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Mary Parkes Center for Asthma, Allergy & Pulmonary Care

URMC / Mary Parkes Center / Clinical Programs and Services / Occupational and Environmental Lung Diseases Program

Occupational and Environmental Lung Diseases Program

Treating a patient with inhalational injury at their workplace requires both medical expertise and detailed knowledge of the unique State Workers’ Compensation documentation requirements, prior authorization process and follow-up requirements. We also manage environmental exposures (burn pit exposures during deployment, wildfire smoke or other exposures) that can lead to lung disease.

Meet our team of expert providers specializing in occupational and environmental lung diseases, including conditions such as occupational asthma and reactive airway dysfunction syndrome (RADS) at the URMC Mary Parkes Asthma Center. 

Patients can have full pulmonary function testing, including methacholine challenge testing completed on site. Chest X-ray facilities are located within the building. 

Our Team

Daniel Croft, M.D., M.P.H.
Daniel Croft, MD, MPH

Nadine Grove, N.P.
Nadine Grove, FNP-C

Dr. Croft’s and Nadine’s practice includes the evaluation and treatment of patients with workers’ compensation claims related to occupational lung disease. Both Dr. Croft and Nadine have benefitted from the expert mentorship of Dr. Mark Utell, who founded and directed the Division of Environmental and Occupational Medicine at URMC during his decades of medical practice treating patients with occupational and environmental lung disease.

Our team ensures communication between patient, clinic, legal team and worker’s compensation board. For patients with active worker’s compensation cases, we complete the prior authorization processes and to meet follow-up requirements to comply with the New York State Workers’ Compensation regulations.

What to Expect

After you connect with a legal team and establish a Workers’ Comp case,

  • Your case may be active/ongoing
  • Your case may be settled
  • Your case may be processed in NYS or another state

Scheduling

When scheduling your Workers’ Compensation visit here with us, please let us know it is Workers’ Compensation related for billing purposes. 

When scheduling an initial visit for your inhalational injury to be evaluated (prior to your worker’s compensation claim being approved), you will likely have a copayment due as your private insurance, or Medicare/Medicaid will be billed for this visit. 

Your Visit

We offer visits in the office and via telehealth. By current worker’s compensation board guidelines the initial visit and every third visit must in person. The following information will be needed by the first visit here to process your Workers’ Compensation claim:

  • NY State Workers’ compensation board case number (if case is active)
  • Last 4 digits of your social security number (SSN)
  • Name of your lawyer/firm/case worker/WC Insurance carrier
  • Brief summary of your injury, % of your disability from prior providers. 

Your initial visit will be with Daniel Croft, MD MPH  (60 min visit). Follow-up visits will be either with Daniel Croft, MD or Nadine Grove, FNP-C, (30 min visits). In some circumstances, you may have established care at MPAC with a different provider and your WC medications/DME can be processed by our WC team.

After your workers’ compensation claim has been approved (and your case is active), you will not have a co-payment due at visits. If you settled your case with the workers’ compensation board (with no ongoing medical coverage), your co-payments will resume.

Follow-up visits are required by the Workers’ Compensation Board every 90 days in order to receive the benefits (medication coverage, etc.). A lapse in follow-up visits may lead to loss of WC coverage or a need for an additional court hearing. 

Most medications, medical equipment and testing require prior authorization approval via Workers’ Compensation Portal. Our expert team will provide guidance through this process.  

Patient Education and Support

General Occupational and Environmental Medicine

Smoking Cessation