Handl Group’s insurer-focused rehabilitation business Corporé is to make digital mental health tool SilverCloud available to the general insurance market.
Corporé will use the digital mental health treatment platform to manage the psychological impact on injured parties sustained as a result of accidents, including road traffic accidents. This includes anxiety, positive body image (e.g. following amputations) and travel phobia.
Already used by the NHS, Corporé will now make SilverCloud available to the personal injury market for insurance customers, and where appropriate will be offered as part of their rehabilitation plan following an accident.
Commenting on the development, Corporé managing director Mark Stirrup said: “For all injuries, particularly serious ones, physical treatment has historically been the priority for rehabilitation services, but good quality psychological support, which SilverCloud delivers, enables a patient to recover quicker with a better overall clinical outcome.”
Stirrup explained that Corporé acts as a representative for insurers, adding the team works with clinicians to prepare a rehabilitation plan for each injured party which is then approved and paid for by the insurer.
According to Stirrup, treatments can be either ‘supported’ with a clinician (such as a physiotherapist, nurse or occupational therapist) overseeing the whole process, or ‘unsupported’ for more minor psychological support.
“SilverCloud can be used as a replacement for, or in addition to, traditional treatments, or prescribed once physical treatment has concluded as a support mechanism,” he added.
“Digital treatments such as SilverCloud are proven to increase injured parties’ engagement due to convenience of access (not appointment bound and can be accessed anywhere across multiple platforms), an increased sense of control and removal of the obstacle of accessing services due to stigma.”
An added advantage of using SilverCloud, Stirrup says, is that digital tools enable clinicians to easily collect and analyse patient data, to measure their mental health condition and understand the effectiveness of treatment for individuals and for patients using digital treatment tools.
“Data analytics will give us the opportunity to continuously improve the tool, and provide insurers and clinicians with granular detail on the extent of an injured party’s engagement, how specific injuries play out in terms of their impact on a customer’s mental health, and the time taken to fully recover.
“All our case managers are now being trained in the use of SilverCloud and will assess whether to prescribe SilverCloud programmes based on the suitability of the injured party’s problem, and their capability, opportunity and motivation to use the approach.”
Laura Jennings, head of partnerships at SilverCloud, added: “SilverCloud Health is committed to effective mental health care for all, and we are excited to support Corporé with their delivery of high quality services to provide on-demand, clinically validated care to patients who are experiencing mental health challenges.
“Our partnership exemplifies an innovative model for digital mental health, providing clinically-backed and evidenced services with Corporé, and enabling mental healthcare for as many people as possible.”