Who Is the Nurse Case Manager?
During the course of your workers’ compensation case, the workers’ compensation insurance company for your employer may involve the services of a nurse case manager. Nurse case managers can be employees of the employer’s workers’ compensation insurance company or can be an individual contracted by the employer’s insurance company. Typically, nurse case managers’ credentials include those of registered nurse.
The nurse case manager is an extension of the workers’ compensation insurance company in your case and her tasks include monitoring the injured workers’ medical progress. Nurse case management can be accomplished, in some cases, by telephone. Typically such calls occur after the injured worker has visited with a medical provider. At that time it is the job of the nurse case manager to gather from the injured worker sufficient information to report the progress of the injured worker’s condition of occupational ill-being to the insurance adjuster responsible for your claim. Other nurse case managers may accomplish their assigned tasks in a more hands on fashion. You may find the nurse case manager in the waiting room of your doctor’s office at the time of your scheduled appointment. There will be communication between you and the nurse case manager before you see your doctor. At John Lesaganich, P.C., Attorney At Law, we establish and enforce ground rules pursuant to the nurse case manger’s involvement in your case.
A Peoria Workplace Injury Attorney Working with Nurse Case Managers
Specifically, we insist that the time between you and your doctor in the examining room be private and if the nurse case manager is to approach the medical provider post-examination with questions, that this be done in the presence of the injured worker. In the case of hands on nurse case management John Lesaganich, P.C., Attorney at Law insists that the nurse case manager come to our office to meet with the injured worker before formal nurse case management begins. We insist on such a meeting so that the aforementioned ground rules might be firmly established.
Not all nurse case managers are cut from the same cloth. Some can be a genuine asset to your case as they provide another means of direct access to the workers’ compensation insurance company. Additionally, they may have legitimate suggestions genuinely aimed at relieving the injured worker from the effects of his or her work-related injuries. Other nurse case managers seem to define their role in the medical process as securing as early as possible a declaration of maximum medical improvement and cessation of temporary total disability benefits.
Reasonable cooperation from the injured worker is expected with regard to the involvement of the insurance companies nurse case manager. But, in the end, the best nurse case managers are the ones John Lesaganich, P.C., Attorney at Law can manage.
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Contact Us
Contact our office or toll free to talk with attorney John Lesaganich about your workman’s comp benefits. At our office, initial consultations are always free and confidential. We are located on Main Street in downtown Peoria, across from the courthouse.