Do I Have to Give My Employer a Signed Medical Authorization and Complete a Medical Provider List?

When a claim is filed with the Ohio BWC, the injured worker may receive a request from the employer to sign a stack of medical authorizations and provide a list of all medical providers the worker has seen in his or her lifetime. Is the injured worker required to complete these documents for the employer?

What is the injured worker required to complete?

When a worker is injured or disabled in the course of employment, the employer can require the injured worker to sign a form for the release of medical information, records, and reports relative to the issues necessary for the administration of a claim. The BWC has created a form called a C-101 for this purpose. The employer can require you to sign the C-101 (or a substantially similar form).

How broad can the employer’s medical authorization be?

An injured worker is required to provide a form for the release of medical information, records, and reports relative to the issues necessary for the administration of a claim. The plain reading of the text indicates that an injured worker is not required to provide a release allowing the employer to gather any and all medical records related to the injured worker over the entire lifetime of the worker.

To comply with the Ohio BWC statute, the injured worker must complete a C-101 or similar form. However, the release should be limited to a specific time period and only grant authorization for records related to the body parts involved in the claim.

Do you have to complete a medical provider list?

In addition to requesting that an injured worker sign a C-101 or like form, an employer will often request that the injured worker complete a form listing the medical providers the worker has seen, or is seeing, for the injuries sustained in the claim, or for medical providers the worker has seen for the same or overlapping body parts. Whether an injured worker is required to complete these forms is not as clear.

At the outset, there is no statutory authority, nor supporting Ohio case law, that would grant the employer authority to require an injured worker to complete a Medical Provider List. However, the Industrial Commission on numerous occasions has suspended claims because the injured worker refused to complete a provider list.

So what should an injured worker do?

While no authority exists to require the injured worker to complete a Medical Provider List, refusing to provide the list is counterintuitive to the injured worker’s goals. The injured worker wants the process to keep moving and wants whatever request is being made (whether it is to get the claim allowed, treatment approved, or benefits paid) to be done in a timely fashion. If an injured worker refuses to complete the form for the employer, the employer can request that the injured worker’s claim be suspended. This will halt any proceedings in the claim and could cause delays in receiving benefits.

So in practice, the injured worker should provide the employer with a list of medical providers the injured worker has treated with for the claim allowances or overlapping body parts. Like the C-101, the Medical Provider List should be limited to providers the injured worker has seen for the work injury, or on overlapping body parts. The provider list should be further limited to a specific period of time and not open ended.

What will happen if I do not complete a C-101 or Medical Provider List?

If an injured worker refuses to sign a C-101 or similar form for the employer, the employer can file a motion with the Industrial Commission of Ohio asking that the injured worker’s claim be suspended. If the Industrial Commission issues an Order suspending the claim, all action in the claim will stop, including the payment of benefits, until the issue that caused the suspension has been resolved.

Likewise with a Medical Provider List, if an injured worker refuses to give the employer a list of medical providers, the employer can request the claim be suspended. Whether the Industrial Commission would grant an employer’s request to suspend the claim for this failure is less clear. But what is certain is that the claim process will be delayed.

← All articles