From an employer’s point of view, workers’ compensation
seems pretty straightforward on the surface. You report your payroll, pay your
workers’ compensation premiums and cross your fingers that no employees get
hurt or sick on the job. Seems pretty simple, right? The problem is that
workers’ compensation claims are inevitable for just about every employer, and
while many claims will be fairly easy to navigate, some claims can turn into a
complete nightmare for the employer, dragging on and costing you money.
- Make it easy for employees to report injuries: One of the most common reasons claims get contested and drag out for an extended period of time is that the injury doesn’t get reported in a timely manner. When injuries aren’t reported quickly, your ability as an employer to investigate the incident is hampered greatly. Critical evidence, such as whether or not the employee was intoxicated, is gone. Not to mention, safety hazards might be overlooked because the employer doesn’t know they exist. As an employer, you need to make it easy for employees to report injuries. Train them on the importance of timely reporting, and post signs and posters around the workplace to emphasize the message.
- Partner with a medical bill review company: Any time one of your employees goes to the doctor, there’s a bill created detailing the different medical services they received. As the employer providing workers’ compensation, you’re liable for paying these bills. However, health care providers often make billing mistakes, and if you don’t have a procedure in place for properly auditing your medical bills, these errors will go unnoticed and you could end up paying more than you should. By working with a medical bill review company, you’ll have professional auditors meticulously examining every bill sent to your company. These billing experts will spot any errors and challenge them, so that you don’t end up spending more on workers’ compensation than required. This saves you money and shortens the claims process.
- Be active in the post-injury claims process: As an employer, you can’t afford to sit back and hope everything magically works out with your workers’ compensation claim. Don’t assume your insurance carrier is going to always do what’s right or fair for your business. Negligence could result in an employee taking advantage of the claims process, milking it for all he or she can get. After an injury, you need to stay in constant contact with the injured employee and the doctor to make sure everything is handled properly and in an efficient manner.
- Make communication a priority: There are a lot of different parties involved in the workers’ compensation claims process. There’s the employee, insurance carrier, medical bill review company, doctor, risk manager, and employer. With so many different parties playing critical roles in the claims process, it’s unfortunately all too easy for the employer to get lost in the mix and end up a loser. Communication is key to expediting the claims process and ensuring a fair outcome. When all of the different parties work together, the injured worker can get on the road to recovery and back to work more quickly, shortening the claims process to save you money.
Simply put, employers need to be proactive in dealing with
workers’ compensation claims. You’re the only one you can count on to truly
fight for your company, so do your part to ensure the claims process is handled
honestly, quickly and fairly.
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