Off Work Orders

[HopingFM]

Hi all,

I was hoping to pick the brains of some our more experienced physicians. My residency didn't really go over this and I can't seem to find any good guidelines or anything regarding giving a patient an Off Work Order e.g. chronic pain patient undergoing conservative measures to control pain.
- how much time do (can you) give?
- I admit I've become a little jaded and have a hard time discerning the one's being honest, and the others not.
- how do I discern that they no longer need it? Many come in from physical labor fields, such as carpentry, truck drivers, mechanics, construction work. They all talk to eachother it seems and advise eachother to come in for this.
- I've had patients come in requesting specific dates e.g. I need a OWO until May 7th (which to me is weird and a red flag since, well, why would you know the exact date your chronic pain would go away (which most won't go away 100% anyways)).

Any insight or advice to the approach to this is much appreciated. Have a good week.

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[deleted87716]

If you give them more than a few days off, you'll end up getting FMLA forms to fill out, followed by disability forms.

In short, it's a scam.

I don't give anyone more than 7 days off for anything, and if I give them that much, they have a follow up appointment scheduled at that time to reassess.

If they're not back to work after a couple of weeks, they're off to PT.

 

[HopingFM]

Thanks very much for the insight!

 

[cabinbuilder]

I work urgent care. I give a max of 2 days off depending on the complaint and how sick they look. I give 5 days off for flu. 3-5 days for the mom with the kid with hand foot mouth, etc.