Paradigm Catastrophic Care Management has always focused on treating the injured worker and their family to achieve the fullest recovery for individuals, families, and communities.

It takes the expertise and compassion of Paradigm Medical Directors such as Hassan Moinzadeh, MD, PhD, to identify and select the most appropriate psychosocial resources for injured workers.

Dr. Moinzadeh is a Stanford University graduate, and received his MD from the University of California, Davis. He has practiced medicine since 1992, specializing in musculoskeletal medicine and pain management for the past ten years. He is also licensed as a clinical psychologist. He says: “The combination of these two fields is incredibly valuable in my work at Paradigm.”

What is your role at Paradigm?
I have worked with Paradigm as a Medical Director since 2006. The role of Medical Director is what makes Paradigm unique in our industry. My main focus and goal is to help an injured worker achieve the best possible outcome, and ideally return to work, following a catastrophic injury. From the moment a worker is injured, our highly skilled and professional Paradigm Management Team takes a collaborative, whole-person approach. As Medical Director, I coordinate with treating providers to ensure that the proper care and medical services are delivered in the best interest of the injured worker. If areas require additional expertise, we bring in those experts to consult.

Tell us about psychosocial services. What do they involve?
Psychosocial services address the ongoing psychological and social needs of an injured worker and their family to help ensure their full recovery. There is a broad range of psychosocial services and types of treatments that address a patient’s environmental, spiritual, and emotional needs.

Psychosocial support is very individualized, but it can include psychological and mental health counseling, family therapy, behavioral therapy, PTSD therapy, education, spiritual support, and life coaching, as well as complementary treatments like acupuncture, yoga, meditation, and aquatic therapy, to name a few. We look at any and all resources to support what each injured worker needs specifically. In addressing a patient’s whole environment, one size does not fit all. We bring in unique tools for each injured worker, with a treatment plan designed to meet their particular challenges.

One of the most challenging parts of treating a catastrophic injury is helping injured workers adjust to major physical and emotional changes. How can they overcome the trauma, continue to be productive, and integrate back into their family and community to lead a full life?

By focusing on treatment plans with an end goal in mind, our outcomes-driven approach aims to address all facets of recovery, and make sure we provide the worker and their family with all of the resources they need.

How can psychosocial services complement clinical services in an injured worker’s recovery?
Historically, medicine has centered on biomedical services. If you have a specific health problem or injury, this approach works. But incorporating a biopsychosocial model into recovery from a catastrophic injury allows a whole person to heal. You must address the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and environmental trauma to ensure a full recovery.

When are behavioral health services engaged? What is the value of early intervention and engagement with behavioral health services?
This is such an important question! At Paradigm, we use a biopsychosocial approach from the very beginning, immediately after the injury occurs and our team is brought on in the initial ICU setting. Early intervention is key to identifying patterns that may show up. For example, how is an injured worker navigating their environment, are they experiencing fear, etc.? By using this approach from the outset, we can intervene as quickly as possible to address these types of patterns, and focus on treatments and therapies that will contribute to a better outcome for the patient.

How is Paradigm unique in using this type of approach?
The use of the biopsychosocial approach, from the time immediately following a worker’s injury, with Medical Directors, nurse case managers and a team of specialized experts, is what makes Paradigm unique and distinguishes us from other companies. I have not found any other company willing to consider this way of thinking. Our Catastrophic Care Management division pioneered this approach 30 years ago, managing both catastrophic and complex pain cases long before other companies appreciated or offered these types of services.

We treat the injured worker as a whole person from the very beginning of their recovery, and we revisit their treatments every month while the Paradigm team is involved. We make sure they get every resource they need in order to achieve the best possible outcome.

Are there specific types of injuries that are likely to require a greater behavioral health focus during treatment and recovery?
Almost any injury in the catastrophic category will require some type of behavioral health treatment. Catastrophic injuries include spinal cord injuries, brain injuries, burns, and amputations. These types of injuries can be destructive to the sense of self. By incorporating some aspect of emotional support services, we can help the worker and their family come to terms with what happened to them and move on from the mental trauma of the injury.

What are the advantages to a whole-person, whole-family approach? Why is it important to support an injured worker’s family in addition to the worker him/herself?
It is essential to engage family from the beginning so they can best support the patient’s recovery, and help the injured worker integrate back into their family and community following the injury.

Anything else you’d like to share?
We provide the specific care an injured worker needs. In addressing a patient’s whole environment, there are no cookie cutter treatments. We bring in unique tools for each injured worker, with a treatment plan designed to meet their particular challenges.

If you have questions for Dr. Moinzadeh or would like to learn more about Paradigm’s human-centered, outcomes-driven approach, send us a note at catastrophic@paradigmcorp.com

Paradigm is the industry leader in improving lives for individuals with catastrophic and complex health care challenges. With the most connected and experienced team in health care, Paradigm delivers financial and health outcomes that exceed expectations both for our clients and for injured workers and their families. For nearly 30 years, a biopsychosocial approach to treating the whole person and the whole family has been core to the success of Paradigm’s model and value proposition.