WELL Announces ESG Program as an Integral Part of its Growth Strategy; Demonstrating a Commitment to People, Diversity, Inclusion, Equity and Data Privacy & Security
- WELL embarks on an ongoing ESG strategy and reporting initiative, engages KPMG LLP, and establishes an ESG committee.
- WELL will take targeted actions to continue to support diversity, equity and inclusion within the workplace environment.
- WELL enforces commitment to elevating the privacy and security posture around patient data through its risk management processes.
- WELL will continue to contribute to reducing environmental impacts by leveraging its own virtual and digital solutions across the health continuum of care.
VANCOUVER, BC, Oct. 15, 2021 /CNW/ - WELL Health Technologies Corp. (TSX: WELL) (the "Company" or "WELL"), a company focused on positively impacting health outcomes by leveraging technology to empower healthcare practitioners and their patients globally, announced today its commitment to ESG excellence backed by corporate governance. WELL also announces the creation of an ESG committee chaired by its Chief People Officer, Shane Sabatino, and the Company has partnered with KPMG LLP ("KPMG"), a thought leader in ESG, to further develop and report on the Company's ESG strategy, objectives and initiatives to increase long-term shareholder value.
"WELL's ESG program is not a 'tick the box' exercise. WELL is a purpose-driven business that aims to transform the world for the better, and it's the shared commitment to this purpose that unites our team, partners, practitioners and shareholders. Together we are pursuing ESG excellence," comments Hamed Shahbazi, Chairman and CEO of WELL. He adds, "After a long process to identify the right partner, we are very pleased to be working with KPMG on our ESG program. We look forward to executing on our quadruple bottom line objectives and continuing to make WELL shareholders and stakeholders alike proud of their company and the role it plays in positively impacting our patients and our wider environment."
WELL's ESG strategy will reinforce the following goals and initiatives WELL currently holds in high regard:
Environment
- WELL's focus is on leveraging the nature of our multi-purpose digital health platform and its virtual care capabilities to reduce the environmental footprint of healthcare, which leads to a reduction of our patient's carbon emissions and waste generated from physical visits to clinics.
- Sustainability is at the core of WELL's M&A practice and resource efficiencies are made within acquired companies through thoughtful streamlining of global supply chains while maintaining our unique decentralized operating philosophy
Social
- WELL has a purpose-driven business model centred around improving outcomes for patients by providing clinicians with technology that helps to improve the efficiency, reliability, accuracy and safety of healthcare services.
- WELL's virtual care capabilities help to widen access to healthcare for individuals who face barriers, such as those based in rural communities.
- Diversity and Inclusion with a focus on equity and inclusiveness are at the forefront of WELL's culture, including initiatives for team members' health and wellness. WELL demonstrates a commitment to diverse team members and management team, and a culture that values the unique perspectives of all team members.
- WELL regularly encourages civic engagement on the part of its team members and is proud to support such volunteer activity even during regular working hours.
Governance
- WELL has an independent board with a majority of independent directors.
- WELL empowers its business unit leaders to drive and run operations. Notwithstanding this, the company has developed a shared services architecture that provides critical support to, and ensures high standards of risk management within, business units in key areas such as security, privacy, people & culture and financial reporting.
- Patient record privacy and security of data is one of the most important ESG initiatives within WELL with each business unit having a dedicated person for accountability structure and risk assessments. WELL often elevates the privacy and security posturing of its acquired businesses. All team members are given cybersecurity training.
- Management leads with integrity, with a shared purpose to empower practitioners and improve patient outcomes.
Chief People Officer, Shane Sabatino comments, "We believe in the basic premise that our organization is an instrument of doing good in the community. We also believe that this creates a virtuous cycle by which our organization generates even more momentum as a by-product of our positive impact, truly a win-win. Our ESG pillars will contribute to the bigger picture, broader societal goals, ensuring WELL attracts and retains top talent, while responding to the interests of our team members and our community." He continues, "Early on we established our ESG committee and knew we would provide ongoing ESG reporting for our stakeholders, through this process, we will continue to identify our ESG pillars and we will remain transparent in our reporting for the greater good."
WELL HEALTH TECHNOLOGIES CORP.
Per: "Hamed Shahbazi"
Hamed Shahbazi
Chief Executive Officer, Chairman and Director
About WELL Health Technologies Corp.
WELL is a technology enabled healthcare company whose overarching objective is to positively impact health outcomes to empower and support healthcare practitioners and their patients. WELL has built an innovative practitioner enablement platform that includes comprehensive end to end practice management tools inclusive of virtual care and digital patient engagement capabilities as well as Electronic Medical Records (EMR), Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) and data protection services. WELL uses this platform to power healthcare practitioners both inside and outside of WELL's own omni-channel patient services offerings. As such, WELL owns and operates Canada's largest network of outpatient medical clinics serving primary and specialized healthcare services and is the provider of a leading multi-national, multi-disciplinary telehealth offering. WELL is publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "WELL" and is part of the TSX Composite Index. To learn more about the Company, please visit: www.well.company.
Forward-Looking Information
This news release may contain "Forward-Looking Information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws, including, without limitation: information regarding the expected benefits of the ESG Program. Forward-looking information is necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties, and contingencies. Forward-looking information generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as "may", "should", "will", "could", "intend", "estimate", "plan", "anticipate", "expect", "believe" or "continue", or the negative thereof or similar variations. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause future results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the estimated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by those forward-looking statements and the forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. WELL's statements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and conditions, many of which are outside of WELL 's control, and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. Forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by inherent risks and uncertainties, including: direct and indirect material adverse effects from the COVID-19 pandemic; adverse market conditions; risks inherent in the primary healthcare sector in general; regulatory and legislative changes; that future results may vary from historical results; inability to obtain any requisite future financing on suitable terms; any inability to realize the expected benefits and synergies of acquisitions; that market competition may affect the business, results and financial condition of WELL and other risk factors identified in documents filed by WELL under its profile at www.sedar.com, including its most recent Annual Information Form. Except as required by securities law, WELL does not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, events or otherwise.
SOURCE WELL Health Technologies Corp.
Pardeep S. Sangha, VP Corporate Strategy and Investor Relations, [email protected], 604-572-6392
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