Worker’s Compensation – who determines you medical care provider?

If you have been injured in a work accident and are entitled to benefits under the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act, it is very important to know that you -- not your employer -- have the right to determine who provides your medical care.

The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act requires employers to pay for an injured worker’s medical care, but lets the worker choose where he will obtain that care. The employer must pay all reasonable hospital and surgical expenses, and also must pay for reasonable and necessary rehabilitation. In addition, the Act specifically provides that the employer must pay for reasonable medical care the employee receives from the employee’s own doctor, and any other specialist or other health care provider to which the employee is referred by his own doctor. If the worker subsequently chooses a second physician, the Act also requires the employer to pay for the services rendered by a second physician, if chosen by the injured worker, as well as any other doctors referred by that second physician.

An employer does have the right to have an employee examined by a doctor of the employer’s choice. If the employer requires such an examination, the employer has to pay the employee sufficient money to defray the necessary expenses and costs of travel to and from that employer’s physician.

While the employer does have the right to have an employee examined by a doctor of the employer’s choice, the employer cannot require the employee to receive treatment from that doctor. The purpose for those examinations is to determine the nature and extent and probable duration of the employee’s injury, and to ascertain the amount of compensation which may be due to the employee from the employer. Those examinations, however, are not for the purpose of allowing the employer to determine what doctors treat the employee.

If you have any questions about your rights to seek treatment from your own physicians under the Worker’s Compensation Act, you should contact an attorney.