The law related to choosing your own doctor after a workplace injury varies from state to state. There are several states that demand that injured employees receive treatment only from employer-picked physicians, while others allow for greater flexibility.
In Ohio, as long as the doctor is a certified Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) provider, injured workers are entitled to select the doctor from whom they would like to receive care. If your employer is self-insured, it’s important to know your rights for choosing your own physician under workers comp law. In some cases, you’ll need to receive the approval of your employer and its workers’ compensation insurance provider.
Governer Kasich and BWC Administrator Steven Buehrer have publicly stated that after this fall’s election, if Kasich is re-elected, they will push for a limitation on a worker’s right to choose their own physician. They want to create a panel of approved physicians, chosen by the BWC, to treat injured workers if treatment is required after 45 days post-injury. This would be very damaging to an injured worker’s right to get the treatment needed since the BWC has a financial incentive to cut off treatment prematurely. This is a great reason to get out and vote for Ed Fitzgerald for Governor this fall.
For now, if you are displeased with your current physician and wish to change doctors, you would be wise to alert the managed care organization, unless your employer is self-insured, in which case you would need to notify the employer. Your new doctor will also need to complete some paperwork for the BWC for the change in provider to be official and for any workers’ compensation claims to proceed accordingly.
Before taking any of these steps, however, it is important to make sure that you immediately tell your supervisor that you have been injured as soon after the accident as possible. Be sure to provide a detailed and documented report of the injury and accident, as this can help you later on if you need to seek workers’ compensation benefits.
To learn more about what do to after a workplace accident, speak with the skilled southwestern Ohio workers’ compensation lawyers at Clements, Taylor, Butkovich & Cohen LPA, Co.