PsyBar Video Presentations:

Below are links to 11 PsyBar Video Presentations. To view a presentation, please click on its title.

Note: Video Playback requires Internet Explorer 6 or higher.

• Ethical and Effective File Review Practices
  • Dr. Fisher will discuss solutions to many of the challenges insurers, and doctors, face when reviewing claimant medical records. These include assessing validity, treating doctors' patient alliances, lack of objective psychological testing, professionals who will not discuss patients, insufficiently evaluated cultural factors, and limited information on functionality. In addition, he will cover ways to write referral questions to file review doctors that will elicit the clearest, most useful responses.
• Defending Your Claim Decision with the MMPI
  • Drs. Fisher and Wilson will show participants how the newer versions of the MMPI can help them defend their claim decisions. To do this, they will contrast the clinical or "intuitional" method of psychological assessment with that of objective psychological testing. Specific MMPI scales will be presented, as well as their implications for claim matters. They will emphasize issues related to validity of claimant self-report and courtroom acceptance of this test.
• Tailoring Psychological and Psychiatric Evaluations to Claimants' Reported Problems
  • It is critical that psychological and psychiatric IMEs follow written assessment plans tailored to claimant problems and characteristics. When doctors do not use such customized procedures for IMEs, they can later have difficulties defending their opinions, and insurers might not have strong support for their claim decisions. Dr. Fisher will discuss these plans, or "protocols," which are lengthy lists of standards guiding doctors performing assessments. They cover topics such as report formatting, ensuring informed consent, objective psychological testing, appropriate procedures and test norms for non-English speaking populations, and obtaining information from collateral sources such as school records and treating doctors. These protocols promote both competence and fairness, and help the insurer feel confident that they can rely on IMEs to make the right claim decisions.
• Psychological and Psychiatric Assessment of Employees and Claimants who Speak English as a Second Language
  • America is an increasingly diverse culture where doctors and insurers cannot rely on psychological, psychiatric and neuropsychological evaluation procedures validated only with native-born Caucasian populations. Instead, psychiatrists, psychologists and neuropsychologists performing IMEs and Fitness for Duty Evaluations should adhere to specialized assessment practices when evaluating claimants from different racial and ethnic groups. In this presentation Dr. Fisher will discuss the assessment procedures necessary to adequately assess non English-speaking claimants. This might include the use of specialized psychological and neuropsychological tests, written in a foreign language, along with normative data collected from the claimant's racial or ethnic group. Further, he will discuss the use of foreign language-speaking professionals, issues related to professional interpreters, neuropsychology, and concerns about informed consent and release of information forms. Neglecting any these issues can have serious legal and professional repercussions for doctors, employers and insurers.
• 7 Ways to Reduce Insurer Risk in Psychological and Psychiatric Independent Medical Examinations
  • Many doctors who perform psychological and psychiatric Independent Medical Evaluations (IMEs) inadvertently put insurers at risk when they fail to follow Best Practices associated with these evaluations. Best Practices commonly overlooked include: a) standardized assessment protocols to sufficiently question claimants and ensure all evaluations are handled in a similar and fair manner, b) psychological tests to increase objectivity, c) collateral interviews d) taking adequate measures to assess claimants in non-English speaking cultures, e) specialized and legally mandated consent and release forms, and f) appropriate credentials and experience. Further, insurers' risk might be heightened when they ask the doctor questions that can be interpreted as leading, or if they do other things that don't convey respect and concern for claimants.
• Writing the best referral questions for psychological and psychiatric evaluations
  • Dr. Fisher discusses how insurers requesting independent medical evaluations and file reviews can write the most effective referral questions. This is an especially important task because most doctors who perform these services began their professional activities as treating doctors. Unfortunately they often later inappropriately apply treating doctor practices to this medical/legal setting. Consequently, unless referral questions are written in a certain manner, doctors can provide responses to IME and file review questions that don’t help the insurer properly adjudicate claims. Dr. Fisher will discuss many techniques insurers can use to counteract these doctor limitations, and therefore be more likely to obtain fair, useful, and well-done psychological and psychiatric reports.
• The Myths, Magic and Methods of Psychiatric Case Management (Insurance/Claims Professionals)
  • In this presentation, Karen Jasper will show participants how and when to use specialized case management services for claimants with psychological, psychiatric and neuropsychological impairments. She will examine the efficacy of various case management models (telephonic, onsite, and peer to peer inventions); provide examples of stay-at-work and return-to-work plans to reduce disability duration; and demonstrate when case management can positively impact several major psychiatric/psychological diagnoses and patterns of impairments, including the interplay between physical injury and psychological problems, substance abuse, subjective medical conditions, PTSD and depression. Through case studies and examples, participants will be introduced to a case management continuum ranging from the traditional coordination of appropriate treatment and return-to-work services through non-traditional, out-of-the-box, and individualized community approaches.
• Psychological Assessment of Candidates for Intrathecal Pumps, Spinal Cord Stimulation and Other Invasive Treatments For Pain
  • Drs. Bruns and Fisher discuss the psychological evaluation of claimants who are candidates for intrathecal pump, spinal cord stimulation and other invasive pain treatments. They will describe how psychological evaluations can include important prognostic indicators for these procedures and assist in planning follow-up care. They will cover the specific psychological tests that are most useful in these evaluations, including the MMPI-2, BHI-2, and SF36v2 and objective symptom validity indicators. Appropriate assessment procedures can result in significant cost savings for insurers given the high cost of these procedures as well as the substantial costs of follow-up care.
• Evaluating Deception and Validity in Psychological Insurance Claims
  • Dr. Fisher will discuss how psychologists and psychiatrists evaluate deception in claimants with psychological and neuropsychological problems. He will help participants learn to identify both suspicious and legitimate claims. Included will be information about the importance of using certain objective psychological tests, collateral interviews and other procedures.
• Subjective Illness (Chronic Pain, Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia)
  • Dr. Fisher will help participants understand how psychologists and psychiatrists evaluate psychologically based limitations in functioning in claimants with subjective illness. These disorders include chronic pain, chronic fatigue, and fibromyalgia. These complex diagnoses require a considerable level of doctor sophistication, as well as the use of specialized objective psychological tests, to assess functionality and validity. They also present special challenges to the doctor who is asked to determine the psychological versus physical causes of illnesses. Participants will be able to use this information to obtain higher quality IMEs and file reviews.
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Insurance Claims
  • Dr. Fisher will help participants understand how psychologists and psychiatrists diagnose PTSD and evaluate psychological limitations in functioning in claimants with this disorder. He will also discuss information that insurance professionals should look for in the medical records that signal valid and invalid claims, as well as effective methods of treatment. Further, he will explain the use of various psychological assessment techniques, including specialized objective psychological tests to assess validity, causation and functionality. Participants will be able to use this information to obtain higher quality IMEs and file reviews, and better prepare for psychological disability case management.