If you are hurt at work, you need to seek medical attention. You can do this in one of a few ways. First, you could ask that a coworker or your supervisor takes you to the hospital or an urgent care. If that won’t work, you can ask someone to call 911 and take an ambulance to the hospital. You might also drive yourself to a medical provider, whether that provider is a general practitioner or specialist.
No matter how you seek care, the one thing you should not do is pay for that care. When you’re hurt at work, it is your employer’s responsibility to help you seek workers’’ compensation and to have the workers’ compensation insurance claim reviewed. With an approved claim, the medical providers are paid directly by the insurer.
If you shouldn’t pay for your care, what do you do when you seek it?
There are plenty of times when hospitals will ask for an upfront deductible or when private practices will ask you to pay what you owe for the visit. To avoid this, you may need to go to a specific doctor selected by your workers’ compensation provider. In an emergency, you can go to the hospital and inform the front desk worker or admissions worker that you were hurt on the job.
Why do you need to say where you were hurt? Doctors and nurses know what kinds of information need to be provided to you and your employer after a workplace injury. They may have special paperwork for your employer and need to take specific steps to report your injuries.
Normally, if you explain that you were hurt on the job, these documents will be put together and used to seek compensation from your employer rather than you.
Don’t let questions about money hold you back from getting treatment
You shouldn’t let the risk of having to pay upfront hold you back from seeking the care you need. If you’re injured, let your employer know and then go to the hospital. If the hospital does require you to pay something upfront, keep the receipt and continue to remind the hospital that this is a workers’ compensation-related injury. You should be able to seek reimbursement once the claim is processed in a worst-case scenario.