Don’t wait for an injury to discover that your provider panel is outdated or incomplete. Learn how to verify providers, improve employee communication, and maintain an effective panel.
A workers’ compensation provider panel should not be treated as a document that is created once and forgotten.
Medical practices relocate, providers leave, phone numbers change, specialties become unavailable, and businesses open new worksites. An outdated or improperly administered panel can make it harder for an injured employee to receive timely care. It may also prevent an employer from requiring panel treatment during the first 90 days following an injury.
An annual workers’ compensation panel review gives employers an opportunity to confirm that their provider list remains accurate, accessible, compliant, and prepared to support injured employees.
Here’s what you need to know.
What Is a Workers’ Compensation Provider Panel?
A provider panel is a list of designated healthcare providers selected by an employer to treat employees with work-related injuries or illnesses.
Pennsylvania employers have the option to establish a panel.
When the panel and employee-notification process meet state requirements, an injured employee generally must select a provider from that list for the first 90 days of treatment. Employees may choose any provider on the panel and may switch between panel providers during that period. An employer cannot direct the employee to one specific provider.
If the panel is incomplete, outdated, inaccessible, improperly posted, or not properly communicated to employees, the injured worker may be permitted to choose an outside provider from the beginning of treatment.
Is an Annual Panel Review Required in Pennsylvania?
Pennsylvania’s panel-provider regulations establish requirements for the panel’s composition, posting and employee-notification process. Although the regulations do not specifically describe an “annual panel review” as a separate filing requirement, reviewing the panel at least once a year is an important risk-management practice.
Employers should also review their panel whenever:
- A provider or medical practice changes its name, address or phone number
- A listed provider stops accepting workers’ compensation patients
- A clinic changes its hours or appointment procedures
- A provider leaves the practice
- A new worksite opens
- The workforce or its injury risks change
- The workers’ compensation carrier or third-party administrator changes
- Employees report difficulty reaching or scheduling with a provider
- The employer changes the providers included on the panel
An annual review creates a predictable checkpoint, but employers should not wait until the next scheduled review to correct a known problem.
Why Annual Panel Reviews Matter
A provider’s name appearing on a piece of paper does not necessarily mean that provider remains a practical option for an injured employee.
For example, an employer may discover that a listed clinic has closed, an orthopedic provider no longer accepts work-related injuries, or the nearest provider is too far from a new worksite. These issues can delay care, create confusion after an injury and weaken the employer’s ability to rely on the panel.
A well-maintained provider panel can help employers:
- Connect injured workers with care quickly
- Improve communication between the provider and employer
- Obtain timely work-status documentation
- Support appropriate modified-duty and return-to-work planning
- Reduce unnecessary treatment delays
- Improve consistency across injury cases
- Give supervisors clear instructions after an incident
- Maintain a more defensible workers’ compensation process
Most importantly, the review should focus on whether the panel works effectively for employees, not simply whether every required field is filled in.
Best Practices for an Annual Panel Review
1. Verify Every Provider’s Information
Contact every medical practice on the panel and confirm its current:
- Provider or practice name | CNS Occupational Medicine
- Street address | 151 Koser Road Lititz, PA
- Phone number | 800.551.9816
- Specialty or provider type | Occupational Medicine
- Hours of operation | Monday – Friday 8:00AM – 5:00PM (closed Sat.-Sun.)
- Appointment process | Call to Schedule or Walk-in Welcome
- Workers’ compensation contact information | Contact Natalie Shaw
- After-hours or urgent-care availability | No
Pennsylvania guidance requires the panel to include each provider’s name, specialty or provider type, address and telephone number. It must also identify whether a provider is employed, owned or controlled by the employer or its workers’ compensation insurer.
Do not assume that information is correct because the provider remains active online. Call the practice and verify that it still accepts work-related injury cases.
2. Confirm the Required Panel Composition
A Pennsylvania provider panel must contain at least six healthcare providers, at least three of whom must be physicians. No more than four providers may be coordinated care organizations.
Employers should verify that they have six genuinely available provider options—not six outdated listings or multiple entries that do not provide meaningful choices.
The panel should also include the types of providers reasonably expected to treat injuries associated with the employer’s operations.
3. Match the Panel to Your Workplace Risks
A panel should reflect the employer’s actual workforce and injury exposure.
A construction company may need different resources than an office, school, warehouse, trucking company or manufacturing facility. Review recent injuries, near misses, job descriptions and physical demands to identify the care employees are most likely to need.
Depending on the operation, an effective panel may include:
- Occupational medicine
- Urgent injury care
- Orthopedics
- Physical or occupational therapy
- Hand or upper-extremity specialists
- Neurology
- Ophthalmology
- Chiropractic care
- Diagnostic imaging
- Pharmacies
- Additional specialists appropriate to the workplace
If an employee reasonably needs a specialty that is not available on the panel, the employee may be able to receive treatment from a provider outside it. That makes appropriate specialty coverage an important part of the review.
4. Evaluate Geographic Accessibility
Providers must be geographically accessible to the employees expected to use them.
Review the panel separately for every worksite, branch, job location and employee population. A provider that is convenient for the corporate office may be impractical for employees working at a warehouse 45 minutes away.
Consider:
- Distance from each worksite
- Typical drive time
- Public transportation access
- Normal clinic hours
- Evening or weekend availability
- Availability for same-day injuries
- Accessibility for employees with disabilities
- Whether mobile or remote employees can reasonably use the panel
Multi-location employers may need different panels or additional providers to give every employee practical access to care.
5. Test the Scheduling Process
Call each provider as if you were attempting to schedule an injured employee.
Ask questions such as:
- Are you currently accepting new workers’ compensation patients?
