{"id":41631,"date":"2021-10-15T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-15T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mtmic.com\/blog\/?p=41631"},"modified":"2021-11-23T05:04:19","modified_gmt":"2021-11-23T05:04:19","slug":"keep-in-touch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mtmic.com\/blog\/2021\/10\/keep-in-touch\/","title":{"rendered":"Keep in Touch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Donna Motley, Vice President of Claims<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Summer is over, schools are back in session and hopefully, more people are returning to work. Everyone is aware of the \u201cworker\u201d shortage. Employers are placing signs outside their establishment seeking candidates. Some fast food restaurants have limited their hours of operation and some only operate the drive through window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advertised are: sign-on bonuses, paid college tuition, health care benefits, etc. Now that recreational marijuana has been legalized, prospective employees have one less hurdle to worry about. I just can\u2019t imagine being on lay-off status and not looking for work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Claims are still being received in our department. Slowly, I\u2019m seeing more claims where the employee\u2019s date of hire is within the last couple of months or at the beginning of 2021. This is a reminder to please educate and train the new hires! Not just concerning their job duties and tasks, but also concerning proper procedures. Specifically, late reporting of an injury will result in intensive investigation by our department and delayed treatment. Make sure your employees are aware that work injuries are to be treated at your Occupational Clinic. All employers in the Metropolitan area should have a close working relationship with an Occupational Clinic. In areas that are more rural, an Urgent Care will suffice. However, treating at an Urgent Care instead of the appropriate Occupational Clinic will delay the process. An Emergency Room should only be utilized for \u201cemergencies\u201d. (With COVID still active, an emergency room should be the last place you go unless you really require emergency treatment.) Typically, emergency rooms only stabilize the patient and refer them to a primary care physician. Those seeking \u201cprescription medicine\u201d are out of luck as most emergency rooms will no longer prescribe opiates. If an opiate is given, it is only one or two pills \u2013 enough to cover the injured until they see a treating physician.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remind all employees, once they are seen at any medical facility, the employee is required to provide the employer with a disability slip. An injured worker can only stay off work if a physician indicated total disability, OR if restrictions were imposed and the employer cannot accommodate said restrictions. If an employee returns to work following an injury and complains of \u201cpain\u201d \u2013 that does not mean the employee is \u201cdisabled\u201d. People work with pain all the time. Physical therapy will tell you, \u201cyou have to work through the pain\u201d. If an injured worker makes the decision to leave work due to pain, and does not have a disability slip taking them off work, wage loss benefits will be denied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the employer, remember to keep in contact with the MTMIC Claims Department. We need to know if an employee is: off work; walks off the job; is absent when they are supposed to be at work; seeks medical treatment outside of the employer\u2019s Occupational Clinic; resigns; AND when the employee returns to work \u2013 with OR without restrictions. As the employer, please forward to our attention, ALL medical documentation you receive; any bills you receive; any inquiries you receive about medical authorization or medical treatment of the injured worker. Absolutely contact us with any concerns you may have regarding; the incident in question (i.e. \u201chow\u201d the injury allegedly occurred), the injured worker, the medical treatment and\/or the employee\u2019s recovery. Chances are, if you have a question \u2013 WE DO TOO !<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember, it is not the injured worker\u2019s decision whether or not they want to seek medical treatment. As an employer, you have an obligation to send an injured worker for medical care when you are aware of an injury. Simple lacerations easily turn into cellulitis!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feel free to call our office any time, with any question or concern; anyone in our department can help you or direct you to the appropriate personnel. The earlier we can start working on a claim, the quicker and hopefully, more successful, the recovery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Donna Motley, Vice President of Claims Summer is over, schools are back in session and hopefully, more people are returning to work. Everyone is aware of the \u201cworker\u201d shortage. Employers are placing signs outside their establishment seeking candidates. Some fast food restaurants have limited their hours of operation and some only operate the drive…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-claims"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.mtmic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/2021-10_02-01.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtmic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtmic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtmic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtmic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtmic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41631"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtmic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41648,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtmic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41631\/revisions\/41648"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtmic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtmic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtmic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtmic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}