Workers Compensation And Personal Injury Doctors

The Doctors at Arizona Injury Medical Associates want to be your personal injury doctors like they have been for so many others. Their caring compassionate staffs are highly trained and skilled in working with patients and many different types of auto and work accident injuries. That is also why they are known as the Arizona Workers Compensation doctor to turn to when you are in need of the best work comp doctor Arizona has to offer today.

What They Offer

At Arizona injury Medical Associates they offer treatment and medical case management for electro diagnostics including EMG and NCV studies. They can also provide full service pain management. Second opinion consultations. They are a certified ABIME independent medical examiner for 5th and 6th edition AMA guides. They can also perform disability evaluations. Federal disability retirement examinations. At Arizona IMA they offer care with lasting relief.

Treatment Options and Conditions

Their treatment options include but are not limited to physical medicine and rehabilitation, trigger point injections, physical therapy, medical acupuncture and interventional pain management such as epidurals and facet injections. They are familiar with treating many different symptoms in conditionals with non-surgical effective solutions. Some of the conditions they offer those solutions for include tendon and ligament injuries, work injuries, arthritis and tendonitis, numbing, tingling or weakness as well as nerve entrapment injuries and more. On their website you could learn more about their doctors. Staff as well as their services. In the Patient Information section you'll find information about appointments forms you may find important as well as testimonials from previous patients under the Patient Information section you will also find a category titled education which includes a lot of great information about different conditions and injuries treated by the professionals at Arizona injury Medical Associates.

Federal Compensation Claims

At Arizona injury Medical Associates they specialize in federal workers compensation claims as well as federal injured workers evaluations including claim handling ratings and treatment. All of their in CV's and EMG are always performed on site and their staff and doctors are both fluent in Spanish. You are guaranteed that if you go to Arizona I am A for your worker compensation treatment that you will be provided with expert pain management treatment by some of the best professionals available today. So contact them today to see why they are the Phoenix workers compensation doctor Arizona has been talking about.

Workers Compensation Insurance Laws

Medical benefits that pay the necessary medical care needed to treat an employee’s injury or illness caused by work.

Burial benefits for an employee’s funeral expenses if the employee dies from an illness or injury on the job.

Death benefits for families to replace some of the money lost when an employee dies because of a work-related injury or illness. Death benefits are 75% of the deceased employee’s average weekly wage.

Income benefits replace some of the money employees lose because of a work-related injury or illness, including:

- Temporary income benefits - Impairment income benefits - Supplemental income benefits - Lifetime income benefits

In Texas, you may get temporary income benefits if your work-related injury or illness causes you to lose some or all of your wages for more than seven days. Temporary income benefits are 70% of the difference between your average weekly wages. The money you are able to earn after your work-related injury.

In Texas, you can get impairment income benefits if you have a work-related injury or illness that affects your body as a whole. The amount of impairment income benefits you receive are based on an impairment rating given to you by your health care provider. This rating is based on the percent of permanent damage done to your body. You receive three weeks of impairment income benefits for each percentage of impairment.

Supplemental income benefits are paid monthly by the insurance company after your impairment income benefits have ended. Supplemental income benefits are 80% of what you get when you subtract the difference between 80% of your average weekly wages and any wages you earned after your work-related injury.

Depending on the severity of your injury, you could be eligible for lifetime income benefits. Lifetime income benefits are 75% of your average weekly wage with a 3% increase each year. You receive these benefits for the rest of your life.

Injuries Not Covered by Texas Workers Comp

In Texas, an injury or illness is covered, no matter who was at fault, if it was sustained in the course of one’s employment. This includes injuries that occur during work-related travel.

Still, the following injuries are not covered by Texas workers compensation insurance:

- Injuries that result from horseplay - Willful criminal acts or self-injury - Injuries that result from intoxication from drugs or alcohol

Filing a Workers Comp Claim

Injured employees must file injury reports within 30 days of the injury. And they must file the formal paperwork for the workers compensation claim within one year of the injury.

