Behavioral Health Disability

Pamela Warren, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in occupational health psychology. She serves in the Department of Counseling Psychology at the University of Illinois School of Education and in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois School of Medicine. She maintains a clinical practice and provides professional consultation to medical and mental health professionals, employers, insurers, governmental agencies, and case managers on management and prevention of psychological disability. Dr. Warren

Overview of the scope of psychological and behavioral health disability.- Overview of the lack of coordination of treatment.- Overview of lack of coordination among all professionals involved in the psychological and behavioral health disability process.- True psychological concerns versus psycho-social concerns.- Comorbidity and psychological concerns.- present multiple perspectives from different types of professionals involved in the psychological and disability process. -Primary Care Medicine and Psychological and Behavioral Health Disability.- Epidemiological and prevalence of psychological and behavioral health concerns in primary care medicine.- Discussion of usual care treatment process: strengths and weaknesses.- Determining current psychological functioning: strengths and weaknesses.- Referral and coordination of treatment considerations: strengths and weakness in current process.- Medicalization: The process of taking everyday occurrences and identifying them as medical concerns.- Malingering and symptom exaggeration.- Patient compliance issues: limitations and strategies for improved management.- Appropriate documentation of limitations in functioning.- Treatment outcomes: Strategies for addressing individual’s return to work.- Occupational Medicine.- Epidemiological and prevalence of psychological and behavioral health concerns in Occupational Medicine.- Discussion of usual care treatment process: strengths and weaknesses.- Determining current psychological functioning: strengths and weaknesses.- Referral and coordination of treatment considerations: strengths and weakness in current process.- Medicalization: The process of taking everyday occurrences and identifying them as medical concerns.- Symptom exaggeration and malingering.- Patient compliance issues: limitations and strategies for improved management.- Appropriate documentation of limitations in functioning.- Treatment outcomes: Strategies for addressing individual’s return to work.-Psychology.- Epidemiological and prevalence of psychological and behavioral health concerns in Clinical Psychology.- Discussion of usual care treatment process: strengths and weaknesses.- Determining current psychological functioning: strengths and weaknesses.- Appropriate psychological testing.- Symptom exaggeration and Malingering.- Referral and coordination of treatment considerations: strengths and weakness in current process.- Medicalization: The process of taking everyday occurrences and identifying them as medical concerns.- Patient compliance issues: limitations and strategies for improved management.- Appropriate documentation of limitations in functioning.- Treatment outcomes: Strategies for addressing individual’s return to work.- Psychiatry.- Epidemiological and prevalence of psychological and behavioral health concerns in Psychiatry- Discussion of usual care treatment process: strengths and weaknesses.- Determining current psychiatric functioning: strengths and weaknesses.- Psychological testing.- Symptom exaggeration and Malingering.- Referral and coordination of treatment considerations: strengths and weakness in current process.- Medicalization: The process of taking everyday occurrences and identifying them as medical concerns.- Appropriate documentation of limitations in functioning.- Treatment outcomes: Strategies for addressing individual’s return to work.- Rehabilitation.- Epidemiological and prevalence of psychological and behavioral health concerns in Psychiatry.- Discussion of usual care treatment process: strengths and weaknesses.- Determining current psychiatric functioning: strengths and weaknesses.- Rehabilitation assessment and testing.- Symptom exaggeration and Malingering.- Referral and coordination of treatment considerations: strengths and weakness in current process.- Medicalization: The process of taking everyday occurrences and identifying them as medical concerns.- Patient compliance issues: limitations and strategiesfor improved management.- Appropriate documentation of limitations in functioning.- Treatment outcomes: Strategies for addressing individual’s return to work.- Legal Perspective.- Plaintiff versus defense perspective on psychological and behavioral health disability.- State legislative considerations.- Federal considerations: FMLA and ADA.- HIPAA limitations with disability.- Legal perspective in defining appropriate outcome.- Employer Perspective.- Maintaining a productive workplace.- Workplace absence policy: Strengths and weakness in current employer policies.- Problematic workplace behaviors that serve as catalysts for filing for a psychological disability claim.- Obtaining required documentation: strengths and weaknesses in current process.- Gaps in communication with treating professionals.- Appropriate workplace accommodations.- Helping the employee stay at work.- The insurer and psychological/behavioral health disability.- Insurer perspective.- Case management perspective.- Current issues in providing insurance coverage for psychological, behavioral health, and co-morbid claims.- Current identified drivers of psychological disability claims.- Strategies for effective management.- Future Directions .- Summarization/recap.- Recommendations for initiating immediate change in the process.- Implications for long-term change.- Implications for future research