Seeing the Company Doctor After an Injury

Answer:

One of the most common questions we’re asked by first responders in Florida, and any injured worker in Florida, is whether or not they need to see the work-designated doctor or the insurance company designated doctor. The short answer is yes. It is basically a gatekeeper or mother-may-I system. We need to go through their initial doctor, and the workers’ compensation judge per the statute can only listen to authorized workers’ compensation doctors. If that initial doctor makes a referral, for example, for an orthopedic specialist, the employer then gets to designate who that orthopedic specialist is going to be, as well.

There are means and ways to go ahead and seek treatment outside of the system in addition to what you’re receiving through workers’ comp and the workers’ comp authorized providers, but, in general, they will not be paid by workers’ comp. Only the workers’ comp authorized doctors, that primary care and any specialists that they authorize, follow it. Again, the short answer is, yes, you do need to follow through and seek the workers’ compensation doctors, but there are alternatives. Please call us at Oliver and Fox, and we’d be happy to explain them to you.