Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Treatment Guidelines Training Sessions

Tennessee Workers’ Compensation Treatment Guidelines Training Sessions Coming to Nashville March 31 and April 4.

The Bureau of Workers’ Compensation is offering free in-person training sessions for the newly adopted Work Loss Data Institute ODG® Treatment Guidelines including the Drug Formulary.

Nashville Training:

Date: Thursday, March 31 or Monday, April 4
Time: Noon-1:30 p.m. and 6-7:30 p.m. (identical sessions)
Location: Department of Labor and Workforce Development
220 French Landing Drive, Nashville, TN 37228

You must RSVP to attend in order to get through security:
Email Suzy Douglas, Bureau of Workers’ Compensation at suzy.douglas@tn.gov
with your name, company, phone number, and which session date/time you will attend.
You may call her at 615 532-1326 with any questions.

A session similar to these live sessions may be viewed at: http://mediasite.vanderbilt.edu/Mediasite/Play/096600303cd449ada587c098dfd011dc1d.  In addition, if you are a subscriber to ODG®, they have a one hour tutorial under “Good to Go.’”
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Additional Information from TMA:

Physicians who treat workers’ compensation patients are urged to become familiar with the ODG ® Guidelines,  special spine guidelines, and drug formulary.

Work Loss Data Institute ODG® Guidelines: As of January 1, 2016, the Tennessee Bureau of Workers’ Compensation has adopted the Work Loss Data Institute ODG® Guidelines (“ODG® Guidelines”) for the criteria used to determine the recommended treatments for injured workers in the State of Tennessee. The guidelines are not mandates but designed to speed up the claims processing and payment process for clinicians in a majority of cases by establishing guidelines for medical necessity. If a physician needs to deviate from them, the reason should be documented. The Bureau’s website contains information about how to access the guidelines. Go to https://www.tn.gov/workforce/topic/wc-medical-treatment-guidelines. There is a fee for subscribing to the entire set of guidelines.

Spinal Injury Treatment Guidelines. In addition to the ODG® guidelines, a Supplemental Spine Study Group of the Bureau’s Medical Payment Committee has proffered Tennessee-specific guidelines for treatment of spinal injuries which should be considered by utilization review organizations in evaluating the medical necessity of treatment for certain spine injuries. TMA highly recommends that when a patient is treated for an injury covered by the Tennessee spine guidelines, that the physician submit a copy of the special guidelines to the utilization review organization along with the claim and supporting documentation. The Supplemental Spine Study Group’s guidelines can also be found at the web address above. TMA recommends that if utilization review organizations deny medical necessity for treatment falling clearly under the Supplemental Spine Study Group’s guidelines to submit such denial to the Medical Director of the Bureau specifically referencing the case’s applicability to the Study Group’s guidelines.

Drug Formulary. Also, the Bureau’s new drug formulary may be found at https://www.tn.gov/workforce/article/wc-drug-formulary . For first prescriptions written and dispensed for the affected medications after January 1, 2016, the drug formulary will apply after August 28, 2016. For refills of medications with prescriptions written before January 1, 2016, the drug formulary applies after February 28, 2017.

Click here to download this information in a PDF format.