Can I Choose My Own Doctor for Workers’ Comp in Missouri?

The short answer is no: not if you want workers’ compensation to pay for it.

Under Missouri law, your employer (in practice, its insurance company) has the right to select your treating physician. You can go to any doctor you want, but the statute is explicit that you do so at your own expense.

That’s the rule. What most articles on this topic leave out is that there are narrow, real situations where choosing your own doctor is the better strategic move, and one of them comes up constantly in car accident cases. Those situations are also where people get hurt financially if they act without advice.

Here’s the full picture.

What the statute says

RSMo § 287.140.1 requires your employer to provide the medical treatment reasonably required to cure and relieve the effects of your injury. The same subsection then provides that if the employee desires, he has the right to select his own physician at his own expense.

The logic is that the party paying for treatment gets to choose the provider. Whether you find that persuasive is another matter — but it’s the law.

One important nuance: the employer picks who treats you. The authorized physician then directs your care using independent medical judgment. The adjuster isn’t supposed to be making treatment decisions. Also worth knowing, the right to select belongs to the employer, not the insurer. The employer usually delegates it, but if the two disagree, the employer’s choice controls.

Why your health insurance usually won’t fill the gap

People often assume they’ll just use their own insurance and sort it out later. Usually they can’t.

Most private health plans exclude work-related injuries. That’s the standard exclusion, on the theory that comp covers it. So if you treat on your own and your claim is contested, you may find neither carrier paying.

And § 287.140.13 works in your favor on the authorized side. That subsection prevents a hospital, physician, or other provider from billing or attempting to collect from you for health care services in a workers’ compensation case, where the provider has received actual written notice from the employee, employer, or insurer, as long as the provider wasn’t one you selected at your own expense.

Read that last clause carefully. The billing protection applies to authorized treatment. Step outside, and you step outside the protection too.

What you can actually do if you don’t trust the company doctor

You have more options than “accept it” or “pay for everything yourself.”

Request a change in writing

Send a written request to the employer and the insurer explaining specifically why a change is warranted, not “I don’t like him,” but the concrete problems: no diagnostic imaging ordered despite persistent symptoms, no referral to a specialist, being returned to full duty while unable to perform the job, treatment that isn’t addressing the documented injury. Keep a copy. A denied written request is itself useful evidence later.

Get an independent medical evaluation

You can hire your own physician for a one-time evaluation and rating. This does not make that doctor your treating physician, and it does not disrupt authorized care. It gives you a competing medical opinion, which is often exactly what’s needed, because the authorized physician’s report frequently isn’t written in the language Missouri’s causation standard requires.

An IME is usually the single highest-value step in a disputed claim. Costs are typically manageable and are often handled as part of the case rather than out of pocket.

Communicate directly with your treating physician

§ 287.140 imposes an affirmative duty on the provider, authorized or not, to communicate fully with you about the nature of your injury and the recommended treatment. If you’re not getting straight answers, that duty exists.

The exceptions: when choosing your own doctor may be the better move

Here is where general advice on this topic falls short. There are situations where an experienced attorney may advise you to treat outside the workers’ compensation system on purpose, because it produces a better overall result.

These are strategy decisions, not workarounds. Made without careful analysis of the law and your specific facts, they can go very wrong. Read this section as a reason to get advice, not as instructions.

Scenario one: you were driving for work, and someone else caused the crash

This is the most common and most valuable exception, and most injured workers have no idea it exists.

If you were injured in a motor vehicle collision while working making deliveries, driving between job sites, running an errand for your employer, and another driver was at fault, you may have two separate claims: a workers’ compensation claim against your employer, and a third-party liability claim against the at-fault driver.

Those two claims pay very differently. Workers’ comp caps your wage benefit and pays nothing for pain and suffering. A third-party claim isn’t subject to those limits.

That changes the medical calculus. Treatment can potentially be paid through the third-party auto claim rather than routed through employer-selected comp physicians. Depending on the facts, that may mean better continuity of care, a treating physician you actually chose, and a medical record built without the constraints of the comp system.

It may also not be the right call. Coordinating two claims raises real complications: the employer’s subrogation lien against your third-party recovery, how medical expenses get paid in the interim, liability coverage limits, whether fault is genuinely clear, and how the timing of each claim affects the other. Get this wrong, and you can end up with unpaid bills, a lien that consumes your recovery, or a damaged comp claim.

But it’s a live question worth asking in every case where you were hurt driving for work and someone else was at fault.

Scenario two: the employer has denied the claim or refused treatment

If the employer or insurer denies your claim outright, or refuses to authorize needed treatment, the situation changes. Where an employer refuses to provide treatment for a work-related injury and you obtain it on your own, reimbursement for reasonable and necessary treatment may be available if the claim is ultimately found compensable.

Do not treat that as a green light. The risk is real and it is large. You would be taking on treatment costs, potentially tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars for surgery and rehabilitation, on the expectation that you will win later. If the claim is ultimately found non-compensable, those bills are yours. Your health insurer may decline on the work-injury exclusion. You may have no coverage from either direction.

Before anyone takes that path, several questions need real answers: How strong is the compensability evidence? Is the denial a full denial or a dispute over one part of the treatment? What will the treatment actually cost? Is there any other coverage, health insurance, med-pay, a third-party carrier? What’s the realistic timeline to a decision?

This is precisely the kind of decision that needs solid advice first. Getting it wrong doesn’t just weaken a claim — it can leave you personally responsible for bills you can’t pay.

What not to do

Don’t quietly stop going to authorized appointments. Missouri law addresses the effect of refusing treatment, and non-attendance also gives the insurer an argument that you recovered or weren’t hurt. If you have a problem with the provider, raise it in writing rather than disappearing.

Don’t assume “the doctor released me” ends the claim. A release to full duty is a medical opinion. It’s evidence, not a verdict, and it can be met with a competing opinion.

Don’t treat on your own without understanding who pays. This is the whole point of the section above. The exceptions exist, but they turn on facts specific to your case.

Don’t minimize symptoms at appointments. “I’m doing okay” gets recorded and quoted back. Describe what you actually can’t do.

The practical takeaway

For most Missouri workers’ compensation claims, the answer really is: your employer picks the doctor, and your leverage comes from written requests, documentation, and a competing medical opinion, not from walking away and treating on your own.

But “most” isn’t “all.” If you were driving for work when someone else hit you, or your claim has been flatly denied, the analysis changes, and it changes in ways that can be worth a great deal of money. Those decisions are also the ones where acting without advice does the most damage.

If you’re unhappy with your authorized care, or you’re weighing whether to treat outside the system, it’s worth a conversation before you commit, especially before you incur bills.

Jett Legal represents injured workers throughout the St. Louis metro area and eastern Missouri. Matt Jett handles Missouri workers’ compensation claims from initial filing through hearing and appeal, including cases with parallel third-party claims. Consultations are free.

We serve injured workers in: Fenton · Clayton · Kirkwood · Brentwood · Manchester · Webster Groves · Sunset Hills · Shrewsbury · Bridgeton · Earth City · Maryland Heights · All areas served

This article is provided for general informational purposes and is not legal advice. The strategic options discussed above carry significant financial risk and depend entirely on the facts of an individual claim. Nothing here should be acted on without advice from a licensed Missouri attorney about your specific situation.