When you are injured on the job, one of the main things your employer (through worker’s compensation insurance) must do is pay for appropriate medical care related to your work injury. But what happens when worker’s comp insurance is not paying your medical bills and you start getting collection notices and bills in the mail?
The First Question is Always: Why Has The Bill Not Been Paid By Worker’s Compensation?
When clients of Salmon & Hewins approach us with an unpaid bill, we first need to figure out why a bill hasn’t been paid. Sometimes, an auxiliary provider, like a radiologist reading an x-ray or MRI, doesn’t know a worker’s comp insurance company is involved. They will just send a bill to you because they don’t know what else to do.
Other times, the provider and the insurance company argue over what a fair payment is for the service rendered. So the provider sends you the bill demanding payment. Although the medical provider may mean well since all they want to do is get paid, Indiana Worker’s Compensation Law prohibits these practices. It is NOT OK for a medical provider to send you a medical bill.
At Salmon & Hewins, we can stop medical providers from sending bills and collection letters under these circumstances. We can also force worker’s comp insurance companies to do their jobs and pay those bills so you don’t get collection notices and bills.
Where things get complicated: Not Paying Bills Because of Unauthorized Medical Care
One of the most common reasons why you may get bills in the mail when the worker’s compensation insurance company denies payment because it claims the medical expense was “unauthorized.” They frequently use this term because Indiana Worker’s Compensation law gives the worker’s comp insurance companies the right to choose the doctors you see.
We frequently see clients who go see a doctor on their own while awaiting treatment instructions from worker’s compensation insurance. They do this because they often wait days or weeks for instructions from worker’s comp on what doctors to see.
Usually, it is difficult to convince a worker’s comp insurance adjuster to make payment in these circumstances without filing a dispute with the Indiana Worker’s Compensation Board and asking a judge to order worker’s comp to pay the bill. Worker’s Comp insurance companies don’t mind denying payments like this because they hope you will not hire a lawyer and contest the denial. If you’ve waited so long for medical care through worker’s comp that you went to a doctor on your own, contact Salmon & Hewins for a free consultation.
Things get even more complicated for employees who want to see another doctor because they are unhappy with the physician chosen by worker’s comp. This is problematic for you as the employee because the worker’s comp insurance company has a legal right to choose your doctor. If you decide to go see a doctor on your own, worker’s comp will likely deny the claim.
How We Can Help When Worker’s Comp Is Not Paying Bills
There are ways, however, to seek out medical care from other doctors and hold worker’s comp accountable to pay. You must implement specific strategies to ensure worker’s comp is held accountable. This includes the timing in which alternative care is sought, and how and when a demand for payment by worker’s comp is made. It is a difficult process that if done incorrectly will leave you on the hook to make payment.
The simple fact is that there are legitimate reasons for worker’s comp insurance companies to deny payment of medical bills. However, the frequency of wrongful denials is very high. At Salmon & Hewins, we can force the medical providers to stop sending bills while we fight with the worker’s comp insurance company to make them pay medical expenses they should pay. At Salmon & Hewins, the initial consultation is always free. If the worker’s comp insurance company is not paying your bills, contact us today for a free case evaluation.
If you have additional questions about Indiana Worker’s Compensation, please visit our worker’s compensation page.
7505 Eagle Crest Boulevard