What are Medical Benefits for Injured Workers
If you have been injured on the job, your medical treatment must be paid for by your employer and its workers' compensation insurance company. This includes medical treatment for injuries that happen due to accidents and injuries that develop over time, such as repetitive stress injuries.
Effective Representation for Injured Workers in Georgia
Call Toll-Free: 866-710-4116
The law requires payment for medical treatments that are reasonably calculated to effect a cure for or to provide relief from the injury. The treatment must be recommended by your authorized treating physician.
Medical treatment includes authorized doctor bills, hospital bills, rehabilitation, physical therapy, prescriptions and necessary travel expenses.
In most situations, injured workers cannot receive treatment from their own physician. They must select a doctor from a "panel of physicians" — a list of doctors selected and posted by the employer. The doctor you select becomes your authorized treating physician. Employees are allowed to change their authorized treating physician once.
In our years of handling Georgian workman's comp claims, we have found that most employers do not maintain a panel of physicians, as required by Georgia law. If they do, they often don't post the panel. Even if they post it, these panels typically do not comply with the requirements set forth for employers by the Georgia State Board of Workers' Compensation. If the employer doesn't comply with all aspects of the law, you may be able to receive treatment from a doctor of your choice.
Injured Workers Have Rights
One of the most important things you can do to protect your right to medical benefits is to obtain a copy of your employers' panel of doctors and then contact a workers' compensation lawyer at the Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C. We will analyze the panel to determine if it meets state guidelines. If it doesn't, you may be able to see a doctor of your choice, rather than a company doctor.
Our attorneys can help you obtain all the medical benefits you are entitled by law to receive. Contact us to discuss your case. The initial consultation is free and you will pay us nothing unless we collect benefits in your workers' comp claim.
