/hsprograms/eap.html
- Canadian Psychological Association. "Task Force on Prescriptive Authority for Psychologists in Canada: Final Report" (prescribing authority rests with medical prescribers). https://cpa.ca/docs/File/Task_Forces/CPA_RxPTaskForce_FinalReport_Dec2010_RevJ17.pdf