NWCDN Members regularly post articles and summary judgements in workers’ compensations law in your state.
Select a state from the dropdown menu below to scroll through the state specific archives for updates and opinions on various workers’ compensation laws in your state.
Contact information for NWCDN members is also located on the state specific links in the event you have additional questions or your company is seeking a workers’ compensation lawyer in your state.
On 5/18/18, the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation, informed system participants of its intent to amend the designated doctor rules. The DWC identified three problem areas: the DD assignment process, qualification standards, and certification requirements.
The Division acknowledges the dramatic decrease in the number of designated doctors in the system overall and, even more alarmingly, the steep decline in the number of M.D.’s and D.O.’s assigned to perform such examinations. Much of the blame for this phenomenon lies in in the automated system that assigns a designated doctor to a case, which relegates the most qualified doctors into rarely-needed specialization categories and excludes them from the far more common musculoskeletal examinations. The unintended result is that the best doctors receive the fewest appointments.
The DWC intends to rectify that problem by implementing two separate DD lists in each county. One list will consist of all available doctors and chiropractors qualified to perform the most common musculoskeletal examinations; the other will be limited to medical doctors qualified to perform the more complex examinations, including those requested to address conditions requiring board-certification.
The twin list system is intended to remedy the inequity of board-certified M.D.’s or D.O.’s being selected for one specialized examination, then dropping to the bottom of the list and missing out on four or five of the far more common musculoskeletal examinations thereafter. The new process is intended to raise the number of exams available to M.D.’s and D.O.’s each year, thereby incentivizing the most qualified physicians to become—and remain—designated doctors.
The DWC also seeks to elevate training, testing, and qualification standards by narrowing the timeframe between training and applying for certification/recertification in order to ensure that designated doctors are always apprised of the most current information. Limiting the number of times a prospective DD can take the qualification examination in a given time period has also been suggested to address problems with test security.
Finally, the DWC is contemplating adding obligatory reviews of a designated doctor’s work product to the recertification process. Factors that may be considered include complaint history, excessive requests for deferral from the DD list, a pattern of overturned or substandard reports, a demonstrated inability to apply the AMA Guides, the timeliness of submitted reports, maintaining patient record confidentiality, or participant’s willingness to identify potential disqualifying associations.
Visit http://www.tdi.texas.gov/wc/rules/proposedrules/documents/pr127dd0518.pdf to view the proposed rule changes.
Copyright 2018, Stone Loughlin & Swanson, LLP