Attorneys
Mitigate Exposure From Mental & Behavioral Health Risks
The mental and behavioral health of an injured employee can dramatically affect the length and outcome of the claim. The BRE program provides attorneys with an understanding of the claimant's mental and behavioral health that can be used to defend against wrongful death and fraudulent claims and establish causation of pre-existing conditions.
How BRE Helps Attorneys
Establishing Causation
Mental and behavioral health assessments can help determine whether the plaintiff's pre-existing mental or emotional condition may have contributed to their medical condition or the alleged harm they suffered. This information can be used to argue that the patient's condition was not solely a result of the healthcare provider's actions or negligence.
Minimize Risk Exposure
Consistent assessment of the claimant's mental and behavioral health during recovery can identify hidden risk factors for the potential of suicidality of the claimant due to mental and behavioral health factors. Injuries severe enough to keep an employee home for at least a week almost tripled the combined risk of suicide and overdose death among women and doubled among men.
Litigation Management
Documentation of the claimant's mental and behavioral health throughout the claim will assist in the defense if litigation becomes necessary. If the claimant fails to follow medical advice or recommendations for behavioral health care, assessments can help support that the patient's own actions or non-compliance contributed to their outcomes..
Understanding the Hidden Risks
The clinical management of chronic pain is a biopsychosocial challenge in itself. However, when the pain occurs in the context of workers' compensation, there is even greater clinical complexity.
A review of the literature shows that patients being treated for chronic pain under workers' compensation are generally more distressed and have poorer outcomes, both clinically and vocationally, than non-compensated patients.