In Conversation with Risk & Insurance: Sentry Insurance’s Greg Larson on How AI and Text Mining Can Quickly Identify Biopsychosocial Barriers to Recovery
In a conversation held at RIMS’s RISKWORLD 2023 in Atlanta, Greg Larson, AVP of workers’ comp claims for Sentry Insurance, sat down with Risk & Insurance® to talk about biopsychosocial barriers to injury recovery and how new technologies are helping to identify those barriers faster and more effectively than ever.
Around 10% of injured workers experience delayed recovery due to psychosocial factors that can be easily missed, leading to unnecessary pain and discomfort for workers, as well as a disproportionate number of excess claims costs. Sentry’s new Injured Employee Complexity Factor (IECF) models add an extra layer of technology to help claims professionals identify and address those issues that can be overlooked through traditional means.
“The models include over 200 data points, but one of the biggest pieces of this is text mining. Our models look for specific basic words around stress, anxiety, things that might be in the medical reports or conversations with the adjuster that they’ve documented in the filings,” Larson explained.
Sentry’s IEFC models will collect data from claim information, medical treatment and injury codes, as well as add new information acquired during the life of the claim. The models leverage Sentry’s claim data dating back to 2015.
Once claims are flagged by the models, claims personnel are able to create a customized managed care plan and connect workers with the resources they need, including contact with telephonic nurse case management, professional counseling, virtual reality therapy and more.
The models are already yielding encouraging results, said Larson. “We’re not going to impact every case — every individual is different. But we are seeing an impact, and we’re seeing people go back to work faster. They’re getting off their medications, which is huge. I absolutely believe that, a year from now, we’re going to be able to show that it has had an impact.” &