Prior to a work related injury employers should;
1. Obtain workers compensation insurance
2. Provide all new hires with the workers compensation pamphlet that explains the employee’s rights and responsibilities. This should be part of the new hire packet.
3. Set up your Medical Provide Network (MPN). This means contacting your insurer or accessing their website to find a clinic/hospital that is within your workers compensation carriers network and in the immediate area of your location. Be sure to select a clinic for each location. Then input the Medical Provider’s address and phone number on the Workers Compensation Poster provided to you by your carrier in the claims kit.
4. Post the Workers Compensation poster in a place where all employees can see it. If you have several departments post in each area or location.
5. Inform all supervisors and employees that any work realted injury is to be reported to a specific person in your company immediately. Select a key contact within your company to handle all work related injuries and monitor claims.
When a work related injury occurs the employers duties are;
1. Seek immediate medical care for the injured worker
2. Provide a workers compensation claim form, form DWC1, to the employee within one working day from when the work related injury or illness is reported.
3. Contact your carrier and report the work related injury promptly. Any delay in reporting the claim to the carrier may inflate claims costs and create issues in treatment of the injured worker. This can be done by a phone call, online or by faxing the EMPLOYERS REPORT OF OCCUPATIONAL INJURY claims form to the carrier. The employers claim form is different from the employees claim form DWC-1. The carrier will generally fill this out for you if you report the claim over the phone or online.
3. Return a completed copy of the claim form to the worker within one day.
4. Follow up with your employee and insurance carrier to make sure the claim has been set up and that the claims adjuster has been in contact with the injured worker and authorizations have been given for treatment.
5. Is important that you continue to monitor open claims periodically to assure the injured worker is receiving proper treatment and communications between the claims adjuster, employer and employee is taking place. Failure to follow up on open claims can result in inflated claims costs and delays in treatment, which can adversely affect your workers compensation premiums in the future.
For more information or free quote on workers compensation insurance contact our office.
