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A complete guide · OWCP / FECA

Federal workers’ comp can bring your care home, without making you manage the claim.

If you are a federal or postal employee with an accepted OWCP injury or illness, and your physician orders home health, your care is covered at no cost to you. This guide explains how the home-health side works, where the authorizations go wrong, and what we take off your hands.

See what OWCP covers at home

This guide is for people with an accepted OWCP claim. Injured at work but your claim is not established yet? That is a different path →

What OWCP covers at home.

If your claim is accepted and your physician orders it, your care can come home.

For the injury or illness accepted under your claim, OWCP can cover skilled care in your own home, at no cost to you:

  • Skilled nursing: assessment, wound care, medication management, and disease management.
  • Physical therapy: strength, mobility, and balance, toward your own recovery goals.
  • Occupational therapy: returning to daily activities and, where it applies, toward work.
  • Home health aide services: personal care under nursing supervision.
  • Medical social work: connecting you to resources and coordinating the people involved in your claim.

Tied to your accepted injury, your benefits can also include durable medical equipment, medically necessary home-safety modifications, and travel reimbursement for covered care.

One point worth stating outright: home health under OWCP is not only for right after a hospital stay. When your physician orders it and OWCP authorizes it, it is covered on an ongoing basis for as long as it is medically necessary.

How authorization works, and where home care usually breaks.

OWCP pays for care only when three things line up: it is for your accepted injury, it is ordered by your treating physician, and it is authorized by OWCP. The documentation has to match the accepted diagnosis and meet FECA standards. That is the whole game, and it is where care most often stalls.

  1. Your treating physician documents the need and writes the order, tied to your accepted injury.
  2. The request goes to OWCP with FECA-compliant documentation and the accepted diagnosis, for the specific services and frequency.
  3. OWCP authorizes the services. Care begins, billed to OWCP, at no cost to you.
  4. Before the authorization period ends, it is renewed with updated documentation, so care does not stop. How hours are set and renewed →
Where it breaksAuthorizations stall when paperwork is submitted incorrectly, when a physician is unfamiliar with FECA documentation, or when an authorization is allowed to lapse and a visit gets cancelled before anyone notices. An agency that does not actually know OWCP can interrupt your care without realizing it. Knowing this system cold is the difference, and it is the part we own.

Who is who in your claim.

You have probably met all of these people already. Here is how they fit together, so the names stop being a source of confusion.

Claims ExaminerThe OWCP official who manages your claim and approves authorizations. Decisions about what is covered run through them.
Nurse Case ManagerA nurse OWCP may assign to help coordinate your care. They are kept informed at the right milestones. That coordination is ours to manage, not yours.
Treating physicianOrders your care and owns every clinical decision. Their documentation has to meet FECA standards for OWCP to authorize the services.
Where Alara fitsWe coordinate all of the above (the physician, the Claims Examiner, and the Nurse Case Manager), provide the covered care, and own the authorizations so nothing about your care depends on you chasing paperwork.

What you should never have to do.

You have already been the coordinator long enough. None of the following should be your job, and with the right agency it is not.

  • Chase an authorization, or find out it lapsed only when a visit gets cancelled.
  • Move paperwork back and forth between your physician and OWCP.
  • Explain your claim from the beginning to every new person.
  • Keep your Nurse Case Manager and Claims Examiner updated yourself.
What Alara ownsWe verify your claim and authorizations, coordinate your physician and Nurse Case Manager, draft the renewal documentation from recorded visit data so it stands up to FECA review, track every authorization and renew it before it lapses, and keep you informed at each step. The goal: you focus on recovery, not on managing a federal claim.

Injured at work, but your claim is not established yet? That is a different path.

Everything above assumes you already have an accepted OWCP claim. Getting one accepted is a separate, longer process, and it comes first. Home health can be authorized only after the injury is accepted.

In broad terms, a federal or postal worker files a claim with OWCP through their employer: a Form CA-1 for a traumatic injury, or a Form CA-2 for an occupational disease. Once OWCP accepts the claim and a physician orders care, the home-health coverage in this guide applies.

We do not establish or adjudicate claims, but we will tell you honestly where your claim stands and point you toward the right resources to get the claim moving.

What we do, and what we do not.

Being clear about the line is part of being the expert. Everything short of the claim itself is ours to handle.

Alara does

  • Provide the home health care your claim covers
  • Verify the claim and own the authorizations and renewals
  • Coordinate your physician, Nurse Case Manager, and Claims Examiner
  • Keep you informed, so nothing depends on you chasing paperwork

Alara does not

  • Establish or adjudicate your OWCP claim
  • Determine your benefits (that is OWCP’s role)
  • Direct your physician’s clinical decisions
  • Act as your attorney or representative

Common questions.

Does OWCP cover home health care?

Yes. When your injury or illness is accepted, your physician orders home health, and OWCP authorizes it, covered services include skilled nursing, physical and occupational therapy, home health aide services, and medical social work, at no cost to you.

Do I pay anything for OWCP home health?

No. Authorized care for your accepted injury has no cost to you. OWCP pays your provider directly.

Why do authorizations get delayed?

Usually because the documentation does not meet FECA standards or does not match the accepted diagnosis, or because an agency unfamiliar with OWCP submits the request incorrectly. Knowing the system prevents most delays.

What is a Nurse Case Manager?

A nurse OWCP may assign to help coordinate your care. They are kept informed at appropriate milestones. Managing that communication is the agency’s job, not yours.

Can home health continue long-term?

Yes, when it remains medically necessary and is re-authorized. Authorizations are renewed before they lapse so your care does not stop.

What if I am trying to return to work?

Care can support functional recovery and a safe return to work where it applies, with any work restrictions respected as part of the plan of care.

Reviewed by Alara’s Director of Nursing, RN. Sources: U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP), Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA), dol.gov/agencies/owcp/FECA. General information, not a determination of your eligibility or coverage. Your accepted claim, your physician, and OWCP determine what applies.