IRG News & Views

Georgia: Single Expert Focus Pays Off -- IRG taps abandoned claim for $3 Million recovery

IRG has unlocked tremendous recovery in claims that others have overlooked or abandoned. In one recent case, IRG identified, pursued, and achieved Subsequent Injury Trust Fund (SITF) acceptance of a claim with an estimated total reimbursement value of over $3 Million - a claim which the carrier had previously abandoned as having no SITF potential.

IRG identified this key claim when it was invited by the client to take one more look at claims that had already been reviewed for potential SITF by in-house adjusters, attorneys, and other vendors in advance of the approaching SITF deadline. In its week long review, IRG found this and several other claims that to its expert eye looked like they represented significant recovery potential. Without IRG's expert evaluation, this claim, which involved a claimant with a cervical spine injury who was permanently and totally disabled and medicals estimated at $78,000 per year for the rest of the claimant's life, would not have been pursued for recovery. However, through IRG's expert assessment of the file, the claim’s untapped potential was identified and ultimately realized.

Coventry Workers' Comp Services and Impairment Resources LLC Announce Strategic Alliance

We are pleased to announce that our new joint venture with Impairment Resources is off to a booming start. Coventry Workers' Comp Services (CWCS), a division of Coventry Health Care, Inc., has just announced a strategic alliance with Impairment Resources, LLC to offer a suite of tools designed to ensure accurate impairment ratings for its clients.

Below, find the full text of release issued by CWCS:

Coventry Workers' Comp Services and Impairment Resources LLC Announce Strategic Alliance
Services of national impairment expert to enhance CWCS solutions that drive accurate impairment ratings

Franklin ,TN – April 15, 2009 – Coventry Workers' Comp Services (CWCS), a division of Coventry Health Care, Inc., has announced a strategic alliance with Impairment Resources, LLC to offer a suite of tools designed to ensure accurate impairment ratings for its clients. Impairment ratings are a key cost driver in workers’ compensation cases. CWCS can for the first time help clients regain confidence with regards to the impairment ratings.

"Studies have conclusively demonstrated that the majority of impairment ratings are incorrect, and the average incorrect rating is nearly three times higher than is appropriate," stated Christopher Brigham, M.D., Chairman and Founder of Impairment Resources. "Our goal is to assist Coventry Workers’ Comp Services by providing fair, reliable impairment evaluations, while demonstrating the integrity, service, and excellence for which the company is known."

Impairment Resources will afford CWCS unique professional and technological abilities, including a suite of services that will allow client adjusters and risk managers the ability to measure or assess ratings and to access expert physician reviews. These services are complimented by Internet-based educational resources, tools for all Editions of the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, and expert consultation services that can also be effectively used to ensure accurate ratings.

"By implementing the disciplined impairment rating program offered by Impairment Resources, we will now be able to offer clinical expertise to adjusters who have been dealing with imprecise and inconsistent legal interpretations of impairment," said Derrick Amato, Chief Operating Officer, Clinical Services, CWCS. "By partnering with the nation's leading expert, we expect the clients who take advantage of this systematic approach to disability impairment rating will realize significant cost reductions.”

About Coventry Workers’ Comp Services
Coventry Workers’ Comp Services, a division of Coventry Health Care, Inc., is the leading provider of cost and care management solutions for property and casualty insurance carriers, (workers’ compensation and auto insurers), third-party administrators and self-insured employers. We design best-in-class products and services to help our partners restore the health and productivity of injured workers and insureds as quickly and as cost effectively as possible. We accomplish this by developing and maintaining consultative, trusting partnerships with our clients and stakeholders, built on a foundation of innovative and customized solutions that support the claims management process.

Go to www.coventrywcs.com for more information.

About Impairment Resources, LLC
Impairment Resources, LLC, the nation's leading resource on impairment evaluation, offers a comprehensive suite of cost containment services that address long term indemnity costs, which now represent over 20 billion dollars of workers' compensation benefit expenditures. Founder Christopher Brigham, MD is an internationally recognized expert on the AMA Guides and author of nearly two hundred publications on impairment assessment. The firm has offices in California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Hawaii.

Go to www.impairment.com for more information.

Brigham and Associates and Insurance Recovery Group Launch Impairment Resources, a Joint Venture to Address Impairment Ratings

Expert firms join forces to introduce new workers’ compensation cost containment tools

San Diego, California (Jan 22, 2009) ― Brigham and Associates Inc. and Insurance Recovery Group, Inc. (IRG) announce the formation of Impairment Resources, LLC a new joint venture established to assure accurate and reliable impairment ratings. Impairment Resources will combine the expertise and resources of national leaders in the areas of the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, workers’ compensation cost containment, and recovery services. It will offer a proprietary suite of new cost containment services to address monetary payouts for impairment, key cost drivers in workers’ compensation cases. Educational resources, training, certification and strategies to produce quality ratings will also remain a focus.

Christopher R. Brigham, MD, founder of Brigham and Associates, Inc. explains "Studies have conclusively demonstrated that the majority of impairment ratings are incorrect, and the average incorrect rating is nearly three times higher than is appropriate. Our goal is to drive fair, reliable impairment evaluations, and to demonstrate integrity, service and excellence." David Jollin, President and CEO of IRG adds: "Impairment Resources offers a significant opportunity to address long term indemnity costs, which now represent over 20 billion dollars of workers' compensation benefit expenditures. Our process-engineered cost containment systems married with the deep expertise that Brigham and Associates holds in impairment ratings will bring a strong new resource to the market."

Impairment Resources, LLC is unique in its professional and technological abilities, offering a suite of services ranging from ImpairmentCheck,™ a new online claims resource to be used by adjusters, lawyers and risk managers to measure or assess ratings to ImpairmentExpert,™ expert physician reviews. These services are complimented by Internet-based educational resources, tools for all Editions of the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, and expert consultation that can also be effectively used by doctors to achieve accurate ratings.

Christopher Brigham will serve as Chairman of Impairment Resources, LLC. Directors include W. Frederick Uehlein, attorney, founder and chairman of IRG; David Jollin, President and CEO of IRG; and Craig Uejo, MD, MPH, national medical director of Brigham and Associates.

Impairment Resources, LLC (formerly Brigham and Associates, Inc.) is recognized as the nation's leading resource on impairment evaluation. The founder, Christopher Brigham, MD, is an internationally recognized expert on the AMA Guides and author of nearly two hundred publications on impairment assessment. The firm has offices in California, Maine and Hawaii.

Insurance Recovery Group, Inc. is a national leader in workers’ compensation recovery and cost containment systems, having recovered more than $900 million on behalf of its clients. The firm has offices in Massachusetts, New York, and Georgia.