If an employee does not let an employer know about an injury or illness within 30 days, they may not get workers compensation benefits. That’s why it is vital to report a workers compensation. An injury claim as soon as possible.

Doctors for Workplace Injuries

Some employers choose to provide workers compensation coverage through a certified health care network. If your employer is in a certified health care network, you must choose a doctor from the network provider list for care (unless it’s an emergency or the employee has prior approval to go out of network). Be sure to ask your employer for this list.

The Texas department of insurance has a list of certified workers comp health care networks.

If your employer isn’t in a network, you can ask your current doctor if they treat workers compensation patients. If not, ask them to recommend a doctor that does. Family and friends are other good sources to tap. They may know doctors that take patients with workers compensation injuries or illnesses.

Can I Change My Workers' Compensation Treating Doctor?

One of the most common questions we receive about worker’s compensation has to deal with changing doctors. To help explain the law on this issue I will use three examples:

Worker is injured on the job, and he/she goes to the Emergency Department for treatment, and then requires follow up medical care. Who gets to pick the doctor the worker must see for the follow-up treatment?

Answer - Employer. But do not lose hope just yet… Worker is not without rights and options.

What Does New Mexico Law Say?

New Mexico law allows the employer to initially (I repeat, initially) select which doctor you must see. The employer has two options. First, they can select the doctor and the injured worker is required to present for follow up treatment to that doctor. Alternatively, the employer can allow the injured worker to select which doctor to follow up with.

*Important Rule - An injured worker should first check with their employer about who is to select the doctor before continuing treatment. If the employer does not give direction about which doctor to see, the injured worker can select the doctor of their choice.

Example 1:

Let’s assume Employer instructed Worker to see a specific doctor who we’ll call “Employer Doctor”. Is Worker stuck with Employer Doctor permanently? Answer - No.

*Important Rule - If the employer selects the initial doctor, then worker has the automatic right to change to a doctor of worker’s choosing after 60 days of treatment.

After 60 days of treatment, Worker has the automatic right (no filing a motion or court hearing required) to change doctors. Worker must notify Employer by simply completing and sending to Employer a form called the “Notice of Change of Healthcare Provider” which can be found on the New Mexico Workers Compensation Administration's website.

Example 2:

Let’s now change the facts again and assume Employer did not instruct Worker to see Employer Doctor, and instead allowed Worker to choose the doctor either by expressly telling Worker to choose or by failing to give Worker direction on who to see. Worker then chooses to see “Worker Doctor”. Does Worker get to keep seeing Worker Doctor? Answer - Maybe.

*Important Rule - The same 60-day rule applies equally to both parties. If Worker makes the initial doctor selection, Employer has an automatic right to change doctors simply by completing and sending a Notice of Change of Healthcare Provider to Worker.

Example 3:

Let’s now change the facts again. This time, Worker chose Worker Doctor and treated for 60 days before Employer exercised the right to change Worker Doctor to Employer Doctor. Employer Doctor has been treating Worker for 60 days. Can Worker change back to his/her preferred doctor, Worker Doctor? Answer - Maybe.

*Important Lesson - Any further changes in doctor selection must happen through one of two ways: 1) Agreement of both parties; or 2) By filing a motion with the court and getting a judge to approve the change.

Understand Your Rights

It is impossible to know what a workers’ compensation judge may approve on an issue like that, but it is unlikely a judge will allow Worker or Employer to continue the carousel of changing doctors without a compelling reason to do so. Examples of compelling reasons could be mistreatment, lack of physician qualification, length of treatment, or any other reason that the Worker or Employer could demonstrate to justify another change in treating physician.

In summary, New Mexico law grants Workers important rights and remedies when it comes to selecting the Worker’s health care provider. Our workers' compensation attorneys are here to answer your questions. Explain how workers’ compensation works in New Mexico. Call our office or fill out our contact form to schedule a free consultation.

