5 Reasons to See a Pain Specialist After an Accident
Most doctors you will see in a hospital directly after your accident are not equipped to deal with the lasting pain after it. Really you should see a pain specialist once you are able to, but sometimes it can be a little overwhelming trying to determine which one will be best for you.
Who Should You See After an Accident?
You can try your primary care provider, but likely after phoning them they won’t see you. Most if not all primary care doctors are not set up to bill car insurance companies instead of the usual health insurance. Really the best option would be to try to find a specialist in auto injuries since they specialize in treating these kinds of injuries.
Why Should I See a Pain Specialist?
First of all your primary care provider is not equipped to handle these kinds of injuries, and if they do see you for this kind of injury you’ll likely have to pay them out of pocket. Most of them don’t even want to be involved with auto injury cases and claims, as it’ll take away time from their other practices.
Unlike primary care providers, auto injury specialists are acutally able to bill car insurance companies directly, they can deal with insurance company claims, and can do most of the process for you.
Also being an auto injury specialist, they know exactly how to evaluate and treat injuries from auto accidents.
Most auto injury specialists also specialize in pain management, orthopedic injury, and neurosurgery, so they can find ways to best treat your injuries and help reduce pain. This also means that you’ll only have to see one specialist for all your needs.
Finally most patients will recieve a personal case manager who will monitor their recovery program and handle records, requests, and settlement resolutions for them so patients don’t have to go through all the legal troubles alone.
When Should You See Them?
You should absolutely see an auto injury specialist as soon as you possibly can, because if you don’t you could be facing more bills. States with PIP or Personal Injury Protection require that you see a doctor within 14 days in order for PIP to be paid. Even if you aren’t currently having any problems, problems could arise in the future, so it would be in your best interest to see a doctor before PIP is up.