Aligning Workers’ Compensation Programs With Best Practices

By Gary Anderberg

Senior Vice President, Analytics
Gallagher Bassett

Mental health has, historically, been the proverbial elephant in rooms dedicated to workers’ compensation discussions even though it is a comorbidity and disability driver in workers’ compensation cases, group health, and short- and long-term disability (STD/LTD). Research illuminates the effect mental health has on worker’s compensation claims and challenges resolving what seem to be straightforward time-loss claims. And while we can deal directly with mental health matters in occupational disability, thanks to regulation and coding changes, we must acknowledge that outdated perceptions and attitudes continue to thwart progress.

That’s because until very recently, workers’ compensation adjusters were trained to and rewarded when they avoided mental health aspects of cases, regardless of how obviously they interfered with recovery and return to work. The adage not to buy a mental health claim was based on a fear that mental health issues were bottomless pits: conditions that could not be cured and would drag on for years. Although based on an outdated understanding of mental health treatment, this view persists. And it can cause adjusters to ignore mental health problems even when they delay claim resolution.

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