The COVID-19 pandemic put a spotlight on the importance of behavioral health. In particular, workers’ compensation stakeholders recognize that unaddressed behavioral health issues might delay a worker’s recovery and return to work and increase medical costs. This study helps to identify behavioral health issues in workers’ compensation and create a common language and understanding. 

The report does the following:

• Identifies behavioral health issues that are encountered in workers’ compensation, which range from psychosocial factors affecting recovery and return to work, to psychological symptoms and mental health diagnoses. 
• Describes tools that are available for early screening for psychosocial factors and other mental health conditions. 
• Details the services that are being provided in these instances, which include non-medical and medical interventions. 
• Discusses data needs for answering important questions about behavioral health. 

For the report, the authors interviewed workers’ compensation system stakeholders, including employers, insurers, labor advocates, and medical care providers. They also performed a review of occupational medical treatment guideline recommendations related to the provision of behavioral health services, as well as a literature review of studies focused on behavioral health services provided in workers’ compensation systems. By combining the stakeholder perspectives with information from guidelines and literature, this report could be used to form a common understanding about behavioral health in workers’ compensation. 

A Primer on Behavioral Health Care in Workers’ Compensation. Vennela Thumula and Sebastian Negrusa. August 2022. WC-22-18.

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Copyright: WCRI