In this episode of ADJUSTED, Dr. Gerry Stanley, Sr. VP and CMO at Harvard MedTech, explores the benefits of virtual reality, the science behind it, and why it is positively disrupting the way pain is managed in the workers’ compensation insurance space.
Gerry Stanley, M.D. is the Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for Harvard MedTech and has a passion for healthcare transformation. Dr. Stanley has deep expertise in population health management, self-insured health plan management, medical consumerism, and direct-to-employer network enablement. As a third-generation family physician, he has grown up in the evolution of health care delivery systems and is an active proponent of utilizing data and analytics to educate clinicians about the power of managing patient populations one clinical interaction at a time. He describes the opportunity to find a solution for the growing opioid epidemic and create a resource for clinicians to treat this condition as “a once in a lifetime opportunity to solve a societal need”. Learn more about Gerry here.
Virtual Reality Pain Relief
HOW IS THE HARVARD MEDTECH Vx PAIN RELIEF PROGRAM DIFFERENT? Traditionally, when an injured worker has ongoing pain, they are given a referral for pain management, which usually involves prescriptions, injections, and other invasive treatments. This does not always produce successful outcomes or a decrease in their pain. Harvard MedTech has designed a program that combines a Biopsychosocial model, with Virtual Reality (VR) technology, along with a personal clinician, to reduce pain and stress. The program is non-pharmacological and non-invasive.
THE GOAL IS TO RETURN TO NORMAL; NOT JUST RETURN TO WORK: When an injury occurs, the injured worker’s whole life is thrown out of balance. They wonder how they will pay their bills, how they will feed their children, and if they will ever get to do the things that were important to them prior to the injury. Traditionally, the focus was on getting them back to work; not getting them back to normal and whole. It is important to identify what the psychosocial components are: family relationships, possible work issues, childcare issues, and if they have health insurance. If they are not identified early in the claim, it will be harder to address them later. It is important for adjusters to ask questions about “the whole person.” This can be very beneficial in their pain relief program. If an injured worker really enjoys golfing, their goal may be to get better so they can golf again. By setting this goal, they are working on returning to their “normal,” which will also allow them to return to work.
THE BRAIN CAN BE RETRAINED ON HOW IT PROCESSES PAIN: When a patient is immersed in Virtual Reality therapy, they can lose focus of the pain. The brain can be reprogrammed to form new synapses. These new synapses can tell the body that even if they get a pain signal, it is not a priority. The program gives injured workers a world that they are empowered to immerse themselves and control the permanent rewiring of their brains. A patient may initially be skeptical thinking “I can’t go five minutes without thinking about my pain,” but then they spend twenty-five minutes in Virtual Reality looking at the ocean seafloor, without feeling pain. The program is specifically designed for ninety days. It is all about creating neuroplastic change, which is done in three steps: creating a new synapse, then reinforcing it, and then reinforcing it again. Each step takes about thirty days.
THE HEALING IS DONE AT HOME: Harvard MedTech meets the patient where they live, to get them set up for the program. After the initial setup, the personal clinician will call at least once a week to work alongside, and guide the injured worker. The injured worker gets sixty to ninety minutes per day of VR therapy. The therapy is adjusted each week based on how the patient is progressing. The personal clinicians all have Master’s Degrees in psychology, sociology, or social work. The patient is matched up with their personal clinician by using personality indexing. It is crucial for the injured worker to feel comfortable with their personal clinician, and for their personalities to mesh, in order to produce the best outcomes.
THE INJURED WORKERS ARE WORKING TOWARDS PROGRAM GRADUATION; NOT PROGRAM DISCHARGE: Each program gives the injured worker four goals to attain: a physical goal, a social goal, a behavioral goal, and a sleep goal. It is a huge accomplishment to complete these goals and should be viewed as something to celebrate.
THE GOAL IS TO MAKE OUR TODAY BETTER, AND OUR TOMORROW EVEN BRIGHTER: It is very important to keep challenging the status quo, and finding better ways to treat injuries. Remember that the goal is about helping people. While it may not seem that the Worker’s Compensation Industry has changed much, disruption through technology, and new ideas, is forging a new path ahead. If you are interested in learning more about the Harvard MedTech Vx Pain Relief Program, visit www.harvardmedtech.com. They want to help injured workers return to life; not just return to work!