Helping employees return to work and everyday life as quickly and safely as possible
Our behavioral health specialists identify and address psychosocial barriers that can impact recovery to help employees return to work and life as quickly and safely as possible.
Expertise, guidance and support
A unique role in the marketplace
Mental health issues such as anxiety, depression and stress can drastically affect the employee’s ability to work. A behavioral health specialist who is trained in the management of psychiatric disorders and has experience teaching coping skills can help improve an employee’s resiliency. The expertise required to fill this role differs significantly from the skills of a registered nurse.
Our behavioral health specialists can provide the expert assistance needed to help employees dealing with the aftermath of a workplace injury or traumatic on-the-job incident. They can make an impact on claims involving trauma, mass casualty and catastrophic incidents, assaults and robberies, or when psychosocial concerns are noted on the file.
Our specialists also serve as patient advocates, fostering a non-threatening, friendly and professional relationship with injured employees to help them overcome other personal or psychosocial barriers to their recovery and goals about returning to work. In this role, they can identify additional problems within a claim that may need to be addressed.
Keeping injured employees focused on returning to work
With many workplace injuries, the psychological and emotional components, as well as an injured employee’s personal circumstances, can significantly impact the claim’s progression and outcome.
Our behavioral health team provides clinical expertise and guidance to help ease the return to work process for injured employees. Our experienced specialists work closely with injured employees to identify psychosocial barriers, and utilize motivational techniques geared toward enhancing their recovery and focus on return to work.
Referrals can be made by the examiner, nurse case manager or client. We can also identify issues using data mining capabilities within the claims system. Our team assists injured employees when psychosocial flags are noted in the claim file such as:
- Stress related to family, finances or workplace conflicts
- Fear of returning to work and/or concern about a repeat injury
- History of drug/alcohol abuse
- Preexisting psychological challenges
- Misuse or abuse of opioids
We provide early intervention and expertise for mental stress claims. We also have dedicated behavioral health specialists who assist employees with mental stress-related claims. Our team includes masters’ level mental health clinicians with expertise in trauma treatment and recovery. They provide specialized support and quickly connect employees with the care they need. In addition to providing valuable support for injured employees, our behavioral health services can also help decrease claim duration and reduce the risk of litigation.
Early intervention
Within the first 48 hours after a compensable mental stress claim is reported, one of our behavioral health specialists will contact the employee and coordinate an appropriate in-network referral to a treatment provider with trauma expertise. During the initial call, the behavioral health specialist establishes treatment expectations and offers education on self-care strategies to help improve sleep and manage stress. This early intervention provides the employee with some immediate assistance and sets them up for success in their treatment.
Stay connected
Our behavioral health specialist stays in touch with the employee throughout their recovery, assessing any potential psychosocial barriers and providing support between treatment sessions to help maintain forward momentum. This ongoing support keeps the employee engaged and focused on returning to work, while also offering opportunities for them to ask questions about their claim. As the employee’s condition improves, the behavioral health specialist will address return to work planning with them and their treatment provider.
Patient privacy
Psychosocial and mental health information is sensitive and will not be shared with the client. Our behavioral health specialists document sensitive information in our proprietary clinical system. These notes may transmit to the claims system to be shared with examiners on a need to know basis.
Success stories
Within several weeks, Danielle was able to return to work on a part-time basis and then gradually increased her hours to full duty within a month.
Danielle is a retail store supervisor who was robbed at gunpoint and locked in the back room for several hours. She was treated for robbery-related shoulder and neck injuries. During the three months Danielle was off work, she developed symptoms consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) including flashbacks of the robbery, poor sleep, severe anxiety, fear when leaving her house, and even the inability to drive near her work location. Her claims examiner referred her case to behavioral health services.
The behavioral health specialist reached out to Danielle and she agreed to discuss her difficulties with the prospect of returning to work. The specialist located a psychologist and psychiatrist who had experience with PTSD treatment and workers’ compensation cases for Danielle. The behavioral health specialist consulted with her treatment providers and offered ongoing telephonic support and encouragement as she developed skills to cope with her PTSD and anxiety about returning to work.
Our behavioral health specialist provided assistance throughout Katie’s recovery and continued to follow up to ensure her transition back to work was successful.
Katie is a 40-year-old bus operator who witnessed a gang-related shooting on her route that resulted in two deaths and multiple bystander injuries. Several bullets hit her bus, but fortunately neither Katie nor her passengers were physically injured. This incident led to Katie filing her third mental stress claim in four years. Within two days after the claim was reported, one of our behavioral health specialists reached out to Katie to offer support and assistance with a referral to a trauma therapist in her area. During that initial call, the specialist also provided tips and suggestions on self-care to address sleep difficulties that she was having since the incident.
During Katie’s treatment, the behavioral health specialist addressed return to work planning with her treatment provider. The specialist called Katie throughout her recovery to check in, provide ongoing encouragement and answer questions. After seven weeks of outpatient treatment, she was able to return to work with some temporary accommodations to her work schedule and route.
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