One-Time Change of Physician

Why this right exists

In Florida workers’ compensation, you do not pick your doctor. The employer and its insurance carrier select your authorized treating physician, and they generally do not pay for treatment from anyone else.

That arrangement has an obvious problem, and the legislature’s one time change is its narrow answer. Once per accident, you can require the carrier to move you off the doctor it chose.

How to exercise it

Put it in writing. The statute requires a written request. A phone call to the adjuster does not start the clock. Send it by a method that proves the date of receipt — email with a confirmed reply, the carrier’s claim portal, or certified mail.

Say what you are asking for. The request should identify the statute and the physician you want changed. Something as simple as: “I request my one time change of physician under section 440.13(2)(f) for the authorized physician treating my work injury from [date]. Please provide the name of the alternate physician.”

Keep the proof. The receipt date is the fact the entire deadline turns on.

The five-day rule

After receiving your written request, the carrier has five days to authorize an alternative physician. Count calendar days.

The replacement doctor may not be professionally affiliated with the previous one — the carrier cannot move you to a partner in the same practice. Once the change is granted, the carrier deauthorizes the originally authorized physician in that specialty with written notice.

If the carrier responds in time, it picks the new doctor. If it does not, you pick, and your chosen physician is treated as authorized for compensable and medically necessary care.

Florida’s First District Court of Appeal has read this deadline strictly. Authorizing a doctor internally is not enough—the carrier must communicate the alternate physician to the injured worker or their attorney within five days. Notifying the new doctor while leaving the worker uninformed has been held insufficient.

Where this goes wrong

• Using it too early. Requesting a change at the walk-in clinic stage burns the right before you reach the specialist who will actually determine your impairment rating and MMI date. Timing is strategic, and it is a one-time right for the life of the claim.
• Verbal requests. A conversation with the adjuster does not trigger the statute. Nothing starts until it is in writing.
• No proof of receipt. If you cannot establish when the carrier received the request, you cannot establish that it was late.
• Accepting a slow appointment. Naming a replacement doctor within five days but not providing an appointment for months has been successfully challenged. The benefit is treatment, not a name on a letter.
• An affiliated replacement. A “new” doctor in the same practice group does not satisfy the statute.

What this means for your claim

The one time change is the only reliable opportunity most injured workers have to see a physician the insurance company did not choose. Use it deliberately rather than reactively.

Save it for the point where the medical opinion actually matters — typically the specialist who will assign your impairment rating and set your MMI date, not the initial clinic. And send the request in writing, dated, with proof of delivery, because the carrier’s five day clock is the entire leverage the statute gives you.