Injury Reporting Simplified

Ohio employers face many challenges while operating their businesses. Some of the biggest include navigating the workers’ compensation system, ensuring a safe and healthy workplace, and managing injury reporting when accidents do occur.

Don’t wait for an accident to happen before developing proper procedures and processes. Your Managed Care Organization (MCO) can help guide you in creating a streamlined and effective workers’ compensation program.

Develop Injury Reporting Processes

Lost time is one of the leading factors impacting Ohio workers’ compensation premiums. To minimize the number of days an injured employee misses, it’s important that injury reporting happens as quickly as possible.

One of the first steps in doing this is to establish a reporting process like the one below:

Determine to whom employees should report if a workplace injury occurs.
- i.e. an immediate supervisor, the HR department, a safety director, etc.
Make sure the injured employee knows your company’s preferred medical provider for initial injury treatment.
- This is important because your preferred medical provider will be familiar with your company and your philosophy regarding the handling of workers’ compensation claims.
  - i.e. whether your company requires post-accident drug testing, offers modified duty for return to work, etc.
  - If you don’t have a preferred provider, your Ohio MCO can assist you with finding certified medical providers that are available in your area, as well as helping to facilitate your relationship with the provider.
Have all the necessary forms readily available to gather all needed information effectively and efficiently.
- Injury packets are a great tool to have on hand when a workplace injury occurs.
- You can collaborate with your MCO to develop the packets.
Make sure the injury is reported to your MCO immediately (no more than 24 hours after the injury took place).
- Early injury reporting is a key element for the case management of a workers’ compensation claim.
- The earlier the experts (your MCO) are notified, the sooner they can manage the claim and keep lost time to a minimum.

Your MCO Partner Can Help

Establishing clear procedures before accidents happen can be extremely beneficial should a workplace injury occur. Injury reporting is just one of the many steps you can take to begin positively impacting your workers’ compensation program. If you don’t currently have a process in place, lean on the experts at your Ohio Managed Care Organization to help you develop a comprehensive plan to guide you through every stage of a claim.

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