As of January 1, 2016 the State Board revised Board Rule 200.2 to now allow the Employer/Insurer to “utilize qualified medical case managers to provide telephonic or field medical case management services.”  Basically this allows a case manager to communicate with the doctor directly but NOT with the injured worker unless permission is given by the Claimant (in writing).  It also allows the case manager to assist with the approval of light duty job descriptions pursuant to 34-9-240.  Obviously in many cases this will be useful in obtaining information from the doctors more quickly.  It will also (hopefully) allow the Employer/Insurer to obtain faster physician approval of light duty jobs as well. 

Prior to this rule the Employer/Insurer was only able to provide case management if the case manager was an employee of the Employer/Insurer, if the Claimant allowed it, or if the claim were designated catastrophic.

If you have any questions about how this could affect one of your cases or if you would like to discuss the pros and cons of placing a case manager on file please feel free to contact me or anyone else in the Georgia office.     

George Waters | Partner