It’s been well established that mental and behavioral health conditions – whether occurring after an injury or already present – can lead to longer recovery times and poorer health outcomes. In fact, 47% of workers’ comp stakeholders said they see psychosocial/mental/behavioral health as a barrier to recovery for injured workers.
Mental health comorbidities also had a stronger association with smaller functional recoveries than physical health comorbidities, according to a study of workers receiving physical therapy for low back pain. A second study concluded that depression is an important predictor of recovery, with increasing levels of depression scores at one month associated with significantly reduced odds of recovery at 12 months.
In addition to impacting recovery, mental and behavioral health may also affect the course of a claim and cost. When it comes to claim complexity, the number one concern for workers’ comp stakeholders is mental health conditions. What’s more, costs are 75% higher for people diagnosed with both behavioral health and other common chronic conditions than for those without a co-occurring behavioral health diagnosis.
However, diagnosis of a mental health condition is not the only circumstance in which intervention may be beneficial or even needed in the overall management of an injured worker. Among injured workers, there are often psychosocial factors at play. These “yellow flags” are characteristics that shape an individual psychologically and/or socially and act as barriers to recovery from physical injury.
In a benchmarking survey, nearly 85% of organizations reported that psychosocial risk factors contribute to musculoskeletal disorders – the most common workplace injury – in their workplace. And in another example, the average lost-time claim costs 3.5 times more when words such as “fear” and “afraid” are recorded in adjuster conversations.
Addressing these concerns early – starting with behavioral health screenings within a few weeks of injury – can positively affect a claim and health outcomes. For example, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), a type of psychotherapy, has proven to be effective in reducing the length of sick leave and facilitating return to work.
