In 2018, there were 155 753 work-related injuries reported to WorkSafeBC.[1] Many, if not most, community physicians will treat injured workers. There are several resources available to community physicians to help support them and their patients. Here are four avenues through which to get support from WorkSafeBC on work-related health conditions:

1. Outreach to community physicians: The Patient Care, Physicians and WorkSafeBC program

If your community clinic or a community physician conference is interested in learning more about WorkSafeBC billing, disability assessment, and management, or WorkSafeBC resources for injured workers, our outreach program—Patient Care, Physicians and WorkSafeBC—can come to you. WorkSafeBC provides outreach throughout BC and can tailor presentations to fit busy clinic schedules. The outreach can be delivered one on one, or if you practise or learn with a group of physicians, it can be offered to a group at your office, during hospital rounds, or over lunch or dinner. The modules are accredited (Mainpro+ certified and MOC Section 1) and are delivered by a group of regional medical advisors and billing specialists.

Knowledge of the function and history of WorkSafeBC can improve care of patients with work-related conditions. The modules were designed by content experts and review disability assessment and management, key occupational medical concepts to support safe return-to-work planning, and how community physicians can integrate the relationship between work and health into practice. With broad learning objectives that can be drawn from to meet your unique needs, the outreach program covers a range of topics:

Basic function and history of WorkSafeBC.
Filling out forms (Form 8 and Form 11 for general practitioners).
Filling out reports (for specialists).
Billing (can also be tailored to the needs of medical office staff). Doctors of BC and WorkSafeBC are currently negotiating a new fee guide with unique WorkSafeBC fee codes. The fee code and invoicing educational material will be updated when the new agreement is available.
Assessing and managing disability (for all patients, including those with work-related health conditions).
Bullying and harassment.
Occupational exposures and occupational diseases.

Over the last 2 years, our outreach program has reached over 400 MOAs and physicians in over 10 different communities within the province.

If you would like to know more about this outreach or would like to arrange a learning opportunity, call 1 855 476-3049, email clinicalservicesevents@worksafebc.com [12], or contact a medical advisor in your nearest WorkSafeBC office.

2. Questions about your patient’s claim or other WorkSafeBC issue

You can call our toll-free physician hotline at 1 855 476-3049 to leave a voice message or contact a medical advisor in your region. If you are calling about a claim, we will provide you with a fee code to bill for your time.

3. Questions about opioid management

You can call our physician hotline at 1 855 476-3049, which is staffed from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday. WorkSafeBC’s addiction medicine physicians can speak with you about management of opioids, tapering, nonpharmaceutical strategies, harm reduction programs, community resources, and referrals.

4. WorkSafeBC’s Annual Education Conference for Community Physicians

This year’s conference will be held at Robson Square in Vancouver on 4 and 5 December 2020. We are partnering our annual conference with the Northwest Association of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Planning is underway now; the planning committee is arranging physical examination workshops, our popular workshop on chronic pain management, and a worksite visit.
—Ernest Salcedo
WorkSafeBC Health Care Services Client Representative
—Celina Dunn, MD, CCFP, CIME
WorkSafeBC Manager of Medical Services
—Olivia Sampson, MD, CCFP, MPH, FRCPC, ABPM
WorkSafeBC Manager of Clinical Services

This article is the opinion of WorkSafeBC and has not been peer reviewed by the BCMJ Editorial Board.

References

1. WorkSafeBC. Facts and figures: Statistical overview for 2018. Accessed 23 December 2019. www.worksafebc.com/en/about-us/shared-data/facts-and-figures [13].