Leading occupational medicine provider Concentra® announced the launch of its behavioral health service available through Concentra Telemed®, the company’s workers’ compensation telemedicine platform.
Concentra’s behavioral health telemedicine service will be an essential care option that seamlessly integrates into the workers’ compensation process. As more employers continue to realize the profound effect mental and emotional well-being can have on employee productivity and injury recovery, Concentra aims to offer workforces access to trained medical professionals who can address the psychological trauma of a work-related injury or event. Concentra believes virtual behavioral health can help remove care access barriers and improve outcomes.
“We are thrilled to expand our telemedicine services to include behavioral health, giving employers and their employees’ additional access points to vital care from clinical experts who understand workers’ compensation,” said Mike Rhine, Concentra executive vice president and chief operating officer – onsite health and telemedicine.
Concentra has hired psychologists with PSYPACT affiliation as part of a growing team of licensed clinicians with expertise in delivering mental health testing and treatment for qualified and authorized employees in a virtual environment. Some services may include validity testing for referrals, treatment for work injury patients with diagnosed mental health conditions, and counseling sessions with employees suffering from conditions associated with nonphysical injuries (e.g., PTSD). Concentra psychologists can collaborate with treating clinicians for seamless care coordination during a workers’ compensation case, ensuring behavioral health intervention complements the return-to-work (RTW) plan to yield better health outcomes.
“With the current demand of workers with mental health conditions related to a workplace event, providing access to mental health professionals is crucial in not only getting patients back to work — but back to life,” said Lisa Figueroa, MD, Concentra vice president of medical operations, national medical director of telemedicine, and national medical director of health information technology.
“Our in-house psychologist team will have managed schedules and caseloads with the goal of eliminating the long waits patients often experience in the workers’ compensation ecosystem after a referral and authorization of care,” said Jim Harvey, Concentra vice president of telemedicine operations. “This will get first responders and others with psychological trauma the help they need faster and foster improved outcomes for patients, their families, and their employers.”
Behavioral health telemedicine is currently available in select states. Concentra plans to continually expand, implementing behavioral health in states where Concentra Telemed is available. Click here for a current list of states and updates on the company’s state-by-state expansion efforts.
