In an earlier post I discussed the value of using Nurse Triage. As soon as an injury occurs get on the phone and get a quick diagnosis, quite often working with a company that provides Nurse Triage services combined with a having a good first aid kit on hand can reduce the severity of injury and lower costs and claims considerably.
The other major benefit is that your workers start to get the care they need quickly. Remember Nurse Triage does not replace a trip to the doctor or the emergency room but it does, shall we say, “slow the bleeding”.
There are other things that you can do to reduce your Workers’ Compensation medical costs as well. A good one is taking a close look at your medical bill. It sounds like common sense but you would be surprised how many people just pay it. Don’t underestimate the power of reviews.
Whether it is getting a second opinion or using an independent company to verify that the right treatment is being done at a reasonable cost, not taking the bill and treatment at face value can make a big difference.
If your workforce generates a lot of medical bills it might be worthwhile to find a company that specializes in medical bill reviews. There are also companies that do the same thing but specialize on the pharmacy side.
It’s hard to contain costs when you don’t know how much a service or treatment is worth. Of course you can avoid all of this if you have a plan that covers your workers with an HMO or other medical provider network. Then it’s all about the premiums.
Just as a side note — if your workers keep getting injured in the same way you might want to take a look at your safety program and work methods to see if a simply tweak, such as wearing protective gear might not be a good investment.
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