Who has a company doctor?

Caroliso · July 2006

My question posted on this board about accommodating an employee during our renovations causes me to ask this question: who has a "company doctor," meaning a doctor not on staff that you contract with for employment-related opinions having to do with health issues, and how large a company are you? How does one go about finding one and defining/setting up a relationship?
In my over 10 years at a 130-person company we have never needed one, but this particular example is one where I might need/want to have one.

HRinNH · July 2006

There are at least 2 offices we deal with for occupational injuries. Do a search for Occupational Health and/or Rehab. We don't have a contract with them but we are on a direct pay basis.

Cheryl C.

Dutch2 · July 2006

We have what we call our company Doc' that we send all of our Workers Comp. claims. This is a local Doc' that we have developed a relationship with over the years and he is willing to handle our WC claims. As most WC claims need to see the Doc' right now and not to make an appointment to see in a couple of weeks. This Doc' also shares our opinion of returning the ee to work as soon as it is possible.
When we opended a facility in a near by town we worked with a Doc' whose office was located nearest our building, but when we contacted them to see one or our employees that had fallen we were informed we would have to make an appointment. Needless to say we moved our relationship to another clinic that does not require an appointment. So many of the Doc's in this area are not taking new patients, they have all they can handle or want...
Good luck

Nevada HR · July 2006

We have fewer than 50 full-time employees, but because our fire fighters are required by state law to have annual physicals, we are contracted with a doctor to provide those services. I don't have the agreement on my computer, but I can probably fax it if you provide me w/ a fax #.

Regarding Workers Comp, our Provider has contracted with a few doctors that we are required to use.

We're currently dealing with an situation where our contracted Dr. recommended that an employee be placed on leave until he gets clearance from a cardiologist. The ee made the appt, but I sent the Cardiologist a letter stating that we would be paying for the consultation (as required by state law), so to send the test results to us and our contracted doctor. Hope this helps!

Caroliso · July 2006

Nevada HR, this actually brings up another question. Does HIPAA regulate this sort of doctor-employer-emploee relationship?

NaeNae55 · July 2006

I would assume this kind of physical is the same as having your employees do drug tests. They go somewhere else and you only get minimal results. That is, you only know as much as you need to know. I think in this case you only need to know if they are healthy enough to work or not.

Good luck!

Nae

lorrie · July 2006

We have >150 ee's and our 'company dr.' is an occupational clinic that we have made arrangements with. They see our ee's the same day we call them for drug screens, DOT physicals, and work comp. We communicate regularly with the dr. so that we are all in agreement about getting ee's back to work asap, and the dr. has visited our facility so he is aware of what the work involves, which helps him when it comes to setting restricted duty.

HIPAA does not apply to w/c. We can speak freely with the dr about the medical issues involved with a work-related injury. (Sometime more than we want to know, but the info is available if we need it.) I have had a few new clinic and hospital personnel tell me they can't visit with me about stuff, until I tell them to speak to a supv about HIPAA and get back with me. They always do.

Caroliso · July 2006

P.S. I would indeed like to receive a copy of your contract. I sent you my fax number via private message to your HR Hero mailbox.

Thanks.

DB · July 2006

Two of the local hospitals have Occupational Medicine Depts. We contract with one of them to do pre-employment physicals and drug screens. We also use them for non-DOT random drug tests. This relationship basically gets us a discount and simplified billing. For WC in IL we can not require an employee to go to a particular doctor or location for medical services. To set up the relationship - before I was here - an RFP was sent to several local medical providers.

Good luck with your process.

aliciac · July 2006

We don't have a 'company doctor' but we do use a clinic for our worker's comp claims. They also handle our pre-employment drug screens, and we would use them if we needed to refer an employee to a doctor for an issue like you have. The company we use is US Healthworks and they're located in 14 Western, Central and Eastern US States. They're a bit flakey sometimes and occasionally I have to call to get results because they forget to send them, but you should try contacting someone like this. Also, I know some EAP's that have contracts with outfits like this so you are doing 1-stop shopping.

Who has a company doctor?

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