After receiving notice of an accident or occupational disease from an employee, employers are required to provide the employee with a panel of physicians from which to select a treating physician. If the employer does not provide a panel, the employee may elect to receive treatment from any healthcare provider he or she chooses. What constitutes a proper panel of physicians?
The panel must be provided within a reasonable time after being notified of the injury.
The panel must consist of at three (3) physicians, who are not affiliated with each other.
Physicians must be listed by name. Merely listing clinics may not be sufficient.
A panel is not valid if a physician is unwilling to see new patients or to treat workers’ compensation patients.
The distance from the injured workers’ residence to the panel physician must be reasonable; a panel may be invalid if a physician is 50 miles or more away from the injured workers’ residence.
The panel must be provided directly to the injured worker following notice of the injury or claim. Posting a notice or advising employees of a “stock” panel is not a sufficient means of providing an injured worker with an appropriate panel.
