When people in New York and other states around the nation think about workers’ comp, they usually have an assumption that it only involves pay during their time out of work. However, there are many components to the program that deal with more than just wages. Those components are likely to change very soon. The following includes the changes you may see to this program in 2021.
In recent years, certain issues have arisen from the overprescribing of pharmaceuticals such as pain killers. This will likely lead to certain restrictions on the prescribing of these and similar medicines. However, one should understand that not all states are implementing changes in their workers’ compensation programs.
Over the course of 2020, a new way of providing health services to people emerged. Telehealth services provide injured workers with the ability to connect with their doctors or psychologists without having to meet in person. Before 2020, few medical providers offered this option. It’s likely that in 2021, this service will expand, and thus your workers’ comp may pay these types of visits.
Even before 2020, the idea of looking into a person’s entire health profile during an injury was emerging. However, it wasn’t until 2020 that professionals began to take the biopsychosocial model much more seriously and even considered adding it into state workers’ compensation laws. To provide further detail regarding the biopsychosocial model, the following includes a few of the areas that the model would focus on:
Many of the services above are still in the early stages of implementation. It is important to obtain an attorney to ensure that you are being offered all the available services when you file a workers’ compensation claim.