But Even Though This Was True

Public sector workers are better paid than their private sector equivalents. Public sector unions, please take note By Ruth Lea for the Daily Mail

Published: 10:22, 19 July 2012 | Updated: 16:10, 19 July 2012

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The Office for National Statistics (ONS) quietly and unobtrusively continues to cast light on the persistent, if not widening, differences in the pensions and pay of employees in the public and private sectors.

The ONS released some disturbing data on private sector pensions this week. They demonstrated that “defined benefit” pension schemes, where the pension is usually linked to the employee’s salary, are dying in the private sector. The much-treasured final salary schemes are the best-known of these. According to the ONS over a third - 34% - of employees benefited from defined benefit schemes as recently as 1997. Last year the proportion was down to 9%. In a decade’s time they will have probably all-but-disappeared.

As pension funds take a battering, many employers have responded by closing their final salary schemes

The reasons for this near-terminal decline have been well reported. Increasing longevity, welcome though it is, adds to the costs of pension provision for employers in final salary schemes. A man retiring at 65 in 1950 could expect to live to 77. Would have just 12 years of retirement. A 65-year old man retiring today will probably live for another 19-20 years. And the once-proud occupational pension funds have been battered by a combination of factors including underperforming stock markets, low interest rates and Gordon Brown's infamous annual “£5 billion raid” on pension funds, introduced in his first Budget in July 1997. It cannot be any surprise that many employers, faced with rapidly mounting costs, have simply closed their final salary schemes.

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The situation is very different in the public sector, where defined benefit schemes are still the norm. And they will remain the norm even after the current reforms, in which final salary schemes will be replaced by career average earnings schemes. Moreover, they are very generous by private sector standards. The recent industrial action by the doctors, albeit supported by a minority, served to highlight just how much more generous public sector pensions can be when compared with private sector equivalents. It was widely reported that the “average” doctor, retiring at 60, could expect an annual index-linked pension of £48,000. A private sector retiree would have needed to build up a pension pot of £1 million in order to receive such a pension.

For decades it was claimed that generous public sector pensions were a compensation for lower pay. This claim was prevalent when I joined the Civil Service many years ago. But even though this was true, it is no longer the case. Again the ONS has published some killer statistics. Earlier this year they estimated that public sector employees were paid on average 7.7-8.7% more than those in the private sector.

Pensions protests: The government's attempts to reduce the public sector wage bill have been met with fury by unions

Granted, it is difficult to make direct comparisons between the two sectors because of differences in the types of job and characteristics of the employees. The public sector has a higher proportion of graduates, for example. But the average “public-private sector pay gap” is still significant. Moreover, the ONS conveniently provides a breakdown of the pay gap by educational attainment. For graduates and above, the private sector does pay more than the public sector, reflecting the “tail” of very high earners. But in every other educational group, earnings in the public sector easily outstrip the private sector.

I am not in the business of denigrating the public sector. As I have already conceded, I was once a public servant myself. But the current mismatch in pension rights. Earnings strikes me as quite out of kilter. The Government is, of course, attempting to pare back the costs of public sector employees by pay freezes, reduced headcount and pension reforms. One of their wholly understandable motives is to put a brake on the public sector wage bill in times of fiscal austerity. Suffice to say, several of the public sector unions are opposing the changes with vigour.

But the ONS’s figures tell a convincing story. Public sector workers are better paid and better pensioned than their private sector equivalents and some rebalancing is quite in order, if not well overdue. Public sector unions, please note.

Will The Workers' Compensation Doctor Treat Me Fairly?

Many people refer to the doctors who provide medical treatment for work injuries as workers compensation doctors. Some people use the term “company doctors”.

In Georgia, injured workers are often told that they must go to the doctor that the employer or workers’ compensation insurance company chooses. This is not the case the case.