- Can you evaluate an employee on the same day?
- Do you require prior authorization?
- What information must the employer send?
- Who receives the employee’s work-status report?
- How quickly are visit notes or restrictions communicated?
- Can you support modified-duty and return-to-work planning?
- Where should an employee go after normal business hours?
A practice may technically accept workers’ compensation patients but have appointment delays that make it a poor first option for workplace injuries.
6. Review the Quality of Employer Communication
Occupational injury care involves more than treating the employee’s symptoms. The provider must also understand how to communicate work ability, physical restrictions and follow-up needs without improperly disclosing protected medical information.
During the annual review, assess whether providers deliver:
- Clear work-status documentation
- Specific and practical restrictions
- Timely follow-up recommendations
- Appropriate specialist referrals
- Consistent communication with authorized employer contacts
- Support for safe modified-duty programs
- Treatment plans focused on functional recovery
Vague restrictions such as “light duty” are often difficult for supervisors to apply. More specific limitations, when clinically appropriate, help employers identify safe work the employee can perform.
7. Inspect Every Posted Copy
The provider panel must be posted conspicuously in locations employees can access. Examples may include break rooms, time-clock areas, locker rooms, first-aid stations and employee communication boards.
During the review, inspect each physical posting and confirm that:
- The newest version is displayed
- Outdated copies have been removed
- The panel is readable
- Employees can access it during their normal workday
- The posting has not been covered by another notice
- Remote or mobile employees know how to access the information
- All worksites use the correct panel
A current panel stored only in an HR file is not the same as a panel that has been properly communicated and posted.
8. Review Employee Notices and Acknowledgments
Pennsylvania employers using a panel must provide employees with a clearly written notice explaining their rights and duties. The notice must be provided at the time of hire and again immediately after an injury, or as soon as practicable when emergency care is required.
Employers must also document the employee’s written acknowledgment that the notice was received and understood. If the employer cannot demonstrate proper notification, the employee may be relieved of the obligation to use panel providers. 34 Pa. Code § 127.755
The annual review should examine:
- New-hire acknowledgment procedures
- Post-injury acknowledgment procedures
- Storage of signed forms
- Responsibility for distributing the notice
- Procedures for employees who cannot immediately sign
- Translated or accessible materials when appropriate
- Notices issued when the panel changes
Have the workers’ compensation carrier, third-party administrator or legal counsel review the notice before making substantive changes.
9. Train Supervisors on What They Can and Cannot Say
Supervisors are often the first people involved after a workplace injury. They should know how to provide the panel without unintentionally directing medical treatment.
Supervisors may explain the panel process, but they should not tell an employee that they must see one particular physician or clinic. The employee has the right to choose among the listed providers and switch to another panel provider during the applicable period.
Training should also cover:
- When emergency services should be called
- How to report an injury
- Where to find the current panel
- How to provide the employee notice
- Who schedules non-emergency care
- Who contacts the insurance carrier
- How work-status documentation is handled
- Who may discuss restrictions with the employee
A compliant document can still fail in practice when supervisors do not understand how to use it.
10. Coordinate With Your Carrier or Claims Administrator
Employers should not manage panel changes in isolation. Include the workers’ compensation carrier, broker, claims administrator or third-party administrator in the annual review.
They may be able to identify:
- Required forms or wording
- Providers with performance concerns
- Common injury patterns
- Claim delays caused by the existing panel
- Missing specialties
- Network or billing changes
- Documentation problems
- State-specific requirements
Employers operating in more than one state should conduct a separate compliance review for each jurisdiction. Pennsylvania’s panel rules should not automatically be applied to employees working in Delaware, Maryland or another state.
Common Panel Review Mistakes
Avoid these common problems:
- Keeping a closed practice on the panel
- Listing providers who no longer accept workers’ compensation
- Using the same panel for geographically distant locations
- Failing to remove outdated postings
- Listing insufficient medical specialties
- Directing employees to one preferred provider
- Forgetting the post-injury notice and acknowledgment
- Assuming HR is following the process without verifying it
- Failing to notify employees after panel changes
- Reviewing the panel only after a claim is challenged
The best time to discover a problem is during a scheduled review, not while an injured employee is waiting for treatment.
Annual Provider Panel Review Checklist
At least once each year, employers should confirm that:
- The panel contains at least six eligible providers
- At least three listed providers are physicians
- Provider names, addresses, phone numbers and specialties are correct
- Required ownership or control relationships are disclosed
- Every provider continues to accept workers’ compensation patients
- Appropriate specialties are available
- Providers are geographically accessible
- Appointment and after-hours procedures are documented
- Posted copies are current and easy to find
- New-hire acknowledgments are consistently completed
- Post-injury acknowledgments are consistently completed
- Supervisors understand the panel process
- Outdated digital and printed copies have been removed
- The carrier or claims administrator has reviewed proposed changes
- The review date and responsible reviewer are documented
Build a Panel That Works Before an Injury Happens
An annual panel review is more than an administrative exercise. It is an opportunity to make sure employees can obtain appropriate care quickly, supervisors know what to do, and the employer has a reliable process for managing occupational injuries.
CNS Occupational Medicine works with employers to support work-injury treatment, functional recovery, employer communication and return-to-work planning. With occupational medicine clinics in Lititz and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, as well as Georgetown, Delaware, CNS helps employers develop a more responsive approach to workplace health.
Contact CNS Occupational Medicine to discuss your work-injury process, provider-panel needs or employer account setup.
This article is intended for general educational purposes and is not legal advice. Provider-panel and workers’ compensation requirements vary by state. Employers should consult their insurance carrier, claims administrator or legal counsel regarding their specific obligations.
