How the Lengthy-Time period Staying Energy of COVID-19 Is Impacting Employees’ Compensation : Threat & Insurance coverage

The coronavirus pandemic may have a vaccine, but that doesn’t mean it has been eradicated. Now is the time for the employee comp pros to see what impact the virus could be having.

The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly changed every industry. There is no sector that has not had to adjust to the “new normal” introduced by the virus and its lasting effects.

For the compensation industry, the time to adjust needed to pass quickly and effectively. The first COVID-19 cases were confirmed in the United States in early 2020, and employee compensation professionals did not hesitate to take action.

In June 2020, myMatrixx addressed this topic for the first time and dealt with the question of how the needs of customers can best be met in very challenging times. With the virus continuing to be a long-term problem, Hollie Lamboy, senior vice president of product development at myMatrixx, reflects on what this has meant for an industry that is committed to helping injured workers through difficult times.

Here is what she had to say.

Risk & Insurance®: How has the long-term presence of the virus affected workers’ compensation? How do things in the industry grow and adapt after the virus has been around for a long time?

Hollie Lamboy: We can say without a doubt that there has been a significant impact on the industry. Any event that affects people’s ability to work on a large scale also affects the injury rate in the workplace.

There is also ongoing uncertainty. From the beginning there have been unknowns about how a global pandemic that left millions of people unemployed would affect us. There is some compelling evidence of this, particularly the decline in scripts across the industry. In California, for example, prescriptions for employee comp cases have been reduced.

Overall, I think payers and the industry as a whole are looking to see if there are certain sections of the population who may need interventions such as preventive or behavioral care, which traditionally are not widely viewed as part of workers’ compensation.

In some ways, these conversations are just beginning, but given the long-term presence of the virus, the industry now seems to have a wider and deeper discussion on these issues. This includes reporting on preventive measures and how behavioral care should be implemented, especially given new indicators of the increased health needs of the workforce during the pandemic.

R & I.: In your opinion, what lessons were learned at the start of the pandemic in order to prepare for the long-term “new normal” in the World Cup? Or in other words, how are the insights gained early on now being applied?

HL: From my perspective, this pandemic has really shifted behavioral health into a different focus, especially in terms of how people are reacting to the huge shift from working in the office to working from home. There has been an increase in anxiety and other mental health factors associated with life over the past year.

No one could have predicted this shift, but so early on the focus was on finding an effective treatment or speculating when there would be a vaccine.

Of course, these questions are important, but they have also created larger unknowns that have increased uncertainty in both the industry and among injured workers. I think by looking at these unknowns we realized how much behavioral focus they needed compared to a traditional treatment focus. Looking back is always 20/20, but from a product standpoint it is now very clear how important the role of behavioral care has become to employee literacy and myMatrixx is well in the development phase of behavioral health solutions.

R & I.: What would you say that comp programs looked for solutions at the beginning? What are you looking for now?

HL: Aside from the increased focus on behavioral care, there are many fundamentals that have been fairly consistent over the course of the pandemic.

In the face of the unknown, our primary focus has been to follow the evidence that emerges regarding the virus itself, the look and feel of effective treatments, and the timing of vaccine development. In order to develop effective solutions and products for employee compensation, we need to be able to answer these questions.

When you think of the first responders and key workers exposed to the virus, we need to understand the long-term costs of treatment and the drugs associated with post-diagnosis treatment. We also analyze the potential need for preventive coverage for these professions.

Since the pandemic is far from behind us even with the vaccine, the industry is deciding whether this would be an advantage for workers.

R & I.: New claims were in decline at one point during the pandemic. Is that still the case? Why or why not?

HL: Yes. I think it’s important to point out that even before the pandemic there was a natural decline that has only accelerated. We have already seen a situation where payers have become more aggressive due to factors like the opioid crisis.

Given COVID-19, there would obviously be a natural decline as people were unemployed and / or out of the construction site. Factors such as the high unemployment rate and the decline in business activity in many sectors have contributed to this, especially as soaring infection rates in this country have continued to rise and many communities are re-committed to quarantine and lockdown.

We continue to monitor the rate of new claims once the vaccine becomes available to see if the decline slows down.

However, until we have more robust preventive care and effective treatment solutions, I believe we will continue to see lower harm rates. But here too, as the industry still has a better understanding of what workers will be covering as part of comprehensive treatment and preventive measures.

R & I.: What impact did this have on the pharmaceutical side of employee representation when the number of applications received decreased? (There was some data showing that prescription fillings were declining. Is this still the case? Are there other patterns or trends?)

HL: Speaking of behavioral health, an area in pharmacy where we’ve actually seen a marginal increase since the pandemic was included in behavioral health or psychotropic prescriptions.

However, with a decrease in workplace injuries, of course, there will be a decrease in acute pain in the population, which then leads to a decrease in prescriptions. We have seen increases in anxiety, depression, insomnia and other mental health problems. So they are really drugs that follow the conditions that people suffer from.

We have also seen increased use of drugs with potential relationships with COVID-19, although it is too early to draw firm conclusions. For example, respiratory medications like inhalers or cough suppressants, which you would see in asthma or COPD, have seen an increase. Although what we’ve seen isn’t on the level of pain relievers in terms of use. But it is these slight but noticeable increases that we continue to observe and to which we respond.

Overall, it has obviously forced the industry to look at it differently. In those cases where these drugs may not be on the prescription, payers may choose to cover those who have the potential to be diagnosed and treatment begins from the beginning.

R & I.: Do you think the comp industry is convinced how to proceed with COVID? Why or why not? What can the industry look to in order to find a solution to persevere?

HL: It is a question of how well we can continue to cope with the uncertainty, at least for the next year.

As just one example, even the introduction of the vaccine has raised new questions. With Express Scripts from our parent company, we can use insights such as B. Reports of side effects or problems in the sales process. The industry is currently in a learning curve and our team prides itself on keeping up to date with this information so that we can keep our customers informed.

Returning to prevention due to COVID-19, the COVID compensation industry is asking big questions about a preventive approach or standard post-diagnosis treatment.

Obviously, there are some big implications there that need to be clarified. myMatrixx takes the most effective approach we can and stays in touch with healthcare professionals.

As always, product development must follow clinical evidence and data, and that is what we continue to focus on. I think at this point we can see the light at the end of the tunnel and it feels like we have a plan to hold on.

R & I.: We have covered a good amount. Is there anything else you would like to add to the topic?

HL: Despite the uncertainty, we are committed to using the information and resources available to us, combined with what we are constantly learning, to define and achieve a new balance.

We work in a data-driven environment. One of the greatest strengths of myMatrixx for our customers is our ability to be flexible and to customize our solutions so that we can help our partners to cope with this pandemic effectively. &

Autumn Heisler is a content strategist at Risk & Insurance®. She can be reached at [email protected]