Workers’ Compensation for Pain Treatments from an Injury at Work
Have you been injured on the job, seen by a medical provider, and received treatment, yet you are still experiencing pain that may be keeping you from returning to work? The doctors at Innovative Pain & Spine Specialists in Omaha, Nebraska and in Lincoln, Nebraska are experienced in working with patients who have been injured on the job and may require more extensive pain management to relieve their pain and get them back to work. They also have professionals on their team who handle Workers’ Compensation insurance daily and can help patients manage that aspect of their care.
Understanding Workers’ Compensation
Chances are your employer filed for Workers’ Compensation when you were initially injured and were seen by a doctor. Workers’ Compensation is insurance that helps protect businesses and their employees from financial expenses when they are injured at work or if they get sick from something that is related to work.
Understanding what Workers’ Compensation covers is the primary role of April Sears at Innovative Pain & Spine Specialists’ offices in Omaha, Nebraska and in Lincoln, Nebraska. For more than 25 years, April has been helping patients to navigate the insurance claims system when they are being treated for job-related pain conditions.
What does and doesn’t Workers’ Compensation cover?
Employees who have been injured on the job and are being covered by Workers’ Compensation insurance will be covered for:
Medical expenses
Lost wages
Ongoing care costs, such as medical services, medications, surgeries or procedures, and physical rehabilitative services
Funeral expenses if an employee death occurs due to the job-related incident
There are some things that aren’t covered, which can vary from state to state:
Injuries received if an employee starts a fight while at work
Injuries sustained if an employee is under the influence of alcohol or drugs while at work
If an employee intentionally injures himself or herself
Emotional injuries that an employee may experience but are not directly related to physical trauma at the workplace
When an injury occurs at work, the Employee Benefits contact personnel at the business will file the Workers’ Compensation paperwork and schedule you to be evaluated by a medical professional.
Next Steps: Evaluation and Medical Care
According to April, the next steps involve being evaluated and receiving appropriate medical care.
“Some companies have a designated care provider such as a primary care or occupational medicine physician that they send their employees for an evaluation with a job-related injury. In most cases, the injured employee will receive initial diagnostic tests such as x-ray or MRI (magnetic resonance imaging). Based on those results, they may refer the employee for physical therapy, occupational therapy, or chiropractic care to see if that resolves the pain.”
If the pain still persists after those types of treatments, patients will then be referred to the physicians at Innovative Pain & Spine Specialists, sometimes by the insurance provider, the case manager, or the patient themselves. After an evaluation of where the patient is in their recovery, our doctors may determine that additional diagnostic tests may be needed, such as EMG (electromyography), before performing any treatments which may involve steroid injections, other minimally-invasive procedures, or a combination of treatments and therapies.
Should approval be needed for ongoing treatments or possibly a surgical consult, April will work directly with the claims adjuster and the patient to ensure that this is coordinated. “I spend a lot of my day communicating with Work Comp carriers, occupational health nurses, and the referring provider to provide the patient’s status throughout their treatment and recovery,” added April.
Return to Work
Many patients want to continue working while receiving treatments for their pain. In those instances, April will work closely with the employer to see if they can assign the patient to light-duty work. Our team will do a functional capacity evaluation to determine what type of work they can go back to doing.
If you’ve been injured at work and are still experiencing pain and would like a second opinion, the physicians at Innovative Pain & Spine Specialists’ offices in Omaha, Nebraska and in Lincoln, Nebraska are ready to assist with your recovery process. Call for a consultation at 402-413-5010.