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So, remember this: To get a DD to address MMI or IR after a BRC or CCH the BRO or HO will
send a PODODDE, not a DWC-32. Capisce?
It’s called the Presiding Officer’s Directive to Order a Designated Doctor Exam, and it’s the
newest thing at Division field offices. You’ll start seeing it come across your desk, because the
Division now uses it when Benefit Review Officers and Hearing Officers (now collectively
called “Presiding Officers”) order designated doctor exams.
In the past, a Presiding Officer ordered a designated doctor exam like the rest of us – by filling
out a Form DWC-32 (Request for Designated Doctor Exam). Not any more. Effective 10/01/14,
Presiding Officers are to use the new form.
Accordingly to a memo from Kerry Sullivan, the Division’s Deputy Commissioner of Hearings,
“the purpose of this change is to clarify when an examination is ordered by a Presiding Officer
and to identify clearly what the Presiding Officer is ordering the DD to address.” (Why that
requires a new, special form we’re not sure.)