Beyond The Arbitration Decisions: What Taylor, Moser, and other arbitration decisions won't tell you about the use of single versus wide ranges of whole person impairment scores
Do you handle personal injury and/or accident benefits claims?
Are you concerned with the catastrophic determination process in Ontario? Do you have questions about the use of a wide range of scores as opposed to a single total whole person impairment score? Has the introduction of the recently released DSM-5 left you with more questions than answers?
Do you handle Personal Injury and/or Accident Benefits Claims?
Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2015
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Mississauga Convention Centre
If so, plan on attending the Benchmark IME January Conference to learn more from two of Canada's leading medical authorities on these hot topics:
- Catastrophic Impairment Ranges
- DSM-IV vs DSM-5: What You Need to Know
Dr. Harold Becker will be joining us in this unique, one of a kind, event where we will have the two foremost experts in the field explore the use of a wide range of scores as opposed to a single total whole person impairment score. If you are concerned with the catastrophic determination process in Ontario, this is an event you will want to plan on attending because we will now have the event conclude with a lively discussion panel where Dr. Becker and Dr. William Gnam will address the impairment score methodologies. To round out our discussion topics we will also explore the introduction of the recently released DSM-5 with Dr. Jeremy Frank.
Keynote Speakers
Dr. Harold Becker,
PhD, MD, CCFP, FCFP (LM)
Dr. Harold Becker is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. He earned a PhD in Medical Biophysics in 1971 and completed his MD from the University of Toronto in 1975. He presently holds Fellowship in the College of Family Physicians of Canada in which he is a Life Member. Dr. Becker represented the Ontario Medical Association on the Minister’s Committee on the Designated Assessment Centre system at the Financial Services Commission of Ontario from 1996 through 2001 and was the Chair of the working group that wrote the Catastrophic DAC Assessment Guidelines implemented in Ontario in 2001. He was appointed by the Minister of Finance to take part in the Minister’s Advisory Panel to Re-Assess the Definition of Catastrophic Impairment under Bill 59 in 2000. He is a well-known and frequent speaker at insurance industry and medicolegal conferences on the subject of catastrophic impairment. Dr. Becker’s nearly 20 years’ experience in the interpretation and use of the AMA Guides 4th edition since 1996 has provided him with a unique and unparalleled perspective on the assessment of catastrophic impairment in Ontario.
Dr. William H. Gnam,
MD, PhD, FRCPC
Dr. William H. Gnam is a psychiatrist and one of the most experienced catastrophic impairment examiners in the province of Ontario. He has lectured frequently to clinicians, lawyers and insurers on topics related to mental and behavioural impairment, and he has appeared on several occasions as an expert witness during Catastrophic Impairment arbitrations at the Financial Services Commission of Ontario. Dr. Gnam in 2010 served as Scientific and Clinical consultant to the FSCO Expert Panel on Catastrophic Impairment. In addition to extensive clinical experience as Staff Psychiatrist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, Dr. Gnam is also a Scientist and expert in the scientific foundations of clinical decision making. He has testified in this capacity as a Scientist before the Workers Safety and Insurance Appeals Tribunal, and the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. His dual qualifications as clinician and scientist enable Dr. Gnam to offer unique insights into controversies in Catastrophic Impairment, such as the growing use of ranges.
Dr. Jeremy Frank,
Ph.D., C. Psych.
Dr. Jeremy Frank is a clinical and rehabilitation psychologist and his training and experience to date includes work in psychological trauma, the treatment of chronic pain, the assessment of disability, and rehabilitation following injuries. He has completed the Microprogram in Insurance Medicine and Medicolegal Expertise for Canadian Health Professionals through the University of Montreal. He has considerable teaching experience, having taught numerous undergraduate courses, and having supervised Masters-level clinicians, doctoral students and PhD-level psychologists in clinical and rehabilitation assessment and treatment. He has co-authored a book chapter with statistical normative data for using the Personality Assessment Inventory with Ontario MVA claimants. He has performed thousands of psychological disability assessments both at the request of plaintiff and defence. Dr. Frank currently serves as both Vice President of the Canadian Academy of Psychologists in Disability Assessment (CAPDA) and as chair of its Credentialing Committee.
About Benchmark
Canadian-based, privately owned and operated by a Regulated Healthcare Practitioner, Benchmark is a national provider of Independent Medical Examinations.
Benchmark’s core competencies are the provision of IME through the development and use of our strategic proprietary technologies, all custom-designed to support quality in each step of our process driven workflow – this is what differentiates Benchmark.
Our revolutionary, paperless, efficient, and accurate processes have been validated through ISO 9001:2008 certification.
