Unmasking the Sophisticated Malingerer and
Misattributer in Workers’ Compensation Claims
The Resort and Conference Center at Hyannis, Hyannis, Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Monday, July 19, 2010
Continuing Education Information
Schedule
Hotel Information
Registration Information
Brochure
Register Online
Executive Summary: This unique pre-conference will provide occupational health professionals with the tools, strategies, and insights to deal with the sophisticated workers’ compensation malingerer and misattributer. Attendees will participate in open and frank discussions and analysis of common problems and solutions. Attendees will take away the elements needed to properly recognize, evaluate, and defend against workers’ compensation malingerers.
Learning Objectives: At the completion of the pre-conference you will be able to:
• Understand when claimants may be suspected of malingering or misattributing,
• Identify frameworks for evaluation,
• Develop and use checklists for the identification of suspected malingerers and misattributers,
• Understand the key data to look for,
• Have specific recommendations for finding the data to be evaluated, recommendations for development and use of supplementary data, and the proper use of evaluation of psychological testing.
Registration Information:
The $395 tuition includes a continental breakfast, lunch with faculty, a workshop manual not available elsewhere, and a dynamic learning experience.
Distinguished Faculty: Harold J. Bursztajn, MD is Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Co-Founder of the Program in Psychiatry and the Law in the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Department of Psychiatry of Harvard Medical School. He has a longstanding special interest in the pitfalls of forensic psychiatric and medical diagnosis. Dr. Bursztajn has more than 25 years’ experience in clinical and forensic practice in psychiatry, including consultations and evaluations in civil and criminal matters. He has taught and published extensively on how to differentiate impairments caused by mood, thought, and post-traumatic disorders from those cased by personality traits, developmental or adjustment problems, symptom misattribution, exaggeration, lack of motivation, primary or secondary gain, faking, or malingering. Dr. Bursztajn teaches and consults nationally to psychiatrists and other mental health professional, as well as to physicians across the primary and specialty medical care spectrum. He has served as faculty for the Harvard Medical School Psychiatric Intensive Diagnostic Interviewing Preparatory Course for the Board of Psychiatry & Neurology certification examinations, cofounded the Harvard Medical School Program in Psychiatry and the Law at the Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, and his many clinical and teaching distinctions include being recognized as a practicing “doctor’s doctor” by being named Principal Mentor at Harvard Medical School and being awarded the A. Clifford Barger Excellence in Mentoring Award as well as being the first physician/forensic psychiatrist in Harvard Medical School’s history to be appointed as the representative of the Harvard Medical School Alumni Board of Directors to the Harvard University Alumni Board. He continues to publish and present workshops nationally and internationally on a variety of special interest topics in medicine and in general and forensic neuropsychiatry.
Continuing Education Credits
Case Managers: 7.0 contact hours of continuing education for Case Managers have been applied for from the Commission for Case Manager Certification, St. Paul Minnesota. Disability Specialists: 7.0 contact hours of continuing education for Disability Specialists have been applied for from the Commission for Disability Management Specialists Commission, Schaumburg, Illinois. Human Resource: This program has been approved for 6.5 recertification credit hours toward PHR, SPHR and GPHR recertification through the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI). Nurses: To successfully complete a program and receive contact hours you must: 1) register in, 2) be present for the period of time you are awarded contact hours, 3) complete the evaluation. Occupational Health Nurses: 7.0 60-minute contact hours of continuing education in nursing have been approved by the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses, Inc (AAOHN). AAOHN is an accredited approver of continuing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation. (ANCC is the educational department under the ANA.) Physical Therapists: Continuing Physical Therapy credits vary by state, and will only be applied for if requested in writing on the conference registration form. Physicians: SEAK, Inc. is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. SEAK, Inc. designates this educational activity for a maximum of 7 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. Rehabilitation Counselors: 7.0 contact hours of continuing education hours for Rehabilitation Counselors have been applied for from the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification, Schaumburg, Illinois. Rehabilitation Nurses: This program will be accepted for 7.0 contact hours of credit for ARN certification. Submit certificate.
SCHEDULE
7:00–8:00 Registration, Continental Breakfast & Exhibits
8:00–8:15 Introduction
Familiarizing health care professionals with the elements of forensic psychiatric evaluation of claims where malingering and misattributing is suspected. Questions & Answers.
8:15–9:30 Frameworks for Evaluation
Attendees will be presented with the key frameworks for evaluations: Clark’s threshold model for malingering in the presence of Antisocial Personality Disorder, or sociopathy, DSM-IV-TR and ICD-10 diagnostic criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder, Malingering, and Factitious Disorder, and going beyond the DSM to identify misattributers who use a work related event as a passive and convenient focus. Questions & Answers.
9:30–10:45 What to Look For: Key Data to Be Identified
Attendees will learn the key data to look for and elicit from claimants which can be critical in unmasking the sophisticated malingerer. Faculty will review and discuss:
• History of litigiousness or other manipulative behavior,
• Psychological testing consistent with malingering,
• Data consistent with fabrication or exaggeration of disability – e.g. concentration and stamina shown when filling out test instruments,
• Preexisting medical or psychiatric disorders and impairments,
• Longstanding personality traits (e.g., antisocial, borderline, immature, dependent, histrionic) and/or adjustment problems,
• Longstanding or concurrent life stresses or crises to which the claimed damages can be reasonably attributed,
• Displacement of responsibility and externalizing of blame,
• Data consistent with seeking primary or secondary gain from litigation, and
• Specific factual claims uncorroborated or contradicted by reliable data.
