The future is now; the use of new technologies to improve disability assessments and re-integration services in insurance medicine

Muller, Elza MD, Huysmans, Maaike A. PhD, Rijssen, Jolanda van H.J. PhD, Anema, Han J.R. MD PhD.

Implications for Practice

The goal is to develop one or more interventions to:

• Support insurance physicians in conducting medical assessments that are more effective, efficient, and of higher quality, and
• Enable them to monitor, support, and guide clients more effectively and qualitatively during their reintegration and return to work.

Results and Conclusions

The research began in September 2019. By the summer of 2021, outcomes from semi-structured interviews with experts at the intersection of medicine and technology, as well as results from a survey of physicians working at UWV, were collected. The data from the survey has been used as input for the first article. Important conclusions from this research indicate that insurance physicians are generally open to the application and use of eHealth in their work (younger physicians under 40 are more so than their older colleagues). They particularly see the use of eHealth in the area of disability claim assessments and medical information gathering. They report that issues related to data privacy and loss of physical client contact hinder the use of eHealth, but the potential for more efficient and future-oriented work promotes its use.

Currently, we are conducting a systematic literature study on the (facilitating and hindering) factors relevant for the implementation of digital innovations (eHealth) within insurance medicine.

Publications

• Needs, expectations, facilitators, and barriers among insurance physicians related to the use of eHealth in their work: results of a survey. Disabil Rehabil. 2023 Jun 25:1-7. doi: 10.1080/09638288.2023.2224083 PMID: 37357317).
• Insurance medical assessment in non-acquired brain injury: Are invisible limitations coming to light? TBV –Tijdschr Bedrijfs- en Verzekeringsgeneeskd | Issue 10/2020. Only Dutch version available. Dutch title: Visie van verzekeringsartsen op de claimbeoordeling van mensen met een beperkte levensverwachting)
• Insurance physicians' perspectives on the claim assessment of individuals with limited life expectancy. TBV – Tijdschr Bedrijfs- en Verzekeringsgeneeskd 26, 533–537 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12498-018-0311-9. (Only Dutch version available. Dutch title: Verzekeringsgeneeskundige beoordeling bij NAH: Onzichtbare beperkingen in beeld?)

Report

As part of my survey "Attitudes, experiences, and needs of insurance physicians regarding the application of new technologies in insurance medicine" from last summer, I also asked insurance physicians for their opinions on remote client contact (during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic). The findings are described in the report.

• "Do you see me? The (dis)comfort of video calling: experiences and advice from insurance physicians," Elza Muller, 2021. (Dutch version only: Ben ik in beeld? Het (on)gemak van beeldbellen: ervaringen en adviezen van verzekeringsartsen)

Contact

Email: e.muller1@amsterdamumc.nl
Up date: 7-10-2024