Ian Bridgman

A vital tool for disability insurers is the ability to measure self-esteem, to help separate the medical issues from the psychological issues and assist in the return to work process. Trying to better understand the complex interplay between the physical healing process and the mental health issues is hard using traditional methods. Claim managers in […]

Mental health is still largely misunderstood in comparison to physical health, but we are getting better as a society at seeing the link between the two. Improvements are being made, but less has been done to reflect these links in the healthcare system, social security or even workers compensation insurance. The Claim Lab has recently […]

One of the key drivers for a claimant returning to work is the personal desire or drive on part of the individual to re-engage with employment. “the duration of a claim has no correlation with the healing time of the human body” There are many issues that can complicate the return to work time for […]

The use of automated questionnaires to check the well-being of long term claims could provide new insight into severe and complex claims. Typically most LTD claims operations will have an active caseload of 80 to 120 claims per claim manager. For claims that appear to be longer term, a separate unit operates. This unit takes […]

Health related ‘Quality of Life’ questionnaires have been developed in increasing numbers during recent years. These questionnaires are intended both for use in daily clinical practice and for research. They offer a quick, empirically proven method of assessing an individual’s well-being. These tools are highly appropriate for use in the disability claim process. They include […]

This debate has been running for a while, so I won’t re-hash the basics other than to say that when STD and LTD is provided as a combined plan, the incidence of LTD claims increases. So carriers should increase the price of their combine plans to reflect the claims experience? Instead of a discount for […]

Many companies are now offering an absence management service. This has come about for reasons of competitive differentiation, and by virtue that everyone is now doing it, I’m not sure where the difference is any more! However, there is a benefit for the claims manager in absence management, but not  many companies are able to […]

The concept of ‘Work Is Healthy’ is an excellent expression of the self-esteem boost that any individual will get when they return to gainful employment. However, not all individuals are created equal, surprisingly, and other factors may weigh against this motivation to return to work. The ‘disability mindset’ is often referred to as the opposite […]

The Claim Lab uses predictive models to assess the outcomes of disability and workers compensation claims, but we are excited to see that this technology is starting to be picked up across a range of different sectors. I read this article on the Chronicle of Social Justice last week about Florida’s Department of Juvenile Justice(DJJ), […]

Recently there has been significant progress in understanding the reasons why people become disabled after an injury or illness, as well as the predictors of return to work from disability. Dr Marc Milot commented “Human behavior is now understood beyond the narrowly defined and deterministic biomedical model focused on the physical and pathophysiological aspects of […]