Choosing Your Dr. & Health Care Providers for Your Work Injury

Okay, so you had a work injury, and thankfully your employers’ workers’ compensation insurance is covering your medical bills and your lost wages. How do you know who to treat with? Well…in Pennsylvania, all employers are required by law to have workers’ compensation insurance to cover their injured workers. Also, employers are supposed to have a list of “Panel Providers” for the injured workers to choose from to treat with. If the employer has such a list, and follows some other related rules regarding the Panel Providers, then the injured worker is required to treat with the chosen Panel Provider for the first 90 (ninety) days. After those initial 90 days, the injured worker is free to treat with any other health care provider for the work injury.

What if your employer does not have Panel Providers? You are free to treat with whomever you want. While many workers first go to their family physician, it is best to be treated by a physician familiar with your type of injury — say an orthopedic surgeon or neurologist, depending on the nature of your injury. It is also important to have a doctor who is knowledgeable in the practice of workers’ compensation, as he or she may be called upon to testify in your matter.

When might your doctor have to testify? If you have a matter in litigation before a Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Judge, it will most likely involve some dispute over your medical treatment, the extent of your injuries, or your disability. That is when it will be necessary to have your doctor testify. The more specialized the doctor, the more credence will be given to your matter by the assigned Workers’ Compensation Judge.

At some point, you will be required to attend an Independent Medical Examination by the workers’ compensation carrier, with a doctor of their choosing. That doctor will testify on behalf of the insurance company and, in all likelihood, will dispute your doctor’s findings regarding your work injury, your capability of returning to some type of work, and your extent of disability. They may even claim that you are fully recovered and attempt to terminate your wage loss and medical benefits.

If you have questions about your specific medical treatment, please feel free to contact Robinson Law LLC for peace of mind by having your questions answered professionally.