WSIB denies funding slashed for injured workers

The province’s workers’ compensation board has rejected allegations that it slashed funding to health-care services and drug benefits to victims of workplace accidents, arguing the board provides fast and specialized care to injured workers.
In a four-page letter to injured worker advocates, Workplace Safety and Insurance Board president Tom Teahen added that he was “committed to listening” and was looking “carefully” at a series of complaints raised by doctors, legal clinics and labour groups — including that injured workers are increasingly unable to get the treatment their doctors recommend.
As recently reported by the Star, more than 140 advocates wrote to the board in June outlining concerns about what they called a dramatic drop in funding, including a 30 per cent drop in drug benefits spending and a 40 per cent drop in money for health-care services. Teahen called those figures, obtained from the WSIB by the Industrial Accident Victims Group through a freedom of information request, inaccurate.
“I acknowledge that from time to time, questions about the efficacy of our policies may arise. This is why I believe it’s important to be clear on the facts,” he said.
Teahen, who took over as board president and CEO earlier this year, attributed reduced drug expenditure to the declining cost of pharmaceuticals and because the WSIB is a “leader” in reducing the “inappropriate use of harmful and highly addictive” narcotics.
Teahen also said overall spending on health-care services had not dropped, but shifted to “evidence-based Programs of Care.”
Critics have criticized the board for its use of medical consultants hired by the WSIB to review injured workers claims, rather than relying on the advice of the workers’ own physicians. As previously reported by the Star, a Hamilton-area doctor is currently suing the board and one of its private health-services contractors, claiming she was terminated after delivering a medical opinion that did not suit the WSIB.
Earlier this year, the board launched an internal review of its use of medical consultants to ensure their “appropriate and consistent use” by staff, according to documents recently obtained by the Star.
Injured worker advocates also claim the board’s shift toward contracting specialty clinics is harming injured workers by often pushing them back on the job too soon and setting unrealistic recovery dates. Workers’ benefits are frequently cut off according to those recovery timelines, without the board ever following up with the worker or their doctor about their health, critics say.
In his letter, Teahen said medical consultants were only hired by the board to review workers files in about 2 per cent of cases, and that consultants provided “clarification and input” to ensure fair decision making. Specialty clinics “provide faster access to specialized care for injured workers,” he added.
“These expedited assessments and treatments are provided by health professionals recognized as experts in their fields,” the letter says.
“I would conclude by saying I recognize that no two cases are the same. There may be individual instances where we can do a better job working with the injured worker and their immediate health-care provider,” Teahen concludes in his letter.
“We want people to have positive experiences with the WSIB.”