The workers’ compensation insurance industry likes to talk about patient advocacy. But after a certain point in a claim, injured workers are often left hanging by insurance companies and the nurse case managers they hire to manage employee medical care.

Workers left in a lurch by insurers are often confused or ignorant about how to proceed in a claim. And surprise, surprise, insurers use this ignorance and confusion against injured workers.

Here are some common scenarios when injured workers get ghosted by insurers or nurse case managers in workers’ compensation claims.

Medical care

Employers have an affirmative and ongoing duty to offer medical care to injured workers. But what happens when a doctor, particularly, a surgeon states an employee is done with treating a work injury and employee is still in pain? Bluntly often this means that an employee stops getting treatment. But assuming an employee has the ability to get medical care outside of workers’ compensation, an employee still faces challenges.

If an employee seeks treatment for pain and that treatment is related to the injury, sometimes employers will argue that they don’t have to pay for that treatment. Nebraska Workers’ Compensation Court Rule 50 holds an employee is stuck with the doctor they chose at the beginning of the claim unless 1) the defendant denies medical care or 2) the parties agree to a change or 3) the court orders a change.

What constitutes a denial of care is a crucial question. Employers have an affirmative and ongoing duty to offer medical care to injured workers. The safest route for an employee is to ask the insurer to approve medical care. But that isn’t always possible if employees don’t have that information or adjusters don’t respond to inquiries. Insures also tend to ignore injured workers who don’t have a lawyer.

Arguably, not offering medical care is a denial of compensability, so an employee can chose to any provider doctor and have those bills paid. An ongoing and affirmative duty to offer care should mean an employer can’t get out of paying medical bills just because the stopped communicating with you about your claim. However, getting medical bills paid in that situation will probably involve hiring a lawyer and going to court. Many employees are intimidated by that process.

Why employers should offer you medical care

Employers have good reason to offer ongoing medical care. First of all, an injured worker can lose out on disability benefits if they decline medical care Neb. Rev. Stat 48-120(2)(c). By offering medical care, an employer can also maintain control over medical care. A recent case provides a good example of the protections that employers are entitled to if they offer medical care.

The Nebraska Supreme Court held in Rogers v. Jack’s Supper Club that an employer was not responsible for paying for bills incurred for treatment in Florida for an employee who moved from Nebraska to Florida. The court held so because the employee didn’t ask to formally change doctors from the court or the employer.

I think Jack’s Supper Club is a harsh result. I believe Neb. Rev. Stat. 48-120(6) gives judges broad latitude to order changes of doctors under Rule 50.  But in that case the defendant actually offered medical care to the injured employee. Arguably, the defendant in that case, met their affirmative duty to offer medical care and did not deny compensability.

Aren’t they supposed to pay me something?

While employers have a duty to offer you medical care for a work injury, their duty is less clear when it comes to paying permanent disability benefits. Again, insurers and nurse case managers tend to disappear after surgical care ends. Usually when a surgeon releases an injured worker from care they are deemed to be at maximum medical improvement or MMI.

I’ve written quite a bit about employers/insurers short change employees by ending payment of temporary disability and delaying payment of permanent disability. But that squeeze or delay presumes an employee actually gets paid permanent disability. In order to get paid disability for an injury to a specific body part, a doctor generally needs to give an impairment rating. But usually someone needs to ask for and pay for an impairment rating.

Often times insurance types just don’t ask for the impairment rating. Once they insurer gets an impairment rating, they have 30 days to pay the value of the impairment rating to an injured worker. But they don’t have a spelled out duty under Nebraska law to ask for an impairment rating the same way they have a duty to offer medical care.

I would argue the beneficent purpose of the Nebraska workers’ compensation act would give insurers a duty to ask for an impairment rating. But it might be up to the Unicameral to impose that duty on insurers.

Do I have an impairment rating for my injury?

If you had surgery, you almost certainly have an impairment rating. That impairment rating is likely worth at least a few thousand dollars of tax free money. If you have had surgery there is a reasonable possibility you will need some medical care in the future. Impairment ratings and future medical care cost insurance companies money. One reason that insurers and employers ghost injured workers is that they are hoping they won’t make additional claims or ask for payment of benefits that they are owed.