Greetings, thought it would be a good week to share what scares me in WC claims. But first, make sure to sign up for our 30 min Tips and Tricks of the Month webinar on Monday, 11/3 (not for CEU credits, just smarts). Last time we had 75 people and some great questions.
Here is what scares me!
- Fear of the unknown– When adjusters pick unknown doctors. One of the big benefits of the FL WC law is we get to control the medical. If you have a referral and need help finding a doctor, please reach out to me. We have attorneys from Pensacola to Miami (as well as Georgia and Tennessee), and I will connect you to one of our attorneys to find a doctor.
- Fear of the dark -It scares me when we try and schedule a 1-time change, and the response goes dark. There is caselaw that says if adjusters don’t diligently stay on top of getting a 1-time change scheduled, the claimant will gain the right to choose. Follow up every few days, and document your follow ups in your adjuster notes. One case said waiting 11 days to follow up, even though it was over the holidays, was too long, and the claimant got to choose the doctor.
- Fear of drowning-An adjuster being too busy and missing a request from the authorized doctor under the 3 day/10 day rule. If we get a request from the authorized doctor we have 3 days if the treatment costs less than $1,000 and 10 days if more to respond to the doctor. If we fail to respond, we waive the defense that the treatment is not medically necessary. Sometimes that is our strongest defense and we could lose it on this technicality. All it takes is any response to the doctor’s office, a simple “we are investigating” is enough.
- Fear of heights When there is suspicion of intoxication, we have to get the claimant drug tested typically within 24 hours (Heights- high, see what I did there?) or try and preserve the samples at a hospital with an order from the JCC. Many times we get a positive drug test, but it turns out the hospital didn’t preserve the proper chain of custody of the samples, and our case falls apart mid-litigation.
- Fear of clowns- It seems we are seeing more and more pro se claimants who think they can use Chat GPT and AI programs to act as their own lawyer. The WC Judges usually do not take too kindly to this, but all the same, they can make our lives very difficult.
- Fear of rollercoasters– this one… I’m just scared of rollercoasters.
Hope to see you Monday at the webinar for more tips!
Check our firm website for more upcoming FL, GA and TN CEU’s: https://eraclides.com/events/ We have some great TN and GA webinars coming up.
If you’d like to register for our GA Tips of the Week, please email my colleague John Fennelly jfennelly@eraclides.com.
Sincerely,
Morgan Indek | Managing Partner