Employer Physicians for Georgia Worker’S Compensation
One of the many issues that comes up in cases of worker's compensation in Macon, GA concerns the physicians who supply the medical care to injured workers. Sometimes injured workers will have a personal physician or relies on hospital physician's and support medical workers' decisions concerning their medical status and that advice or opinion is different from the opinion of the worker's compensation physician.
Unfortunately it happens more often than you would think possible, and it is usually connected with cases where someone partially, but not fully, recovers from the accident. How do employers choose physician's to provide medical care?
Georgia workers compensation laws require employers to choose one of 3 options for providing physician services to employees injured on the job.
1.The employer can form a Traditional Panel of Physicians. The panel should be made up of 6 doctors when possible. If there aren't enough doctors in the area to make a panel of 6 then the employer can ask the State Board of Workers Compensation for a waiver. The panel is supposed to include a minority physician and an orthopedic physician.
2.The second option is for the employer to create a list of 10 physicians. The Conformed Panel of Physicians should include an orthopedic physician, a chiropractor, a general surgeon and at least one minority physician (if feasible). The list can be longer than 10, but the 10 cannot be associated with physicians or medical groups listed beyond the 10.
3.The third option is for the employer to contract with a medical organization that is certified by the State Board of Workers Compensation. The employer contracts with a Workers' Compensation Managed Care Organization that will actually treat the injured employee. The law requires the medical organization to include minority providers.
Choosing a Physician
When you are injured, you will choose a physician from among the ones the employer has on its panel no matter what option the employer chose. This can be disconcerting for an injured worker who wants to use his or her personal physician. But the only way you are allowed to choose your own physician is if the employer has not followed the law and failed to create a physician panel.
Some injured workers will see both the worker's compensation Macon, GA physician and their own physician. This is when problems can arise. Your physician may be willing to state in writing that you are partially and permanently disabled while the workers' compensation physician says you are able to return to full-time work in your prior capacity.
There are no easy ways to reconcile these differences of medical opinion. Your worker's compensation Macon, GA attorney will work with the physicians and the State Board personnel to try to settle the matter amicably. In some cases it is necessary to go to court and ask a judge to decide. In the final analysis worker's compensation is bound by precise and detailed rules, but medical conditions often cannot be pigeon-holed.
Unfortunately it happens more often than you would think possible, and it is usually connected with cases where someone partially, but not fully, recovers from the accident. How do employers choose physician's to provide medical care?
Georgia workers compensation laws require employers to choose one of 3 options for providing physician services to employees injured on the job.
1.The employer can form a Traditional Panel of Physicians. The panel should be made up of 6 doctors when possible. If there aren't enough doctors in the area to make a panel of 6 then the employer can ask the State Board of Workers Compensation for a waiver. The panel is supposed to include a minority physician and an orthopedic physician.
2.The second option is for the employer to create a list of 10 physicians. The Conformed Panel of Physicians should include an orthopedic physician, a chiropractor, a general surgeon and at least one minority physician (if feasible). The list can be longer than 10, but the 10 cannot be associated with physicians or medical groups listed beyond the 10.
3.The third option is for the employer to contract with a medical organization that is certified by the State Board of Workers Compensation. The employer contracts with a Workers' Compensation Managed Care Organization that will actually treat the injured employee. The law requires the medical organization to include minority providers.
Choosing a Physician
When you are injured, you will choose a physician from among the ones the employer has on its panel no matter what option the employer chose. This can be disconcerting for an injured worker who wants to use his or her personal physician. But the only way you are allowed to choose your own physician is if the employer has not followed the law and failed to create a physician panel.
Some injured workers will see both the worker's compensation Macon, GA physician and their own physician. This is when problems can arise. Your physician may be willing to state in writing that you are partially and permanently disabled while the workers' compensation physician says you are able to return to full-time work in your prior capacity.
There are no easy ways to reconcile these differences of medical opinion. Your worker's compensation Macon, GA attorney will work with the physicians and the State Board personnel to try to settle the matter amicably. In some cases it is necessary to go to court and ask a judge to decide. In the final analysis worker's compensation is bound by precise and detailed rules, but medical conditions often cannot be pigeon-holed.
