CloudMD Appoints Experienced, World-Class Insurance and Health Executive as Chief Innovation Officer

Karen Adams brings over 20 years’ experience leading large public and private insurance and mental health and wellness companies

CloudMD Software & Services Inc., a telehealth company revolutionizing the delivery of healthcare to patients, is excited to announce that it has appointed experienced healthcare executive, Karen Adams as Chief Health Innovation Officer. Karen is a tenured senior executive and has over 20 years’ experience in building insurance companies and driving innovation and growth in public, private and not for profit organizations supporting employee/consumer mental health and wellness.

Karen is a nationally recognized leader in developing solutions for payors and individuals in mental health and wellness. Over the last 20 years, Karen was responsible for building the Employee Assistance Industry (EAP) by convincing organizations that the investment in mental health would increase productivity and wellbeing.  She was responsible for creating the team that brought a focus on mental health in the workplace resulting in Canada’s largest EAP provider in Canada (Shepell.fgi). She’s held various senior management positions at Morneau Shepell, SCM Insurance Services (the largest independent, privately owned provider of claims management, risk management, and medical evaluations in Canada) and mental health platform provider Snapclarity.  She was previously Board Chair of Ontario Shores Foundation for mental health sciences in Ontario.

One of CloudMD’s key priorities is providing a holistic approach to healthcare in North America. The Company is integrating primary care and mental health resources, both publicly and privately, to ensure that patients have a personalized wellness plan with the right services for the right mental health issue. Payors and individuals in North America are searching for a single integrated solution for healthcare, shifting the focus so employees understand how to manage their mental and physical health. This shift is providing an opportunity for innovation in employer solutions to manage the holistic view of patient care. The Company understands that the siloed approach to managing health needs will not realize the outcomes that are needed in healthcare. A holistic mental and physical health view of the person supported by technology, human touch and artificial intelligence will optimize individual healthcare journeys resulting in prevention and recovery along the continuum of care.

Dr. Essam Hamza, CEO of CloudMD commented, “CloudMD recognizes the importance of team based, integrated, continuity of care and providing whole person healthcare solutions to our patients. Right now, in the United States, almost a quarter (22.3%) of all adults with a mental illness reported that they were unable to receive the treatment they needed and 57.2% of adults with a mental illness received no treatment at all. Over 26 million individuals in the U.S. experiencing a mental health illness are going untreated ⁽¹⁾. It is undeniable that there is a significant disconnect between physical and mental health support. Karen is a pioneer in her field and will be instrumental in navigating CloudMD through the prevailing mental health sector and will be extremely valuable as we look to increase our scope of services by providing both physical and mental health support to our patients. We are thrilled to welcome her to our team and her experience with insurers, advisors and organizations will enable us to change the landscape on how healthcare is available in the workplace.”

“I am excited about the possibility of transforming health and wellness for individuals by offering a new approach to managing health. An ecosystem with the patient at the centre will enable the right care at the right time for the right health issue. We believe that the industry is ready for an innovative way to approach healthcare that empowers an individual to manage their health through informed choices.  The pandemic has brought the importance of individualized healthcare to the forefront. I look forward to working with the team to create industry leading offerings in managing the mental and physical health of individuals.” Karen Adams, Chief Innovation Officer, CloudMD.

Karen will provide vision, leadership and coordination of the Company’s strategy to leverage its healthcare technology solutions and integrated platform of telehealth and EMR solutions to provide a coordinated accessible healthcare platform. Karen will focus on continuing to introduce continuity of care across the CloudMD network by utilizing pioneering approaches to wellness that will support employer, insurers and advisor’s ability to enhance the employee experience through focus on health.