Short-Term Disability Claims Are Rising - Mental Health Is Why
If your short-term disability claims are climbing, you're not an outlier. Across Canada, mental health has become one of the leading - often the leading - cause of both short- and long-term disability claims, and the trend line is going the wrong way.
Why mental health claims behave differently
A mental health claim is often longer and more likely to recur than a physical one, and its duration is highly sensitive to how fast the person gets appropriate treatment. A musculoskeletal claim has a fairly predictable recovery curve. A depression or anxiety claim can resolve in weeks with the right care - or stretch for many months while the employee waits for a psychiatrist.
The wait is the cost driver
This is the lever most employers miss. The single biggest predictor of claim duration for a mental health leave is time-to-treatment. Every week an employee sits on a psychiatry waitlist is a week of claim you're paying for. Faster access doesn't just help the employee - it shortens the claim.
What actually bends the curve
Not another awareness campaign. Fast, physician-led assessment and treatment - ideally before the leave, or immediately at its start - is what shortens duration and lowers recurrence. That's a disability-cost strategy, not a wellness perk.
CorpCARE shortens time-to-treatment - the lever that most directly reduces mental health disability duration. Ask about integrating with your carrier.
Sources
- Sun Life. "Canadians are prioritizing mental health and seeking support" (Designed for Health claims data), 2024. https://www.sunlife.com/en/newsroom/news-releases/announcement/canadians-are-prioritizing-mental-health-and-seeking-support/123847/
- Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. "The Mental Health Crisis Is Real" (economic burden of mental illness in Canada; disability leave costs). https://www.camh.ca/en/driving-change/the-crisis-is-real
- Dewa, C.S. et al. "Association of Psychotherapy with Disability Benefit Claim Closure among Patients Disabled Due to Depression." PLOS ONE, 2013 (analysis of Canadian insurer claims data). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3696037/
- "Effects of work-directed interventions on return-to-work in people on sick leave for common mental disorders — a systematic review." 2024. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11245426/