Hot Topics
from Vantage Occupational Health Plan
An Occupational Health Plan Publication
The Companies of
Occupational Health Plan
Integrated Services
Founded in 1991, Occupational
Health Plan recognized that
Workers’ Compensation costs were
rising and medical providers were
not positioned to service employers’
needs.
OHP developed affiliated companies
to offer employers and providers a
comprehensive and integrated
approach to manage Workers’
Comp costs.
Occupational Health Plan
consults with Occupational Health
Providers and we offer employers’
policy development and vocational
rehabilitation services to control
workers’ compensation costs and
claims.
Vantage Occupational Health
Plan is a certified state-wide
Managed Care Organization (MCO).
We are paid by the Ohio BWC to
medically manage Workers’
Compensation claims. Ohio
employers are required to choose or
be assigned an MCO.
Occupational Risk Management
is a Third Party Administrator (TPA)
which is an optional employer
representative to provide total cost
management of Workers’
Compensation claims and premium.
Our TPA also offers our employers
a Group Rating program.
ON THE BACK SIDE…..
Meet our Featured Staff
Member of the Month—
Brandy Jordan, VOHP
Employer Representative
and the desk of Barb Wright, RN, CDMS
Issue 2, Volume 1
September 2009
Welcome to VOHP Hot Topics!
Our objective is to provide user-friendly information to our clients to assist them
in understanding the Ohio Workers’ Compensation system. Through our 18
years of experience in working with medical providers and employers, we still
find that our clients need assistance in understanding how to manage Workers’
Compensation claims and related premium costs in our ever changing
environment.
Preferred Medical Provider = Non-Adversarial Approach
to Benefit All Parties to the Claim
How many risk management seminars processes that often inhibit the efficiency of
have you gone to over the years that treatment, like whether or not to drug test
have stated that the secret to success- employees upon treatment, or where to
fully managing your workers’ compen- send medical documents, FROI’s, and bills.
sation claims cost is early intervention?
You, the employer, will feel secure in
This is not a new idea for any of us who knowing that you are receiving all the
have been in this arena for very long but it information that you need and that your
still remains one of the most challenging to injured worker is getting the best care and
implement within a bureaucratic workers’ being appropriately progressed back to full
compensation system that allows an duty.
employee up to two years to report an
Keeping Employees Informed Can
injury and/or occupational disease. These
Assist in Deterring Adversarial Claims
types of claims are the ones that keep us
up at night and can quickly put a small Many companies post their Preferred
employer out of business. Medical Provider relationship on posters
throughout the workplace and review the
Experience has taught us that there is no
relationship at their quarterly safety
one strategy that will solve all the complex
meetings. We believe this communication
issues that can occur in a workers’
can be taken one step further. Preferred
compensation claim.
Medical Provider information should also
One logical solution: Have you tried be reviewed following every injury incident,
developing a Preferred Medical Provider face to face, with the injured worker. This
relationship with a local occupational health creates one more opportunity to tell your
provider? injured worker; “we care about you as our
employee and want you to have the best
What is a Preferred Medical Provider care. We trust this Provider to get you the
Relationship? care you need”.
A Preferred Medical Provider relationship This simple step can help to deter an
between an employer and a local occupa- adversarial relationship over a workers’
tional health provider establishes familiarity compensation claim with an employee that
prior to a work related injury. The Provider may otherwise feel left to fend for them-
is given the opportunity to understand the selves when an injury occurs. Most injured
company, what the employees do, the workers simply want guidance; they want to
demands of the jobs, the environment in know that their employer is there to help.
which work occurs, and what is expected in This positive relationship also proves to
managing the care of an injured worker. progress an injured worker back to work
In a Preferred Medical Provider relationship faster.
the Provider can more efficiently and But Ohio is an Employee Choice State
objectively assess the injury and determine
restrictions and course of treatment more Employers often feel helpless when it
appropriately. The Preferred Medical comes to controlling the medical providers
Provider relationship also streamlines the that their injured workers use. Every
continued on side 2
 Side 2

Preferred Medical Provider

...continued from side 1

community has that provider that
makes employers cringe when they
are informed that Dr. ABC is treating
their injured worker. These particular
providers make it hard for everyone
involved to effectively manage a
workers’ compensation claim and thus
manage the employer’s premium.
Although an employer may not force
their employees to use a particular
facility for their injuries, employers can goes undiscovered until the injured
have a Preferred Medical Provider
listed in company policy. This
guidance can be just enough to keep
the claim on the right path rather than reported claim is discovered, 30 days
becoming a costly loss.
Claim Reporting and the Medical
Provider
The initiation of the First Report of
Injury (FROI) at the employer level is
the optimal situation, assuring that
proper information is being reported
and that the claim is being filed
appropriately. Some employers do
not/cannot initiate the FROI and
instead rely on the treating facility
(occupational medicine, urgent care,
emergency room) to file the FROI on
behalf of the injured worker.
Establishing a Preferred Medical
Provider relationship can help bypass
this all too frequent “black hole” that
can occur at the beginning of a claim.
When a Preferred Medical Provider
relationship is not established before a
workplace injury, the FROI frequently
does not reach the appropriate Man-
aged Care Organization (MCO) or
simply doesn’t get filed at all. This
non-reporting of the claim usually
worker begins receiving bills from the
provider which can result in frustration
and inconvenience. Once the un-
or more may have passed in which the
employer’s MCO and/or Third Party
Administrator (TPA) have not had the
opportunity to do their part to properly
investigate and manage the claim
from the beginning.
The Bottom Line
The most beneficial part of the
Preferred Medical Provider relation-
ship is the establishment of a trust
between the employer, the provider
and the injured worker.
• The Employer trusts that the
injured worker is getting quality,
appropriate care and that there
will be a safe and efficient return-
to-work outcome in the claim. 
• The Provider has been informed
about the company and their
policies and practices and is
secure that there will be full
support and trust in their
professional position. 
• The Injured Worker trusts that
they are receiving appropriate
treatment and that they have the
full support of their employer. 
These three players have the most
influence in obtaining a successful
claim outcome. An important best
practice is the establishment of a
working relationship of all parties with
the mutual goal of ‘optimum services
within the optimum evidence based
duration of disability time frames’. All
parties benefit from this type of rela-
tionship.
For assistance in establishing your
Preferred Medical Provider relation-
ship or to discuss any part of your risk
management program, please call
Brandy Jordan at
614.602.8273.

Featured Staff Member of the Month

Brandy Jordan, VOHP Employer Representative
As VOHP’s employer representative Brandy is responsible tion claim cost controls.
for account management of VOHP employers to provide
Workers’ Compensation Managed Care services. The Brandy can be reached at 614.602.8273 or 614-717-4705
scope of her responsibilities is to coordinate non-claim bjordan@ohpinc.com
specific employer customer service inquiries, employer
quality control monitoring and reporting, employer
informational and educational communications, as well as
the presentation of VOHP services. Brandy also facilitates
on-site employer visits on an as needed or as requested
basis to discuss recommendations on workers’ compensa-

Barb Wright, RN, CDMS, CEO Vantage: bwright@ohpinc.com Heidi Beachy, Claims Manager: hbeachy@ohpinc.com
Samantha Dixon, Claims Manager: sdixon@ohpinc.com
Brandy Jordan, Account Representative: bjordan@ohpinc.com Kathleen Stalter, Nurse Case Manager: kstalter@ohpinc.com

Contact Us: (614) 717-4705—(877) 847-5459

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