Proper care at the right
place
When an injury occurs you want to be sure the injured worker
has timely access to the highest quality of care and that the treating primary
care physician or specialist will render care aimed at returning the employee
to work. Unfortunately many injured employees’ first experience with
workers’ comp is in a medical practice that does not understand occupational
health.
All too often it is believed that if a medical provider is credentialed
through a network, he or she is a professional who values injury management.
It is important to realize that there are differences between occupational
health delivery systems and those of the general medical community.
As L5 WorkComp Advisors, it is our role to establish a continuum of care
and communication between the three most influential parties in the workers’
comp claim process – the employer, the injured employee and the medical
provider. A key component of this process is identifying medical providers
where injury management is a core value.
This philosophy places the injured worker and his or her care at the forefront.
Such medical providers offer proper intervention at the right time and resolve
problems before they become too costly. They engage the employer and provide
for continuous communication.
In assessing a medical provider, some factors that we evaluate are: treatment
guidelines or protocols in the care of the injured worker; the ability to
identify ergonomic job risks; the use of standardized work restriction forms;
the availability of case management; the absence of social decisions when
determining a release to work; and the willingness to coordinate and manage
treatment and rehabilitation with other providers to facilitate a speedy
recovery and return to work.
Channeling injured employees to the right medical provider will:
• Improve access to care that results in early intervention and a
speedier return to work
• Establish causation of injury (is it really a workers’ comp
claim?)
• Improve efficacy of treatment (treatment that is appropriate for
the problem, yielding the best medical results for the injured worker)
• Reduce claim costs (by returning the injured employee to full productivity
sooner)
• Let your employees know that you value them and are committed to
their return to work
Experience shows that the longer an injured worker is out of work the more
difficult it is for him or her to return to the job. The key to reducing
claim costs is not to let the injured worker get out of the normal routine
of coming to work. Effective medical care reduces time lost from work, enhances
the relationship between employer and employee and makes good fiscal sense. |