BWC’s New Rule on Health and Behavioral Assessment Intervention Explained

OMA Connections Partner Dinsmore posted this good description about how the BWC’s new health and behavioral assessment intervention (HBAI) rules are intended to work: “… the BWC has taken on a new initiative to address cognitive, emotional, behavioral, social and psychological issues in a claim that are not directly related to the allowed conditions. It believes that these kinds of issues increase the risk of prolonged pain and disability. … Codified as OAC 4123-6-33, the rules provide that when an injured workers’ physician of record (POR) determines recovery may be delayed due to either behavioral or health issues, the POR can request an assessment of the injured worker by an independent medical provider who will determine any potential behavior issues which may serve as a barrier to overall recovery.”

Per Dinsmore: “The purpose of HBAI services is to attempt to speed up the recovery of injured workers, thereby reducing claims’ costs and time off of work. While these are worthy goals, it is unclear how frequently these requests will be seen in actual practice. It is also unclear how emotional/behavioral barriers to recovery can and will be differentiated from the treatment of psychological conditions, which are not part of the underlying workers’ compensation claim and which is excluded under the rules. ”

Read the full post from Dinsmore. 8/17/2018