One Fortune 500 company is already exploring how alternative pain-management options can help control Workers' Comp costs.
The psychosocial intervention program in place at hotel chain Marriott International trains on-staff nurses to identify injured workers who exhibit family, financial or fear-avoidance issues that may interfere with a return to work, and then refers those patients to a cognitive behavioral-therapy program.
"In our self-insured Workers' Comp [program], I emphasize to our team that our responsibility is to mitigate loss," Bob Steggert, Marriott's vice president of casualty claims, says of this approach. "In an ideal case, with worker cooperation and good will, I am convinced that we will see better outcomes on more cases and the savings will follow. It's all for the better if we can avoid patients getting on the opioid 'pain train.'"
"We are open to any form of medical psychosocial intervention and try to provide culturally appropriate care," says Brenda Gray, a registered nurse and senior director of Marriott's Occupational Health Services division. "Sometimes people who may struggle with being able to control their use of painkillers or to use them wisely may need a non-pharmaceutical approach, and we are open to their use of meditation, yoga, acupuncture and massage."
Gray continues, "When we refer patients with psychosocial problems to our group health plan and they end up seeing someone for meditation or biofeedback, they usually fall out of the Workers' Comp program. Am I aware of those cases? Yes. Have we worked it into our Workers' Comp plans? Yes. For the most part, we don't track the patients once they go into these programs, but what we do know is that cases that are referred for that type of care tend to resolve, and the patient is able to go back to work."
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