Tangibly, RBC Wealth Management clients will be eligible for a comprehensive medical assessment by Cleveland Clinic. Kaufman describes that service as a “a fulsome physical plus plus.” The idea behind the check-up is a preventative tool that can help identify any health issues before they become significant.
Kaufman also highlights the importance of Cleveland Clinic’s research and steady publications, giving clients resources they can use to engage with their family doctors and other specialists. Clients will also be able to tap into Cleveland Clinic’s global networks for second opinions or services they might not be able to access otherwise. Kaufman notes that the partnership will be particularly helpful for RBC’s snowbird clients, given Cleveland Clinic’s significant presence in the US.
The core idea is prevention and proactive care. As clients get older the likelihood that they will require more healthcare increases. Prevention and proactivity can help manage those odds. In doing so, clients can live more financially healthy lives too. Kaufman explains that the financial implications of medical care are less often talked about. Even procedures or interventions covered by a provincial health plan can have serious implications for an individual’s ability to earn and save. Later in life, costs can grow outside of areas covered by a health plan as some clients come to require long-term care.
“All of these inexorably link health and wealth,” Kaufman says. “Because there are personal goals people will have about how they age, where they age, what they want their caregiving to look like and how they’re going to pay for that. Helping clients stay healthy and independent for longer will also help with their financial goals.”
Kaufman stresses that this will not make advisors into primary care providers. They will not be expected to triage clients, diagnose conditions, or take on new medical training. Rather, she notes, that in their conversation with clients advisors may recognize that a client would benefit from an introduction to professionals at the Cleveland Clinic. The advisor then makes the introduction, without asking for medical information, and the clinic takes it from there.
