Settlement Funding for Healthcare Workers

Hospitals may be a place of recovery for many, but for the dedicated staff of workers, hospitals can prove to be hazardous environments. According to a report by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, there were 253,700 work-related injuries and illnesses reported in hospitals in 2011. That means that for every 100 full-time hospital employees in the United States, about 7 work-related injuries or illnesses have occurred. This rate of injury and illness exceeds even the construction and manufacturing industry, which are often thought to be more dangerous. Make no mistake, if you work in a hospital or in any field of patient care, it’s important to know your worker’s compensation rights.

There are many hazards hospital workers of all kinds face, from the lifting and transporting of heavy machinery and patients (which accounts for nearly half of all hospital injuries, according to the OSHA), to the frequent exposure of contagious patients and blood borne pathogens, to the risks that come with interacting with mentally unstable and potentially violent patients. These risks are ever present not only or hospital employees, but for anyone in patient care, including home medical aids, nursing home employees, rehabilitation center employees, and more.

As nearly all states will enforce, employers, including hospitals, nursing homes, and caregiver agencies, are required by law to provide caregivers with workers compensation, and may face fines, criminal prosecution, and other forms of legal blow-back. This coverage is for nearly all full-time employees in the healthcare industry, and if you’ve been injured on the job, it’s important that you file a claim to receive due compensation.

(A number of states do not require coverage for domestic workers, including housekeepers and nannies, as well as seasonal or undocumented workers. Please refer to this database here to find out if your state provides the coverage you need).

Once you’ve established your rights to workers compensation and have filed your claim, however, you may be in it for the long run before you receive the due compensation you need. Insurance agencies and legal firms can take many months, even exceeding a year’s time, to fully process your claim, and in that time you may be losing money to lost hours and soaring medical bills. If you are waiting for your worker’s compensation claim to be settled and need cash now to keep like moving, Bridgeway Legal Funding may be able to help.

Bridgeway Legal Funding can provide injured healthcare and patient care employees with a pre-settlement advance while your worker’s comp claim is being worked out. Also known as a pre-settlement loan or pre-settlement funding, an advance from Bridgeway gives you cash from your estimated settlement now. And unlike a traditional loan, there are no credit checks, monthly payments, or liability to pay back the loan unless you receive a workers' compensation settlement.

Here’s how it all works: If you’ve been injured in your healthcare or caregiving position and are awaiting a workers comp settlement, call Bridgeway at (800) 531-4066 or send us an email requesting an advance. Shortly after, a Bridgeway underwriter will be in touch to have a brief conversation regarding the details of the accident and your injuries, as well as request all of the necessary legal documentation related to the accident. From here, it can take as little as 24-48 hours for Bridgeway to provide you with a cash advance. This will typically be about 10-15% of the value of your settlement, so if your settlement has a value of $100,000, we can get you an advance valued at $10,000 within a day or two. That’s money you do not need to pay back unless you win your case!

Bridgeway can provide pre-settlement funding for workers compensation claims in the following states:

  • Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Rhode Island, Utah, Washington, West Virginia & Wyoming.

If you’ve been injured and are from any of the above states, Bridgeway can help get you the cash you need to help get your life back on track. The money you receive from your pre-settlement advance is yours to use as you wish, and can go towards paying medical bills, legal bills, heating and electric bills, groceries, college or day care payments, gas payments, even something fun! We at Bridgeway want you to feel supported during the difficult time of waiting for a workers comp claim to settle, and if we can make the experience easier for you, we know we’ve done our job.

We wish that all of our countries nurses, orderlies, patient attendants, and medical caregivers may have a safe experience at work. For more information on safe patient handling, click here

 For information on how to whether or not your employer covers workers compensation, or how to file a workers compensation claim, click here