Taking the bias out of forensic assessment
As clinical psychologists at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis in the early 1990s, David C. Fisher, PhD, and Sheridan Fenwick, PhD, were often hired to conduct psychological evaluations by attorneys representing clients with brain injuries. The further the two delved into forensic evaluation, they more they realized there were few standards or studies to guide them.
"We saw a lot of inconsistent work," recalls Fisher, such as psychologists conducting evaluations they weren't trained for or with strong biases for the people who hired them.
In addition to being unfair to the people being evaluated, the companies getting second-rate evaluations were exposing themselves to millions of dollars of potential losses in court, Fisher says.
Seeing a need, Fenwick and Fisher quit their hospital jobs in 1994 and 1995, respectively, to launch PsyBar, a network of 1,200 psychologists and psychiatrists with expertise in forensic assessment who provide bias-free evaluation and testimony in situations with legal implications. They are frequently called in, for example, to evaluate employees who are exhibiting signs of depression or anxiety that could interfere with their job performance. They also have helped military contractors with post-traumatic stress disorder screenings for employees coming back from Iraq. The largest portion of PsyBar's business comes from insurance companies that are adjudicating claims for psychological injury.
"We are an intermediary that keeps the psychologists and psychiatrists at arms length from the employee assistance program, the employer and insurance companies," says Fisher, PsyBar's president. "We also protect the employees and claimants who are being evaluated, because you want a doctor who is as neutral as possible."
PsyBar has helped thousands of organizations find quality experts in psychological and psychiatric assessment, including employers in the United States, England and Southeast Asia. The company's success and commitment to protecting both parties in legal and insurance cases led to Fisher and Fenwick, PsyBar's executive director, being selected as this month's winners of APA's Innovative Practice Award.
"Drs. Fisher and Fenwick have developed an innovative practice that demonstrates how psychologists can contribute outside the traditional mental health sphere," says APA President James H. Bray, PhD. "This is clearly a growth area for psychological practice in the future."
Fisher has developed legally and scientifically sound protocols for each type of evaluation PsyBar offers. Professionals in PsyBar's network are screened for their assessment experience and trained on PsyBar's assessment protocols, and their evaluations are peer-reviewed at PsyBar, adds Fisher.
When he isn't matching mental health experts to lawyers and employers, Fisher also gives presentations to insurers, government agencies and human resources and legal groups about what constitutes a good psychological evaluation. In fact, employee assistance program professionals in Ireland have been collaborating with Fisher on how introduce the PsyBar assessment model there.
—J. Chamberlin