Manage Workers’ Compensation Costs with EMC’s Select Provider Program

Prompt reporting, quality medical attention and excellent communication are essential to successful cost management for workers’ compensation claims. EMC’s Select Provider Program helps organizations manage the process by providing educational tools and forms to improve claim handling procedures, selecting qualified and reputable medical providers and defining return to work policies and procedures.

By targeting the efficiency of the claims handling process, this successful program helps avoid major communication mistakes that can damage employer/employee relationships. Using the step-by-step techniques outlined in the program, employers will assist employees in finding prompt medical care, which improves employee satisfaction and positively impacts the bottom line.

Manage Costs of Worker’s Compensation Claims

A key to controlling costs of workers’ compensation claims is knowing what to do when an injury is first reported. EMC’s Select Provider Program assists an organization in managing the first 24–48 hours of a workers’ compensation claim by:

• Providing employee reporting procedures for a work-related injury or illness
• Collecting accurate information about the injury or illness
• Assisting employees in finding prompt, appropriate and organized medical care
• Reporting the injury to EMC claims adjusters in a timely and well-documented manner

Identify Quality Medical Facilities

Designating qualified, convenient medical facilities makes it easier for injured employees to access quality care. EMC has identified medical providers throughout the country who offer quality medical care while maintaining excellent lines of communication among all parties. Select Provider Program forms and materials are customized for each organization to assist in the initial referral and reporting process.

Communicate Procedures with Employees

With the Select Provider Program employees are educated on the specific procedures to follow when completing an injury report. The program procedures are designed for the organization’s management staff to assist the employee through the process of initial referral to medical care and return to work.

What to Include in a Return to Work Policy

Every organization needs a documented return to work policy. A return to work policy should:

• Demonstrate the organization’s commitment to providing a safe and healthy workplace and its pledge to provide injured employees access to prompt, quality medical care
• Establish the organization’s guidelines to return injured employees to productive employment as soon as medically possible
• Provide the organization’s plan to make all reasonable efforts to provide modified or transitional work until the injured employee can return to normal duties
• Include a note that all transition work is temporary and intended to facilitate a return to regular work duties when medically feasible

Supervisor’s Responsibilities After Workplace Injuries

When an employee is injured on the job it is the supervisor’s responsibility to facilitate the employee’s medical treatment process, implement the return-to-work program and investigate the accident. Injury reports are critical; make sure all employees report any injury or incident immediately to their supervisor.

Upon notification, the supervisor should complete the following:

• Obtain immediate medical attention for the injured worker
• Call the medical facility or physician prior to the employee’s arrival and alert the medical staff of the injury/illness and approximate arrival time
• Follow the organization’s requirements for reporting job-related illnesses and injuries
• Complete an incident/accident investigation report

Sometimes the employee cannot return to regular duty but has been medically cleared to return to work with restrictions in a transitional capacity (sometimes referred to as “light duty”).

• The supervisor, injured employee and workers’ compensation administrator should review the information provided by the treating physician and jointly determine if appropriate work or job accommodations are available
• The supervisor and workers’ compensation administrator should monitor the injured employee’s progress to ensure that all restrictions are carefully followed and that any job accommodations are appropriate and effective
• Employees should be instructed to immediately report any difficulties with performing assigned tasks to their supervisor

Supervisors must always keep in mind that, although the employee may only be performing a portion of their pre-injury duties, it is of far greater benefit to the organization for the employee to be back on the job in some capacity than to be away from the workplace.