If you suffer an injury on the job, you will probably make a workers’ compensation claim. This no-fault system provides you with medical payments for your injury and may also offer you payments for lost wages. If your injury requires long-term care and repeat visits to a doctor or another medical professional, you may wonder if workers’ compensation will choose which physicians you can see or if you get to make that choice.
Because there are so many workers’ compensation rules, you must understand how it works. You do not want to go see a medical care provider whom your benefits will not cover. Medical care is too expensive to take that risk.
Doctor choice
According to the Nebraska Workers’ Compensation Court, who chooses the physician depends on the employee giving proper notification. The general rule is that you can choose to use a physician if you already have a relationship with that physician. In other words, if you have a family doctor who has always treated you, then you can choose to see that medical care provider. However, if you do not have a regular doctor, then your employer can make the decision. If your employer does not notify you that you can use your physician, then they lose the right to decide on your medical care provider.
For example, if you suffer an injury and your employer alerts you to the rule that you can only choose your physician if it is a physician you already use, then your employer can choose the doctor if you do not have one. If your employer did not tell you about the option to choose your physician, then you can decide on whatever physician you want, regardless of whether you have seen him or her before.
An exception
When it comes to choosing a surgeon due to a dismemberment injury or where you must have major surgery, you always have the right to choose your provider.