Do Workers Compensation Doctors Actually Work For My Employer?

Probably not. The doctors are picked by your employer to be on their list of doctors (otherwise known as the “panel of physicians”). However, that does not mean the doctor works for your employer.

Your employer should have a posted panel of physicians (unless your employer uses a WC/MCO). This panel should have at least six doctors on it. The doctor that your employer sent you to is probably one of the doctors on the panel.

Many employers use the panel of physicians to their advantage. They may pick doctors who are likely to say that you are not as hurt as you say you are. They may pick doctors who are likely to blame your problems on a preexisting condition instead of the work injury. This can prevent you from getting the medical treatment you need. The wage loss benefits you should receive if you have to miss work as a result of your injury.

Will the Workers Compensation Doctor Treat Me Fairly? It depends. Some employers put good. Fair doctors on the panel of physicians. Some employers put good. Fair doctors on the panel of physicians. Some employers do not. If your employer is picking the doctors on the panel of physicians, they may pick doctors who will make it difficult to get the treatment you need.

You want to get better. You need to treat with a doctor with good ability. You also need a doctor who is fair.

To do this, you need to understand your right to choose your doctor. You also need to be on the lookout for signs that your current doctor is not treating you fairly.

Your main workers compensation doctor (also known as your “authorized treating physician”) has a lot of power in your case. The doctor’s opinion about your ability to work can result in your benefits being stopped or started. The doctor’s opinion about what medical treatment is necessary will definitely how well you recover from your injury.

Make sure you have a good, fair doctor.

There are many exceptions to this rule, so you often will be able to have at least some input into your choice of doctors.

What is the rule on choosing doctors?

State Board Rule 201 contains some of the information about how doctors are chosen in a Georgia workers’ compensation case.

Subsection (a) of this rule which talks about the employer’s list of doctors (technically known in most cases as the “panel of physicians”) talks about two different types of lists that an employer may have. This article is only going to focus on the first type of list (the traditional “panel of physicians”) because it is the type of list used in most Georgia workers’ compensation cases.

Board Rule 201(a)(1) specifies that an employer’s panel of physicians must have the following:

1. At least six (6) physicians or professional associations or corporations of physicians 2. At least one orthopedic physician 3. No more than two industrial clinics 4. At least one minority physicians

So, there are several requirements to a valid panel of physicians. First, there must be at least six doctors or professional associations or corporations of physicians. Among those six or more, there must be at least one orthopedic physician, at least one minority physician, and no more than two industrial clinics.

How Can I Pick My Own Doctor?

Even though Georgia law gives injured workers the right to pick their doctor off the employer’s panel of physicians, many injured workers are sent directly to these doctors without getting offered a selection.

Many people have questions about the doctors to whom their employers send them.Make sure you get a copy of the panel of physicians. It should look like the document below although it will probably be pink instead of white:

Panel of physicians

As you will notice, there are spaces for at least six doctors in the bottom half of the panel. You need to get a copy or picture of your employer’s panel of physicians to find out the doctors listed.

Why does it matter if a a panel of physicians is valid?

If the panel of physicians is valid and properly posted and explained, then the workers’ compensation insurance company can limit an injured workers’ choice of doctors to the doctors on the panel. However, it is still the injured worker who gets to make the actual choice among those doctors.

So, even in that situation, the employer or insurance company do not actually get to choose the specific doctor who will treat the injury. You have choice although your choice may be very limited. Also, there are ways to change doctors.

If the panel of physicians does not meet the requirements listed above, then an injured worker should be able to choose any doctor for treatment of the work injury. You can choose a doctor even if the doctor is not one of the doctors on the employer’s list. This way, you can make sure that you get the best doctor for treatment of your injury.

Before you choose or change doctors on the panel of physicians, take a look at this article to make sure you do not make a big mistake. Your workers’ compensation doctor can have a big impact on your case so you want to make sure you have a doctor who will treat you fairly.