About Us
One of the greatest opportunities for
workers’ compensation claims is effective
management of impairment ratings. But what is the best way
to do that? Impairment Resources, LLC
(formerly Brigham & Associates) provides you
with unique, proven strategies that drive
accurate impairment ratings. Before the development of the suite
of services offered by Impairment Resources,
LLC, adjusters, physicians and attorneys had
limited tools available to cost effectively
analyze and resolve such inaccuracies. Our
integrated suite of best practice
strategies, services and tools assures
accurate ratings. Erroneous
impairment ratings result in needless claims
expense, extra adjuster work, increased use
of lawyers and delays in claims closure.
Monetary payouts for impairment are key cost
drivers in workers’ compensation cases. For
example, in California, statistics show that
82% of California impairment ratings are
erroneous, that it is ten times more likely
for a rating to be too high than too low,
and that the average incorrect rating is
nearly three times higher than is
appropriate. Ideally an expert report should
be able to validate the physician’s rating;
however our experience reveals most ratings
are substantially higher than is
appropriate.
Our studies have
determined that the dollar difference
between the original rating and the
corrected rating per each California
workers' compensation case is a savings of
several thousands of dollars per case.
When an impairment rating
is received by an adjuster, the first step
should be to determine the likelihood that
the impairment rating is accurate. This
process is easily accomplished by an
adjuster sending the actual report to be
reviewed by one of our experts also known as
an ImpairmentScreen™. If there is a
significant difference, an expert rater or
physician ImpairmentExpert™ review is
appropriate. Impairment Screens and
Impairment Expert Reviews are used to
determine case management strategy, provide
feedback to the examining physician with
requested modifications for a proper rating,
and for settlement negotiations or
preparation for cross examination. We can
also assist claims staff and attorneys
through telephonic consultation, drafting of
letters to the evaluating physicians also
known as an ImpairmentLetter™, and by
providing expert testimony.
Proactive management will
prevent many errors. When it is probable an
injured worker is at maximal medical
improvement, ImpairmentLetter™ is
recommended to provide guidance to
physicians to increase the probability that
their ratings will be correct, to provide a
rating based on review of their medical
records for their agreement also known as an
ImpairmentAssessment™, or to have them
provide their reports for quality assurance
and revision as necessary.
It is more important than
ever to make the correct decisions and
control needless costs. Impairment
Resources, LLC is unique in providing
resources essential to managing impairment
ratings.
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