Georgia’s Workers’ Compensation Panel of Physicians?

Georgia’s Workers’ Compensation Panel of Physicians: A Guide for Injured Employees

The Panel of Physicians usually contains at least six medical providers (often clinics or individual doctors) that are reasonably accessible to employees. By law, the panel must include at least one orthopedic surgeon (bone and joint specialist), and it can have no more than two industrial clinics (occupational health clinics) listed. Whenever possible, the panel should also include at least one minority physician. The names, addresses, and contact numbers of the approved doctors must be posted in a prominent, easily accessible place for all employees to see – typically a breakroom, near a time clock, or another common area. This posted notice will also outline your rights and some instructions (for instance, it will remind you to report injuries and explain how to use the panel). In the sections below, we’ll explain how to use the Panel of Physicians after a workplace injury, how to change doctors if needed, and what your rights are under Georgia law (including important legal cases like Lilienthal that affect you).

Get a Copy of the Panel After a Workplace Injury

Report your injury to your employer immediately. After any workplace accident, inform your supervisor or employer right away – don’t delay. (In Georgia, waiting more than 30 days to report an on-the-job injury could cause you to lose benefits.) Once your injury is reported, your employer should direct you to the posted Panel of Physicians. If you haven’t seen it before, ask where it’s posted. By law, the panel should be posted conspicuously and your employer should take steps to make sure employees know about it.

Choose one doctor from the panel to be your treating physician.

You have the right to pick any doctor on the panel for treatment – your employer cannot force you to go to a specific one on the list. Review the list of panel doctors (which may include general orthopedists, occupational medicine clinics, and other specialists) and select the physician best suited for your injury. For example, if you hurt your back and there’s an orthopedic surgeon on the panel, you might choose them. The panel should have at least six options, but in some areas the State Board of Workers’ Compensation may allow a slightly smaller panel (no fewer than four) if six aren’t available locally. All the listed doctors should be within a reasonable distance to travel. Once you decide, inform your employer which doctor you’ve chosen and make an appointment as soon as possible.

Know that initial emergency care is an exception. If your injury is severe or life-threatening and requires emergency treatment, don’t wait to pick from the panel – go to the nearest emergency room or call 911. Georgia law makes an exception for emergencies: you can get temporary emergency medical care from any physician or hospital if needed. After the emergency is over (for instance, after you’re stabilized), however, you will need to continue treatment with a panel doctor for it to remain covered. So, for emergency injuries, you might be rushed to the hospital first and later transferred to a doctor from the panel for follow-up.

If The Employer Blocks or Ignores Your Doctor Choice

If your employer accepts your claim but, say, tries to send you to a specific clinic without giving you a choice, politely remind them that you have a right to choose from the panel. If they do not have a Spanish-language panel posted for Spanish-speaking employees, that could also invalidate the panel. Essentially, any failure to provide the panel properly means you may be able to choose your doctor outside of the panel. It’s also wise to seek legal advice if an employer is not cooperating with providing medical treatment – experienced counsel can intervene to make sure you get care.

No Panel or Invalid Panel

If you look for a Panel of Physicians poster at your workplace and cannot find one, or it doesn’t meet the legal requirements, you should know that you are not limited to the panel doctors. When an employer required to have a panel fails to post one (or posts an incomplete or invalid list), Georgia law says the injured worker may seek medical treatment from any physician of their choosing and the employer must pay for it. Practically, this means you can pick a doctor you trust – for example, your personal physician or a specialist – and the workers’ comp insurance should cover it because the employer forfeited their control by not providing a panel. It’s a good idea to double-check with a lawyer or the State Board before electing this route, to ensure the panel is indeed invalid, but the law is on your side in this scenario. Document the absence of a panel (take a photo of the bulletin board, etc.) and notify the State Board of Workers’ Compensation if needed.

The role of the “authorized treating physician.”

The doctor you choose from the panel (or the one your employer sends you to from the panel) becomes your authorized treating physician in the workers’ comp system. This doctor will evaluate your injury, provide treatment (or refer you to specialists if needed), and guide your recovery. All of the medical bills for authorized treatment should be covered by your employer’s workers’ compensation insurance, as long as the treatment is related to your work injury and deemed necessary. The authorized doctor can also provide work restrictions or light-duty notes for your employer and will be a key figure in your claim. It’s important to choose a physician you feel comfortable with, since they will manage your care. However, if you end up unhappy with that doctor, Georgia law does give you options to change, as explained next.

Consequences of Seeking Treatment Outside the Panel

It’s very important to follow the panel rules unless you have a valid exception, because going outside the approved panel on your own can have serious consequences for your claim. Under Georgia law, if you choose a doctor not on the panel without proper authorization, it will likely be considered “unauthorized” treatment, and the workers’ compensation insurer will not be required to pay for those medical bills. In other words, you could be stuck with the bills for that outside doctor or hospital. For example, if you decide to skip the panel and go to your family doctor for a work injury, the workers’ comp insurance can rightfully refuse to cover that visit or any treatment your personal doctor provides.

Beyond having to pay out-of-pocket for unauthorized treatment, you might also jeopardize other parts of your claim. The workers’ comp insurer may argue that since you didn’t go to an authorized treating physician, any recommendations or referrals from your doctor should not be followed. This can delay your care and recovery. Additionally, an unauthorized doctor’s opinions (about your ability to work, the extent of your injuries, etc.) might not carry weight in your comp case. You truly don’t want to be in a position where needed treatment isn’t paid for. If you visit an unauthorized physician, you may end up having to pay for those services out-of-pocket.

