Can I Use My Own Doctor for a Work-Related Injury?

If you are injured at work, you are eligible to file for workers’ compensation benefits. In a majority of cases, this will involve consulting with a doctor or another medical professional to verify and assess your injuries and how serious they are. 

Most of the time, the doctor the employee who was injured sees is the one employed by or contracted with their employer’s insurance company. For many employees, this can be an uneasy and uncomfortable experience. Not only can the employee lack the rapport they may have built with their own doctors, but they may also doubt the qualifications of their employer’s doctor over their own. Even worse, employees can start to worry if the doctor is inclined to put their employer’s interests above their own.

Because of these concerns, the employee may wonder if they can use their own doctors for workers’ comp claims instead of the one contracted by their employer’s insurance company. 

Predesignating Your Preferred Doctors

Several states don’t allow employees to use their own doctors under any circumstance, but California actually isn’t one of them. In this state, employees can see their regular doctors for work-related injuries as long as they predesignate those medical professionals.

Predesignating must occur before an injury occurs and it must be done in writing. If an employee is injured but never provided a written predesignation preferring their own doctor, then they are not entitled to see that medical professional before their employer’s.

The following types of doctors can be predesignated if they are the primary care physician:

  • General practitioner

  • Internist

  • Pediatrician

  • Obstetrician-gynecologist

  • Family practitioner

Medical groups can also be predesignated as long as they are composed of licensed doctors.

Can Anyone Predesignate a Doctor?

Unfortunately, not all employees can predesignate doctors for workers’ comp injuries. Only employees who have health care coverage for medical conditions unrelated to work can predesignate their doctors.

Cole, Fisher, Cole, O’Keefe + Mahoney is Central California’s leading workers’ compensation and social security disability law firm. With over 30 years of successful experience, we are committed to securing maximum benefits for our clients in the Fresno, California area. Schedule a free consultation today.

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