How to Address Three Common Mental Health Concerns in Workers’ Comp Claims

Mental health concerns often play a significant role in workers’ compensation claims, affecting recovery time and increasing costs. While mental health-only claims are rare, they can arise from traumatic events or ongoing job-related stress. Two other common scenarios are mental-physical claims, where a pre-existing mental health condition complicates recovery from a physical injury, and physical-mental claims, where mental health issues develop after an injury.

Workers’ comp professionals can address these challenges by treating mental health as a comorbidity, just as they would with smoking or obesity. Proactively screening for mental health issues and leveraging new technologies like sentiment scoring can help manage cases more effectively and lower claim costs. Creating supportive work environments can also improve recovery outcomes.