Employers, our Human Capital team would like to keep you informed of any changes to the Act or regulations that may affect you. As a result, the measures announced on Tuesday, February 20, 2024 to reduce the administrative burden on family doctors also affect CNESST files. While we don’t want you to have employees injured on the job, it is a possibility, and it’s important to be aware of what’s happening in this sphere.
The role of the medical board and the health professional designated by the CNESST in patient care
Until now, when an employee was involved in a work-related accident or suffered from a work-related illness, private insurers and the CNESST required a medical appointment as follow-up every three weeks in order for the employee to keep their compensation. If the employee did not undergo medical follow-up, they risked losing this compensation, and therefore losing all income during their convalescence.
However, from now on, when a patient receives compensation from the CNESST, it will be the doctor assigned to their file who will be responsible for determining what follow-up is necessary. This eliminates any fear of losing compensation if your doctor isn’t available every three weeks, for example, as they will determine the next appointment. As a reminder, the process involves a series of responsibilities, from the compilation of medico-administrative information to the pricing of services.
Whether you have employees currently or formerly compensated, it’s essential to understand the new standards and their implications for medical practice.
What this means for your compensated employees
The measures announced will be introduced primarily to relieve family physicians of their paperwork burden, but the effects will also be felt by patients receiving compensation from the CNESST. The most important change is that doctors will now be responsible for determining not only the frequency, but also the relevance of follow-up with their patients, rather than having this determined by the employer and the CNESST.
For doctors, this means that they will be able to perform fewer unnecessary follow-ups, unlike in the past. Many doctors felt that many of the regular follow-ups requested by employers and the CNESST were unnecessary and clogged up the departments, believing that there was no real medical care to be done every time.
With the implementation of these new measures, the Quebec government estimates that 120,000 appointments deemed irrelevant will be reclaimed for other patients waiting for care. It will also save paperwork not only for the medical profession, but also for the CNESST, the employee and the employer, and thus save an enormous amount of time for everyone involved.
Examples of cases that will be affected
If we want to talk about concrete examples, let’s take a case in which your employee is off work with a broken leg, which would be work-related. Until the new measures were announced, employees were normally required to consult the physician assigned to their file every three weeks, or as indicated by their insurer and the CNESST. These follow-up appointments were often purely administrative, in order to have a CNESST form filled out, which in turn served to ensure that the patient’s compensation was not lost. They had no further bearing on his recovery, which simply required time and a cast. From now on, the doctor may decide not to follow up until the injury has healed, i.e. after about eight weeks’ convalescence in the case of a regular fracture.
In a case where someone is off work due to mental overload, the doctor may decide to give them more time than three weeks at a time, depending on the patient’s needs. A psychological evaluation would be carried out, and an initial period would then be determined, especially as most of these cases last more than three weeks at a time. Not only will this cut down on paperwork, it will also ensure a more restful convalescence for the claimant.
What should I do as an employer?
As an employer, your role doesn’t change. If an employee suffers a work-related injury, you can always ask for a second medical opinion, but you must be proactive and attentive to your employee’s recovery process, and trust the judgment of the doctor treating them.
The Quebec government estimates that there are around 160,000 new cases of employees compensated by CNESST every year. These new measures could eliminate 120,000 follow-up appointments, or at least one appointment per case, for 75% of cases.
If you have any questions about occupational health and safety management, our prevention mutual, or any other topic concerning your employees and their well-being, we have a specialized human capital team to help you. Don’t hesitate to contact them, or sign up for one of our free training courses!
