Know Before You Go to Concentra Urgent Care – Call Us

If you sustained an injury at your work and your employer has referred you to a Concentra medical center, don’t go to this clinic. Contact a workers’ compensation attorney to learn about your rights as an injured worker.

Going to occupational health clinics like Concentra Urgent Care is a mistake and can cause serious problems for your health, job security, and financial situation. At Armstrong Lee & Baker LLP, we won’t let these clinics or your employer take advantage of you. Our seasoned Houston personal injury attorneys will advise you of your rights and the proper steps to take regarding your medical treatment and filing your workers’ compensation claim. To get started, please contact us right away.

What Is Concentra Urgent Care?

Concentra Urgent Care is a medical center that focuses on occupational health services. It offers many services, including the following:

• Occupational medicine,
• Urgent care,
• Physical therapy,
• Drug screening, and
• Physical exams.

Concentra has many locations throughout Texas, including Concentra locations in Houston, Texas. Telemedicine services are also available for injured workers.

Concentra has a significant foothold in the occupational health services market, treating 20 percent of workplace injuries in the United States and seeing over 60,000 patients per day. Concentra has partnered with almost a quarter of a million employers, including 85% of Fortune 500 companies.

The problem with your employer sending you to Concentra Urgent Care or other occupational health clinics is that these clinics aim to please your employer and the insurance companies. This perspective can lead to low-quality treatment for your workplace injuries and negatively affect your workers’ compensation claim.

How Does Concentra Work?

Concentra Medical Center provides various medical services that cater to employees and employers, offering urgent care, physical exams, drug testing, and telemedicine. While these services are designed to facilitate workplace health and safety, their role in workers’ compensation and personal injury cases cannot be overlooked. Understanding how Concentra operates and how its medical evaluations can influence your claim is crucial if you have suffered an injury.

• Urgent Care: Concentra centers provide immediate treatment for non-life-threatening injuries and illnesses. Most visits do not require an appointment, allowing injured workers to receive care quickly. The clinic accepts most insurance plans and offers self-pay options for those without coverage.
• Physical Exams: Concentra conducts various physical exams, including pre-employment screenings known as Human Performance Evaluations (HPEs). These assessments involve reviewing medical history, performing medical exams, and evaluating functional tasks to determine a worker’s physical capabilities. The clinic also offers post-injury exams to assess whether an employee can return to work.
• Drug Testing: Concentra provides drug testing services for non-regulated employment, using FDA-approved technology to deliver accurate and secure results. Their testing options include pre-employment, random, post-accident, reasonable suspicion, and recent-use oral saliva drug testing.
• Telemedicine: Concentra Telemed is a virtual healthcare platform that connects injured employees with clinicians via videoconferencing. This service allows clinicians to diagnose conditions, recommend treatments, and prescribe medication, making medical care more accessible for injured workers.

Urgent Care

Most medical issues do not require a visit to the emergency room. Emergency care should be reserved for life-threatening situations where immediate treatment is necessary. If your condition is urgent but not an emergency and you cannot see your primary doctor, an urgent care clinic can be a practical alternative. Urgent care facilities, including Concentra Medical Center, offer extended hours during nights and weekends, making them a convenient option for non-emergency medical needs.

Visiting an urgent care clinic can provide relief when your medical needs are pressing but not life-threatening.

Comprehensive Care

Concentra treats common conditions and workplace injuries, providing quick care without long emergency room waits. However, how an injury is documented can influence the outcome of a workers’ compensation or personal injury claim, potentially affecting benefits and medical coverage.

Accessibility

Appointments are typically unnecessary, allowing for greater flexibility and convenience for visitors. Most visits are handled efficiently, ensuring your time is valued and the process is smooth, quick, stress-free, and reliable. Visitors can drop by at their convenience, avoiding the hassle of scheduling ahead while still receiving prompt and professional assistance.

Flexible Payment Options

They accept most insurance plans and offer self-pay alternatives for those paying out of pocket, ensuring accessibility for everyone. Flexible payment options and affordable rates make their services convenient for many patients.

Physical Exams

Physical exams are foundational to workforce health and safety. Providers conduct a comprehensive health evaluation during a physical or annual wellness exam. Each exam is personalized based on the patient’s age, unique health concerns, and medical history. However, if you were injured on the job and required a physical exam at Concentra, the results of this exam could significantly impact your ability to receive compensation.

Pre-Employment Exams (Human Performance Evaluations)

These include in-depth medical reviews, medical history evaluations, and physical tasks to assess candidates’ suitability for physically demanding roles. These evaluations help employers determine whether candidates can meet job-specific physical requirements, ensuring workplace safety and efficiency. However, their results can influence employment decisions and sometimes impact workers’ compensation eligibility. Understanding how these assessments are used is critical for protecting employee rights.

Post-Injury Exams

Concentra evaluates injured workers to determine if they are ready to return to their jobs. These exams assess physical recovery and ensure employees meet workplace safety standards. However, there have been instances where workers were cleared too soon, leading to worsened injuries and prolonged recovery times.

Concentra Medical Center follows industry standards when conducting post-injury exams to maintain accuracy. However, reports from employer-preferred clinics may not always reflect the full extent of an injury. An independent medical evaluation can provide a more precise assessment of recovery status and prevent potential complications.

Drug Testing

Maintaining a drug-free workplace is imperative for productivity and safety. Concentra provides robust drug testing services tailored to varying employment needs, helping employers enforce compliance while ensuring a safe work environment. However, drug tests are sometimes used to discredit legitimate injury claims.

