Room 206 (Washington DC Convention Center)
The Evaluation and Management of Pain-related Disability in Workers’ Compensation Claims
Pain, an inherently subjective phenomenon, challenges Workers’ Compensation and other indemnification systems that rely on objective findings of organ pathology to determine residual impairment. Despite its challenges to those systems, there has been limited research on the evaluation and management of pain-related disability. This symposium examines research bearing on disability management and evaluation in Workers’ Compensation. Dr. Gatchel will review data relevant to the outcomes of a Texas program that provides multidisciplinary treatment geared to a return to the workplace for workers with persistent pain. Dr. Wickizer will discuss recently collected data evaluating the impact on disability claims/costs and medical costs of an ongoing quality improvement project that has been initiated in Washington. Dr. Tait will present data collected in Missouri that predict ratings of permanent impairment, as well as data that speak to the validity of those ratings. Dr. Robinson will reflect on the above findings in the context of his work on the development of disability determination standards for the International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions and the American Medical Association Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment.
Moderator:Raymond C. Tait, PhD
Presenters:Robert Gatchel, PhD, ABPP
Thomas Wickizer, PhD
James P. Robinson, MD, PhD
 Disability Determination: Validity for Occupational Back Pain

Raymond C. Tait, PhD
 The Evaluation and Management of Pain-related Disability in Workers' Compensation Claims-1
Robert Gatchel, PhD, ABPP
 The Evaluation and Management of Pain-related Disability in Workers' Compensation Claims-2

Thomas Wickizer, PhD
 The Evaluation and Management of Pain-related Disability in Workers' Compensation Claims-3
James P. Robinson, MD, PhD

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