Manulife launches holistic ‘Medical Professional Support Service’ to help customers through cancer treatment

New service in strategic partnership with CUHK Medical Centre provides customers with priority access to specialists in oncology

HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach - 21 October 2021 - Today, Manulife Hong Kong announced the launch of a new holistic 'Medical Professional Support Service' for customers diagnosed with cancer or suspected cancer. Manulife customers with selected medical plans^[1] can now have their cases reviewed by dedicated, in-house healthcare professionals or qualified nurses. This team will be uniquely placed to aid customers throughout the medical treatment process, providing personalized care and professional support, follow ups on claims-related matters and pre-approval services, and recommendations on medical service providers based on their needs.

Manulife Hong Kong today announced the launch of its holistic 'Medical Professional Support Service' and the strategic partnership with CUHK Medical Centre. Present at the media briefing were (from left to right): Dr. Aggie Ngan, Chief Medical Officer, Manulife Hong Kong; Mr. Wilton Kee, Chief Product Officer and Head of Health, Manulife Hong Kong; Dr. Fung Hong, Chief Executive Officer, CUHK Medical Centre; and Dr. Jacqueline Choi, Medical Director, Business Development, CUHK Medical Centre.

Cancer is a major health threat in Hong Kong. According to the latest statistics from Hospital Authority, new cancer cases reached a record high of 35,082 in 2019^[2], an increase of 35% over the past decade. Cancer also accounted for 31% of all deaths in Hong Kong in 2019^[3]. Through the new holistic 'Medical Professional Support Service' and expanded healthcare network, Manulife Hong Kong will help customers better understand their diagnoses and treatment options thereby enabling more informed decisions.

An important feature of the new service is underpinned by Manulife Hong Kong's strategic partnership with CUHK Medical Centre (CUHKMC). The joint initiative will further enhance Manulife Hong Kong's health offering, giving customers priority access to oncologists at CUHKMC for a one-time, free independent medical consultation. CUHKMC is Manulife Hong Kong's first partner for an independent medical consultation initiative on critical oncology.

"Manulife places customers' health protection needs at the core of the business. This expansion of our healthcare service offering reaffirms our ongoing commitment to making peoples' lives better with the most suitable care throughout every step of their cancer treatment and recovery. The partnership with CUHKMC and the broadening of Manulife Hong Kong's in-house capabilities will create more empathetic, holistic, and convenient experiences for our customers," said Wilton Kee, Chief Product Officer and Head of Health, Manulife Hong Kong.

Dr. Fung Hong, Chief Executive Officer of CUHKMC, said, "CUHK Medical Centre is a non-profit, private teaching hospital wholly owned by The Chinese University of Hong Kong. We are dedicated to offering quality, affordable and transparent healthcare services through our professional medical team, with our state-of-the-art technologies and equipment. We are delighted to partner with Manulife, a like-minded insurer which focuses on health. This is an important partnership with one of Hong Kong's major health insurers that will enable patients to improve their treatment journey by consulting with our oncologists and making use of what we offer."

CUHKMC offers customized training to upgrade agency knowledge on healthcare

To upskill Manulife agents with relevant and up-to-date healthcare knowledge, CUHKMC will deliver a series of customized training sessions, equipping them with the proficiency and expertise to provide the best possible care to their customers. Themes covered will include fundamental medical knowledge, trends of various diseases and advancements in medicine.

Pre-approval cashless services expanded to CUHKMC to offer extra convenience

Under the strategic partnership, CUHKMC is a new addition to Manulife Hong Kong's expanding cashless service partner network providing various offerings to both Manulife's individual and group medical members^[4]. The service provides pre-approvals as well as cashless credit facilities for hospitalization and outpatient treatments^[5]. Customers are not required to pay up front, and the billing will be directly settled by Manulife.

CUHKMC is also now part of Manulife Hong Kong's Cashless Day Surgery eService network. The eService is the market's first fully digitized cashless service for day surgeries, and will enable eligible Manulife medical insurance customers to enjoy quick and convenient pre-approvals for colonoscopy and gastroscopy (OGD) day procedures at CUHKMC.

For more details about the holistic 'Medical Professional Support Service', please refer to Manulife's website.

About Manulife Hong Kong

Manulife Hong Kong, through Manulife International Holdings Limited, owns Manulife (International) Limited, Manulife Investment Management (Hong Kong) Limited and Manulife Provident Funds Trust Company Limited. As a member of the Manulife group of companies, Manulife Hong Kong offers a diverse range of protection and wealth products and services to individual and corporate customers in Hong Kong and Macau.

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About Manulife

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider that helps people make their decisions easier and lives better. With our global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, we operate as Manulife across our offices in Canada, Asia, and Europe, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States. We provide financial advice, insurance, and our global wealth and asset management segment, Manulife Investment Management, serves individuals, institutions and retirement plan members worldwide. At the end of 2020, we had more than 37,000 employees, over 118,000 agents, and thousands of distribution partners, serving over 30 million customers. As of June 30, 2021, we had C$1.3 trillion (HK$8.1 trillion) in assets under management and administration, and in the previous 12 months we made C$31.3 billion in payments to our customers. Our principal operations are in Asia, Canada and the United States where we have served customers for more than 155 years. We trade as 'MFC' on the Toronto, New York, and the Philippine stock exchanges and under '945' in Hong Kong.

About CUHK Medical Centre

CUHK Medical Centre (CUHKMC) is a non-profit, private teaching hospital wholly owned by The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). With a social mission to bridge the service gap between the private and public healthcare systems in Hong Kong, CUHKMC is dedicated to offering quality healthcare service at affordable and transparent package prices. In line with the not-for-profit principle, all surpluses from all healthcare services will be ploughed back to the hospital for hospital development and the CUHK Faculty of Medicine for research and teaching.