• Comprehensive Options: Services include pre-employment, random, post-accident, and reasonable suspicion testing, return-to-duty, follow-up testing, and extensive drug and alcohol screening programs for workplace safety and compliance.
• FDA-Approved Technology: Tests are conducted using advanced technology to deliver secure, fast, and reliable results, ensuring accuracy, efficiency, and peace of mind for all users involved.
• Saliva Drug Testing: Providing results for recent use cases, ensuring effective monitoring post-incident or for new hires, offering reliable insights, improved decision-making, and enhanced security measures across various organizational processes.

With its transparent, secure reporting systems, Concentra Medical Center ensures employers can access and evaluate results confidently, contributing to the building of healthier, safer workplace environments.

Telemedicine

Concentra Telemed presents a modern healthcare option for remotely addressing injuries and non-life-threatening concerns. While this service increases accessibility, virtual consultations may lack the thoroughness needed to document work-related injuries accurately. If you received a diagnosis via telemedicine that is now being used to deny or minimize your claim, legal action may be required.

Video Consultations

Employees meet virtually with clinicians who can diagnose, treat, and prescribe necessary medications. However, insurance companies may argue that virtual diagnoses are insufficient to justify a claim, making obtaining a second medical opinion critical when necessary.

Convenience

Instant access to professional healthcare enables employees to get care from the comfort of their homes or workplaces, reducing wait times and eliminating the need for travel. This can be especially beneficial for those with mobility limitations or demanding work schedules, ensuring they receive prompt medical attention without disruption.

However, convenience should not come at the cost of a proper diagnosis. When telemedicine is used as the sole basis for assessing an injury, it may lack the thoroughness needed for an accurate diagnosis.

Telemedicine is particularly impactful for businesses with remote workers or those in areas where physical access to medical facilities may be limited.

Why Can Occupational Health Clinics Cause Problems for Injured Employees?

Occupational clinics like Concentra can cause problems for injured employees because these clinics have dual obligations. On one hand, they must keep the companies who hired them (the employer of the injured persons) happy. They do this by diagnosing the injured employees with the mildest injury they can and then recommending that the employee return to work immediately. 

On the other hand, as medical professionals, the clinics have a duty to their patients (the injured employees). This means they must focus on their patient’s injuries and give them all the time they need to heal.

Unfortunately, the former obligation usually dominates the agenda of occupational health clinics. The following are examples of how occupational health clinics take advantage of their patients.

Strategy 1: Recommending the Employee Return to Work Immediately

One strategy these occupational clinics will utilize is recommending employees return to work immediately. If an employee cannot return to work after an injury then the employer will incur costs from the following:

• Diverting resources to make up for the injured employee’s absence;
• Hiring a new employee to perform the duties of the injured employee; 
• Paying the injured employee’s medical expenses if the employer subscribes to workers’ compensation or is a nonsubscriber with a private insurance policy; and
• Incurring higher insurance costs because of the injured employee.

The occupational clinics know the employer does not want these additional costs. Therefore, these clinics will treat the injured employees in a way that keeps the employers’ costs down. 

But this harms you, the injured employee. You may be too injured to return to work. And performing your duties may exacerbate the injuries you have.

Strategy 2: Providing Incomplete Treatment

Clinics also are notorious for not treating all of your injuries. For example, suppose boxes fell from a scaffold and hit an employee. The injured employee suffered a mild neck injury and was sent to the clinic. The doctor at the clinic treated the neck injury and cleared the employee for work the next day.

However, if the clinic had done more tests, they would have found that the employee also suffered a severe wrist injury. However, the clinic wanted to treat the least amount of injuries. If the employee tries to go back to the occupational clinic, the clinic would turn the employee away, saying the case was closed.

Strategy 3: Refusing the Employee a Visit by the Doctor

Many times at an occupational clinic, injured employees do not see a doctor. Rather, they see a nurse or a physician’s assistant. This is problematic because the nurse and physician’s assistant do not have the same experience and knowledge as a doctor to diagnose and treat injuries.

Do You Need to File a Medical Malpractice Claim?

Occupational clinics walk a fine line because they do face a serious conflict of interest. Many of their tactics may rise to the level of medical malpractice. But some of their tactics, although still unethical, might not.

In addition to workers’ compensation and nonsubscriber work injuries, the attorneys at Armstrong Lee & Baker, LLP practice medical malpractice law. We can review your case and determine if the facts constitute medical malpractice.

Speak to an Experienced Attorney About Your Work Injury

You have the right to choose your own doctor under your employer’s health insurance plan. At your own expense, you can even choose a doctor outside of your employer’s plan. So don’t listen when your employer tries to force you to see the doctor at an occupational health clinic like Concentra. Our attorneys have recovered millions for our clients. You’re not just a file in our records. We care about you and fighting for justice. Before you go to a Concentra clinic in Houston, TX contact the law office of Armstrong Lee & Baker LLP. We can help make sure no one violates your rights.

Scott Armstrong

Scott Armstrong obtains remarkable results for his clients. He has successfully tried numerous cases to favorable verdicts and reached significant settlements on his clients’ behalf, recovering millions for them. Our lawyers have 25+ years of combined experience.

Scott is known for his aggressive approach to every case. He has been recognized as a Rising Star by Super Lawyers, an accolade awarded to only 2.5% of attorneys under forty and practicing for less than ten years. Houstonia Magazine, H-Texas Magazine, and others have recognized Scott as a “top lawyer” in Houston.

Get in touch with Scott Armstrong now.