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Doctors' Loyalty Should be to Patient
Author: | Thursday November 30, 2006
In the world of workers' compensation there are many interests involved in each case, but doctor's loyalty is to the patient.
Expert Offers Insight to Adjusters
Doctor's Loyalty is
To Injured Worker
By Ray Brasted
Richard Pimentel keeps driving the point home to his audiences that getting injured workers back to work should be part of the therapy process and not as the means of closing a file. The national expert on disability management and workers' compensation cost containment brought his insights to an audience at the Georgia Workers' Compensation Conference held in Atlanta.
"Claims people come to me all the time and ask me how to get doctors to do what they want them to do," Pimentel said, bringing laughter from the audience that included many adjusters.
The answer is simple from Pimentel's point of view. "The doctor's loyalty is to the patient just as returning to work is in the best interest of the patient," he emphasized.
There are some things that claims professionals and physicians can do to close the communication gap and one of them is to "bring communication to the level that everyone is using the same words," Pimentel said. "We need to change the relationship with the physician," he added.
Work restriction forms do not find favor with Pimentel who said the forms have nothing to do with indicating what a person can do, only what they can't and, in addition, doctors don't know how to fill them out. "What year in medical school did doctors take courses on filling out work restriction forms?", he asked rhetorically.
Pimentel believes that if you want to know what an individual can do physically, bring in the experts, the physical and occupational therapists who are qualified to measure an individuals ability to lift, stand or walk. He said these professionals are often not brought in because it costs more money, but, he said, there would be better information if that approach was taken.
Along with communication, Pimentel stated that followup was very important, but usually not done properly. "Doctors never hear back to learn how the person is doing on their return to work. The doctors aren't made part of the process," he said. Pimentel said that a good way to approach the return to work process would be to put the worker on light duty for two weeks and then do an analysis of the individual's progress.
Education is the key and not the kind learned in school, he implied. Doctors should learn how to talk to employers and employers should learn how to talk to their injured workers.
And he concluded with these words: "The doctor who gets your injured worker back to work is your friend."
Ed. Note: Richard Pimentel is a senior partner of Milt, Wright & Associates, Inc. and is an expert in the field of workers compensation and disability management programs.
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