Bad Company Docs

Under the Georgia workers’ compensation law, your employer and its insurer must provide you with medical care if you are hurt on the job.   You will 0nly get this medical care if the employer/insurer accepts your claim – if they deny your claim, they do not have to provide medical care unless and until the State Board of Workers’ Compensation orders otherwise.

Medical care under workers’ compensation gives rise to a lot of negotiation and litigation.  You, the injured worker, want high quality care and a doctor who is focused on getting you better.  The insurance company prefers doctors who do not order expensive tests and who will quickly release you back to full time work.  Not surprisingly, many of my clients report that they are very dissatisfied with the quality of medical care they are receiving under workers’ comp.

Under the law, your employer has the right to choose which doctors you may see after you are hurt.   However, this right is not absolute and in many cases, we can challenge their selection and get you to a physician who will be more focused on what is in your best interests.

Every employer subject to the workers’ compensation law is supposed to maintain something called a “posted panel of physicians.”  Often, but not always, this panel is printed on an 8 1/2″ x 14″ pink cardboard poster.  The law says that this posted panel must display the names of at least six (6) unaffiliated physicians, at least one of whom must be an orthopedist.  The panel should display the name, address and phone number of each doctor, and the panel must be posted in a central location that is accessible to you.

If the panel is valid, you are required to seek treatment with one of the panel doctors.  If the panel is not valid for whatever reason, you can select any doctor you want and the insurance company has to pay for treatment.

Obviously, disputes about the validity of posted panels is very common and I frequently hear stories from clients about:

• panels that are posted, but are blank
• panels that may not contain six unaffiliated doctors (it is not sufficient to contain 6 locations of an industrial clinic)
• panels that are posted in an inaccessible place

If we cannot negotiate a resolution to our dispute about the quality and extent of treatment you are receiving, we can request a hearing and take that issue to at State Board judge.

Having been in practice in Georgia for over 20 years, I know or have heard of most of the doctors in the state who handle workers’ compensation claims and I work very hard to keep my clients away from poorly qualified doctors.  Insurance adjusters and certainly defense lawyers know which workers’ compensation doctors are legitimate just as I do so when I object to a particular treating doctor I am usually able to reach an agreement for a change in the authorized treating physician.

In any case, assuming that you are treating with a panel doctor, I will offer you my insight about the skills and quality of that doctor and I will advise you of your options to change to a physician who will be more focused on your best interests.