To avoid these problems, always start with the panel or get proper permission for any change in doctors. Stick to authorized providers for your injury. If you’re unhappy with the panel doctors, use the legal methods (like the one-time change or a request to the Board) to switch – don’t just self-refer to a new physician. The only time you should step outside the panel without prior approval is during a true emergency as discussed earlier (and even then, you must transition to a panel doctor once stable). If you ever find that you have no choice but to treat outside (for instance, if the insurer is unreasonably refusing to approve any doctor and you must get care), make sure you document why and get legal advice. It might be possible to later argue that treatment should be covered due to the circumstances. But in general, unauthorized treatment is risky and can come back to bite you financially.

Changing Physicians If Necessary

Sometimes an injured worker is not satisfied with the doctor they initially selected from the panel. You might feel the doctor isn’t addressing your concerns, or perhaps you prefer a different kind of specialist. Georgia’s workers’ comp law allows a one-time change to another panel doctor without any special permission. This is often called the “one free switch.” For example, if you first went to an occupational clinic from the panel and weren’t happy, you could switch to the orthopedic surgeon or another physician listed on the same panel. You don’t need approval from the employer, the insurance company, or the State Board to make this one-time change – but you must choose the new doctor from the same posted panel of physicians.

To use this one-time change, it’s best to inform your employer and the insurance adjuster in writing which new panel doctor you want to switch to. They should then authorize that doctor as your new treating physician. Keep in mind, you only get one automatic switch. After that, if you still aren’t happy, further changes become more complicated.

Additional changes or second opinions.

If you have already used your one free panel switch (or if you have a good reason to change to a doctor not on the panel), you will need to get approval. This could mean asking the workers’ comp insurance adjuster for a change of doctor, or ultimately requesting a hearing or approval from the State Board of Workers’ Compensation. The Board can order a change of physician if it finds it necessary for your care, but this usually requires showing why the current doctor isn’t appropriate (for example, lack of proper care or need for a specialist not on the panel). In non-emergency situations, do not simply start seeing a new doctor on your own without approval, as that could be viewed as unauthorized (more on the consequences of unauthorized treatment later).

If you just want a second opinion about your injury, Georgia law also allows a one-time Independent Medical Examination (IME) with a doctor of your choice in certain circumstances. For instance, if you are within 120 days of receiving any weekly income benefits, you can request an IME with a new doctor, and the employer or insurer must pay for it. This IME is basically a one-time evaluation, not a transfer of your ongoing care, but it can help if you doubt the diagnosis or treatment plan from the panel doctors. It’s wise to consult an attorney if you feel you need an IME or a change of physician beyond the initial switch, as there is a legal process to secure those rights.

Your Rights Under the Law

Georgia’s workers’ compensation law (O.C.G.A. § 34-9-201) spells out the rules for the Panel of Physicians and your rights as an injured worker. One important requirement is that the panel must be posted in prominent places at the work site, and the employer must make sure employees know about it. If the panel isn’t properly posted or if the employer fails to follow the rules about providing access to doctors, the law gives the injured worker the right to choose any physician at the employer’s expense. In other words, an employer who doesn’t maintain a valid panel loses the benefit of controlling the medical care.

A recent Georgia Court of Appeals case, Lilienthal v. JLK, Inc. (2023), highlighted how crucial the posting requirement is. In Lilienthal, an employee was injured but the employer’s Panel of Physicians was posted inside a locked supply room that employees rarely used. The worker argued that the panel was not in a “prominent” location as required by law. The case went through several levels of review. Initially, the State Board and a trial court found the panel was technically accessible (employees could get the key to the room) and thus valid. However, the Court of Appeals took a closer look and questioned whether just being accessible was enough to meet the “prominently” posted requirement. The appellate court stopped short of outright declaring the panel invalid, but it sent the case back to the Board to explicitly determine if the panel’s location met the legal standard of prominence. The takeaway for workers is this: if the panel of physicians is hidden away or not effectively communicated (for example, in a locked room or an obscure location), that panel may not be considered valid.

Why does validity matter? Because if the panel is invalid, you as the injured employee are free to seek treatment from any doctor you choose, and the employer or insurer must pay for it. This is a powerful right – it prevents employers from shirking their duty to provide accessible medical care. The Lilienthal case puts employers on notice that they must truly post the panel openly (not just technically have one available). For injured workers, it reinforces that you should not be stuck with the panel doctors if your employer didn’t follow the rules. If you suspect the panel wasn’t posted in a visible area or you were never informed of it, discuss this with your attorney, as it could mean you can choose your own doctor outside the panel.

In summary

Your employer must give you a fair choice of doctors (via a properly maintained panel). If they fail to do so – whether by not posting the panel, not including the required variety of physicians, or otherwise not complying – then the law shifts the advantage to you, allowing you to go to your preferred doctor. Always remember that these rights are in place so you can get the treatment you need to get better, without getting tangled in technicalities.

By understanding the Panel of Physicians and the rules around it, you can take charge of your recovery within the workers’ comp system. Always remember that the system is there to ensure you get proper medical care and benefits while you heal. Know the panel, use it wisely, and don’t hesitate to use the protections the law provides – such as the ability to change doctors or hold your employer accountable if they don’t follow the rules. With this knowledge, an injured worker in Georgia can navigate the workers’ compensation process with more confidence and focus on what really matters: getting healthy and back to work as safely as possible.