Florida Injury Attorney Blawg
From the perspective of injured workers, I am a frequent critic of Florida’s Workers’ Compensation System. Of the many inequities built into the System, I reserve my greatest disdain for its rules on the provision of medical care. Essentially, employers and their workers’ compensation insurance carriers get to pick all of the treating doctors. Because most of these doctors derive a large percentage of their income from workers’ compensation cases, they naturally tend to render opinions favorable to the employers/carriers (E/C). If they don’t, they will stop getting workers’ compensation cases from the E/C.
The System gives injured workers very little leeway to overcome this built-in bias. Section 440.13(2)(f), Florida Statutes (2019) gives workers an inkling of an opening. The section provides as follows:
Upon the written request of the employee, the carrier shall give the employee the opportunity for one change of physician during the course of treatment for any one accident. Upon the granting of a change of physician, the originally authorized physician in the same specialty as the changed physician shall become deauthorized upon written notification by the employer or carrier. The carrier shall authorize an alternative physician who shall not be professionally affiliated with the previous physician within 5 days after receipt of the request. If the carrier fails to provide a change of physician as requested by the employee, the employee may select the physician and such physician shall be considered authorized if the treatment being provided is compensable and medically necessary. (Bold added for purposes of this blog.)
At best, it is a tiny opportunity. Because Employers/Carriers keep lists of favored doctors, once a “one change” request is made it is easy for them to pick another friendly doctor from a list to assure that the opinions rendered by doctor “B” are just as beneficial to their interests as the opinions given by doctor “A.” On rare occasions, the E/C will fail to authorize a physician within the 5 day period outlined in the statute. When this happens, the injured worker (Claimant) can choose his or her own doctor. However, it is not always easy for Claimants to find doctors willing to provide care without a guarantee of being paid. Even though the statute says that “such physician shall be considered authorized,” not every doctor is willing to undertake care based just on assurances from the Claimant’s attorney. They want pre-authorization from the workers’ compensation E/C. Unfortunately, most employers/carriers will not concede their statutory obligation without a fight. Claimants must sometimes waits months for the authorization to come through. Given the seriousness of certain medical conditions, this is not always feasible. Thankfully, our law firm has developed relationships with many fine medical providers who are willing undertake care on our assurances alone knowing we will fight to get them paid.
While the statutory language seems straightforward, it has resulted in numerous disputes. Most recently, in City of Bartow v. Flores (May 29, 2020) the First District Court of Appeal issued an opinion in a dispute arising over the obligations associated with the word “provide.” While E/C advised Claimant’s attorney of the doctor it had selected within five days of receiving a one change request, it did not notify Claimant of an appointment date for 56 days. The trial judge, known in the workers’ compensation system as the Judge of Compensation Claims, determined that the E/C forfeited its control of the selection process to the Claimant. The First DCA agreed with the JCC.
The court noted that since the spirit of the workers’ compensation system is to “ensure a quick and efficient delivery of disability and medical benefits to an injured worker, the [E/C] are under an implied duty to act reasonably and fairly.” It decided that 56 days was an “unreasonable delay.” This does not mean that 56 days is the absolute line of demarcation. Circumstances could easily dictate that delays of fewer days may not be fair or reasonable, even short delays. The Claimant’s medical needs will be a big factor in the determination.
Being an issue of such great public importance, the First DCA has asked the Florida Supreme Court to answer the following question:
WHETHER AN E/C’S DUTY TO TIMELY FURNISH MEDICAL TREATMENT UNDER SECTION 440.13(2), WHICH INCLUDES A CLAIMANT’S RIGHT TO A ONE-TIME CHANGE OF PHYSICIAN DURING THE COURSE OF SUCH TREATMENT PURSUANT TO SUBSECTION (2)(f), IS FULFILLED SOLELY BY TIMELY AUTHORIZING AN ALTERNATE PHYSICIAN TO TREAT THE CLAIMANT OR WHETHER—IN ORDER TO RETAIN ITS RIGHT OF SELECTION AFTER TIMELY AUTHORIZING THE ALTERNATE PHYSICIAN TO TREAT THE CLAIMANT—THE E/C MUST ACTUALLY PROVIDE THE CLAIMANT AN APPOINTMENT DATE WITH THE AUTHORIZED ALTERNATE PHYSICIAN?
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Jeffrey P. Gale, P.A. is a South Florida based law firm committed to the judicial system and to representing and obtaining justice for individuals – the poor, the injured, the forgotten, the voiceless, the defenseless and the damned, and to protecting the rights of such people from corporate and government oppression. We do not represent government, corporations or large business interests.
While prompt resolution of your legal matter is our goal, our approach is fundamentally different. Our clients are “people” and not “cases” or “files.” We take the time to build a relationship with our clients, realizing that only through meaningful interaction can we best serve their needs. In this manner, we have been able to best help those requiring legal representation.