In our case, a preferred provider agreement is a mutual agreement between an employer or business owner and AusRehab.
In any workers compensation claim, the injured worker is entitled to choose their workplace rehabilitation provider.
However, from an employer's point of view, this can mean dealing with a large number of work rehab providers. If there were 20 open workers comp cases and each was managed by a different provider, that would amount to 20 separate work rehab providers to communicate with. Nominating a single work rehab provider would thus streamline the process and reduce the amount of coordination needed for every case.
Is it a contract?
No, a preferred provider agreement is not a legal document. It is a non-binding agreement that simply states that AusRehab is your company's preferred work rehab provider.
Is it a service level agreement (SLA)?
Yes. Signing the preferred provider agreement, which is an SLA, allows us to inform the insurer that all workers comp claims are to be liaised through us as your preferred provider.
How does a preferred provider agreement work?
Once you receive our preferred provider agreement, return a signed copy to us.
We will then forward the signed agreement to your insurer. As your nominated workplace rehab provider, we will manage all future workers comp claims from your organisation.
Alert our team as soon as a workers comp claim is lodged. We will be able to process the case much quicker than if the injured worker were to search for their own provider, or rely on other people's recommendations.