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Doctor to Stop Seeing WC Patients After Fight With Insurer

  • State: Florida
  • Topic: SOUTH
  • - Popular with: Legal
  • -  0 shares

A Florida psychologist in the middle of well-publicized workers' compensation case says he's had enough of insurers dictating medical treatment and is calling it quits.

Dr. Frank Schultz, of Winter Haven, Florida, told a Tampa TV news station that he will no longer treat injured workers after Travelers Insurance denied reimbursement for treatments Schultz had prescribed to a man who was badly injured in a food plant explosion.

Plant manager Neil Eckelberger was burned and suffered a concussion and other injuries when a reactor at Natural Advantage Food Flavorings in Lakeland exploded in 2017. In Florida, the employer or workers' compensation carrier picks the physician, or can require the worker to stay within a network of providers.

Schultz, chosen by Travelers, recommended a relatively new but well-regarded brain-mapping treatment, known as eVox, for Eckelberger's traumatic brain injury. Travelers declined the treatment.

"My concern is that there is no oversight for whoever's administering the workers' comp, because if Mr. Eckelberger is an example of what can happen and nobody's looking over somebody's shoulder to make sure that it doesn't, that concerns me," Schultz added.

If insurers send him patients but won't let him do his job, he doesn't want the hassles, Schultz told WFLA-TV in Tampa, which broke the story this month of Eckelberger's fight with the insurance carrier.

Schultz and Eckelberger's attorney have accused Travelers of spending more money on legal fees opposing the medical treatments than the treatments would have cost.

"The insurance company's job is to indemnify the person, which means to put that person back to where they once were, to the best of their ability," Neil's wife, Robin Eckelberger, told the TV news. "They've not done that with my husband."

Travelers has said it has provided appropriate care for Eckelberger.

A hearing before a workers' compensation judge is set for March 26.

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Mark Zientz Feb 12, 2019 a 2:02 pm PST

Compared to most Travelers workers comp claimants, Mr. Eckelberger is lucky. Most are referred to doctors who don't want to treat at all. If you go to the workers' comp institute in Orlando in August for their annual convention, the exhibitor room is chock full of medical practice exhibitors. The actual doctors show up and are ready to deal with the insurers who send them business. For example, the docs promise as little care as possible, return to work quickly and low impairment ratings with little or no restrictions in exchange for the carrier paying for each visit as if it was the expensive and expansive first visit instead of a much lower paying follow up visit. Doctors send these phony bills via mail or electronic means but it seems the U.S Attorney is not interested in investigating wire or mail fraud.

Beth Vavoularis Feb 14, 2019 a 7:02 pm PST

I would like to see more oversite on the Drs cases as well. It seems out of the ordinary to me, the employer, when an employee has an injury and is treated, comes back to work or no longer on restriction but they still have appointments or decide to get an attorney. We are talking about minor injuries, It seems people who are in need can not get help and those who are not are over compensated to make up for it. With all these attorneys "Don't pay if yo don't win" It is very tempting to the employee to get paid not to work and they know the insurance will pay out.

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