myMatrixx Chief Clinical Officer, Phil Walls, recently appeared in a piece for Risk & Insurance on the important lessons the COVID-19 pandemic has taught workers’ compensation about behavioral health and psychotropic drug use. Walls emphasizes the striking parallels between the conditions that the general population has gone through during quarantine and what injured workers have always faced during quarantine. With the pandemic causing a rise in behavioral health conditions and corresponding increase in psychotropic drug use across the entire population, Walls believes it’s time to take a closer look at this topic in workers’ compensation pharmacy.
On April 14th, Walls will be joined by Marcos Iglesias MD, Chief Medical Director of the Travelers and Constitution State Services to explore this topic in greater detail for the National Workers’ Compensation and Disability Conference’s (NWCDC) ongoing Digital Sessions Series. In “Navigating the Intersection of Pain Management and Psychotropic Drugs,” the two experts will engage in an in-depth discussion of the major behavioral health issues facing injured workers, particularly as it applies to pain management. Specifically, Walls and Dr. Iglesias will examine the type of psychotropic drugs that claims professionals are likely to encounter, the side effects and precautions related to taking them along with pain medication, and strategies to avoid complications from this intersection.