Mental Health Evaluation & Consulting Insights

What Is a Mental Health Consultative Examination for Disability?
When an individual applies for disability benefits, the available medical records may not always contain enough current information for the agency reviewing the claim. In some cases, an additional independent examination may be requested. This is known as a consultative examination. What Is a Consultative Examination? A consultative examination, often called a CE, is an examination requested to obtain additional medical or psychological information needed to evaluate a disability claim. For mental health claims, the examination focuses on the individual's psychiatric symptoms, history, current mental status, and functioning based on... Read more...
What Is an Independent Mental Health Evaluation?
Organizations sometimes need an objective assessment of an individual's mental health and functioning outside of an established treatment relationship. An independent mental health evaluation can provide that clinical perspective. These evaluations may be requested by government agencies, disability programs, insurers, employers, attorneys, and other organizations when mental health information is relevant to a specific decision or referral question. What Makes an Evaluation Independent? An independent evaluation is different from ongoing psychiatric treatment. The evaluating clinician is generally not establishing a traditional treatment relationship for medication management or psychotherapy. Instead, the... Read more...
What Is Psychiatric Record Review and How Can It Help Legal Teams
Mental health records can become some of the most complex documentation in a legal case. A single matter may include years of psychiatric treatment, therapy notes, medication changes, hospitalizations, disability documentation, primary care records, and assessments from multiple providers. Psychiatric record review helps legal teams organize and better understand this information. What Is Psychiatric Record Review? Psychiatric record review is the focused clinical review of medical and behavioral health documentation by a qualified mental health professional. The purpose is to identify and organize clinically relevant information within the records based... Read more...