Questions & Answers.
10:45–11:00 Break, Exhibits and Networking Opportunity
11:00–12:00 Case Examples and Opportunities for Case Related Informal Consultation
Specific cases of malingering and misattributing that have been unmarked will be explored. Attendees will be encouraged to be actively involved in the diagnostic and forensic process and to present challenging cases for informal consultation. Questions & Answers.
12:00–1:00 Lunch (Provided with Faculty)
1:00–2:00 Bringing the Psychiatric Interview to Life
The faculty, with the use of video, will illustrate principles of indirect interviewing of sophisticated malingerers and misattributers(in contrast to state-managing or hostile interrogation) to create an alliance that fosters open disclosure while enabling the examiner to observe and document data contradicting the interviewee’s claims. Questions & Answers.
2:00–3:00 Psychological Testing
Faculty will discuss and demonstrate the proper use of psychological testing in the suspected malingerer and misattributer. Included in the discussion are the MMPI-2, PAI, P3, and other validity tests. Questions & Answers.
3:00–3:15 Break, Exhibits and Networking Opportunity
3:15–4:15 Supplementary Data Collection
Faculty will discuss and explain the benefits and drawbacks of supplementary data collection (e.g., video surveillance, formal instruments, laboratory tests, brain imaging). Questions & Answers.
4:15–4:30 Wrap Up
Hotel Information
Site Hotel - The Resort and Conference Center at Hyannis. A limited block of rooms has been reserved at convention rates ($210 + tax) at the site hotel (The Resort and Conference Center at Hyannis). These rooms will be assigned on a first request basis. To reserve your room, please call 866-828-9111 and mention the SEAK/Workers’ Compensation Conference. The resort is surrounded by 52 totally private acres of beautifully landscaped grounds and offers an 18-hole par 54 golf course, a private patio or balcony for the 232 guest rooms, a complete fitness center, indoor and outdoor pools, a whirlpool, a complete spa, and free parking. The Resort and Conference Center at Hyannis is conveniently located within walking distance of Main Street with its many shops and restaurants. Public beaches and the ferries to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket are minutes from the hotel.
Alternative Lodging
As a tourist destination, the Hyannis area has numerous alternative lodging options for different tastes and budgets. We have reserved a block of overflow rooms at The Holiday Inn Hyannis at a discounted rate ($189 single/double). To make your reservations, please call (508) 775-1153 and identify yourselves as being with SEAK, Inc. or book online at www.holidayinn.com/hyannisma and Enter Group Code: SEK. During the conference, SEAK, Inc. will provide free regularly scheduled shuttle bus service between The Holiday Inn Hyannis and The Resort and Conference Center at Hyannis. The Holiday Inn Hyannis is approximately 3 miles from The Resort and Conference Center at Hyannis and is located nearby the Cape Cod Mall and several restaurants. The Holiday Inn Hyannis was recently renovated and features an indoor pool, restaurant, modern gym and free hi-speed internet access. If you prefer a hotel on the harbor and within walking distance of downtown/waterfront restaurants, we suggest the Anchor In (www.anchorin.com), which is 2 miles from The Resort and Conference Center at Hyannis. For a good value, we suggest the Sea Coast Inn (www.seacoastcapecod.com) which is within healthy walking distance of the site hotel and easy walking distance of main street and the Hyannis docks. For a small motel directly across from Craigville Beach, we suggest the Ocean View on Craigville Beach (www.capecodoceanviewmotel.com) If you are coming with your family or colleagues and prefer a suite or townhouse with kitchenette, we suggest the Red Jacket Green Harbor Resort, which is located directly on Lewis Bay, 3 miles from The Resort and Conference Center at Hyannis. If you would like to stay at an oceanfront beach resort with a private beach, jet ski rentals, etc., we suggest the Red Jacket Beach Resort (www.redjacketresorts.com). The Red Jacket Beach Resort is 6 miles from The Resort and Conference Center at Hyannis, but please note that traffic can be heavy in the afternoons coming back from The Resort and Conference Center at Hyannis.
Getting to Hyannis
The two major airports closest to Cape Cod are Logan International Airport in Boston, MA (70 miles) and T.F. Green Airport in Warwick, Rhode Island (80 miles). Barnstable Airport is a five minute drive from The Resort and Conference Center at Hyannis, but this is a commuter airport that has smaller planes and fewer flights. T.F. Green is preferred over Logan (if you are able to get a direct flight) as it is usually less congested. Rental cars, taxis and car service are available at all three airports. If you are on a tight budget or prefer not to drive, Plymouth & Brockton runs bus service between Logan Airport and Hyannis (www.p-b.com).
Cape Cod
Cape Cod is a true destination spot that features beautiful beaches, warm water, great restaurants, historic towns, sightseeing, kayaking, whale watching, museums, numerous bike trails, shopping, nightlife, championship golf, and world famous boating. Cape Cod is also gateway to the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. For more information on what to do on Cape Cod, please visit www.capecod.com.