Insurance case managers' perception of quality in back pain programs: a focus study group

Insurance case managers commonly interact with physiatrists and rehabilitation programs. They influence referrals and patients' decision making. This study was designed to determine which factors affect case managers' perception of back pain program quality.

Repeated focus group interview in a neutral facility in an urban Midwestern United States community. Subjects were two groups (n = 12 and 11) of insurance case managers employed by case management firms (large and small), insurers, and self-insured employers. Outcome measures included group and individual responses to a pre-scripted interview and were collected on tape, transcribed, and interpreted by two different persons: the independent expert interviewer and a pain psychologist.

There was substantial agreement between the two interpreters. Both groups overwhelmingly chose physiatrists over other specialists. They emphasized timeliness, communication, functionally oriented programs, concrete program goals and time frames, physician knowledge of the legal aspects of disability, and rapid communication of patient noncompliance.

Rehabilitation programs may strive to meet many of these qualities but, in doing so, should be aware that the legal and ethical roles of case managers differ from that of clinicians.