The Connection Magazine A.I.M. Mutual Fall 2016 | Page 26

OPENING THE DOOR
TO INNOVATION IN WORKERS’ COMPENSATION
BY: LAURIE PARSONS & MICHAEL J. SHOR

AT
A.I.M.
Mutual
Insurance
Companies, our claim management
team partners with Best Doctors
Occupational Health Institute (BDOHI)
and Express Scripts, both of whom
share our commitment to providing
a comprehensive, effective workers’
compensation insurance program. Our
efforts on behalf of injured workers
at-risk for opioid dependency were
recognized by the National Association
of
Mutual
Insurance
Companies
(NAMIC), who honored us in June with
an Innovation Award for Impact. Laurie
Parsons, Director of Claims, A.I.M.
Mutual Insurance Companies, and
Michael J. Shor, Managing Director,
BDOHI, recently discussed our proactive
approach.

We Hear A Lot About Opioids Being
Prescribed Post-Surgery and For
Chronic Pain. Is This Always A Bad
Thing?
No and yes. Most patients have no
problem with a short course of opiates for
immediate post-surgical pain. However,
issues can arise when physicians are
not attentive to preinjury risk factors
for dependency or when physicians

FALL 2016

overprescribe. What’s more, there is very
limited medical evidence indicating that
opiates are effective for chronic pain.
This leads to a terrible cycle of increased
dosages, the development of tolerance,
and all the unpleasant, accompanying
side effects. These powerful medications
also affect cognitive function, which
further complicates efforts to try other
therapeutic approaches. It’s devastating,
and the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) is calling it epidemic in
the United States.

What Has Been The Effect Of LongTerm Opioid Use Among Workers
Injured On The Job?
There is a definite impact on the
individual’s quality of life. Opioids are
often prescribed to help an individual
improve function when, in fact,
they have the opposite effect. The
prescription and sale of opioids have
quadrupled since 1999, according to the
CDC, while the rate of overdose deaths
involving opioids has increased by 200
percent.

What Led A.I.M. Mutual To See The
Trend So Early?
Our focus on this issue started

approximately twelve years ago when
we saw more and more injured workers
being prescribed increasing dosages
of Oxycontin accompanied by very
long durations of disability and poor
recoveries. What got our attention was
that these were injured workers with
fairly minor injuries at the outset.

What Is A Predictive Index?
The Predictive Index is a proprietary
software tool developed by A.I.M.
Mutual and BDOHI. It helps us identify,
at the time of injury, the employees who
have certain risk factors that put them
at a much higher risk for delayed and
compromised recovery. It’s critical to
help these injured workers right from
the beginning.

Once You Identify An Injured Worker At
Risk, What Happens Next?
Typically, a patient advocate begins
working with both the injured worker
and the claims professional to facilitate
appropriate care. It is up to the injured
worker whether or not these services
are used. As an organization, we do
everything we can to help injured
workers get access to the best care.
We also work very closely with the

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