Premex challenge industry to raise its Rehab game
16 July 2008Premex has released figures this week revealing that 30% of cases reaching medico-legal report stage would benefit from but have never received rehabilitation treatment, and that further instructions to provide treatment takes place in less than 1 in 3 of these cases.* This suggests that a significant number of injured people may fail to receive medically recommended rehabilitation treatment.strong>
These figures fall well short of the intention of the CPR or spirit of the Rehabilitation Code. However the evidence is building that rehabilitation, carried out in a responsible, targeted, managed manner, provides a win-win scenario for all concerned. Injured people get the help they need to return to normal as soon as possible, the insurer saves money overall and the claimant solicitor continues to look after the best interests of his client.
However there still remains an overall hesitancy to instruct rehabilitation in the early stages of a claim. There are slow signs that the previous small pockets of enlightenment are starting to spread but overall the take up and utilisation of rehabilitation remains below what it could be.
Simon Peach, Rehabilitation and Diagnostics Director for Premex claims that “With the incorporation of appropriate rehabilitation into the claims process the industry can offer a positive, practical service which benefits all parties. This is achieved by offering the ability to consider the need for, and deliver where appropriate, Evidence Based Rehabilitation at an early stage after injury when this would be most effective.
So why are more insurers not accepting that rehabilitation should be an integral part of the claims process? With the holistic advantages of rehabilitation clear to claimant, insurer and lawyer, Premex claims there can be little doubt that the answer is cost. Simon adds, “Who pays for the treatment, especially where liability issues may not be clear cut, is having an impact on the frequency with which treatment is delivered. Unless insurers agree to pay for reasonable rehabilitation, irrespective of liability, it is hard to see how this situation will change in the foreseeable future. In the meantime, claimants could potentially suffer and the process is drawn out further. As an industry we must address this stalemate.”
Simon Peach is providing a platform to open this debate wider at the Premex Rehabilitation therapist seminars in Bolton, Warwick and London. The seminars are designed to exchange information and open up a forum on the current thinking and best practice for the treatment and reporting of accident injuries, with the help of guest speaker Lisa Edwards MCSP (University of Liverpool, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences).
* Figures obtained from Premex’s regular monthly audit of Rehabilitation files.
For media information please contact Lucy Allen, 07968 145611 or lucy@lucyallenpr.co.ukNotes
for Editors:
Based in Bolton, the Premex Group runs medico-legal reporting companies Premex Services and Micrah. It has over 9000 experts and handles more than 140,000 medico-legal reports a year.
Other members of the Premex Group include:-
Digital transcription services specialist Accuro, 3D, which specialises in medical underwriting and claims management, Premex Insight, a claims investigation company.
