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Find Solutions & Strategies March 31, 2014 |
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 Presenting Evidence of the Vocational Expert
How SB 863 came along and changed the rules |
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A Note From the Editor | |
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| presenting evidence of the vocational expert post sb 863 |
 Rebuttal of an injured worker's "strict" permanent disability rating has consistently been one of the hottest topics in recent case law. Although Milpitas v. WCAB (Guzman) dealt with a rebuttal of the Whole Person Impairment (WPI) component of the rating string, the WCAB made it quite clear that it was also possible to rebut permanent disability, which includes WPI, along with the other components of the rating string. In fact, in the recent noteworthy panel decision of Dahl v. Contra Costa County, the WCAB commissioners provided a rather explicit roadmap as to what kinds of evidence is needed to successfully challenge a permanent disability rating. The clear consensus from the legal community is that vocational experts may provide a valuable role in presenting rebuttal evidence at trial. Just when parties thought they understood how to do this, SB863 came along and changed the rules...read more. |
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| CALIFORNIA COMPENSATION CASES |
 Battle of Applicant and Defense Vocational Experts: Cal. Comp. Cases April Advanced Postings (3/26/2014). Lexis.com and Lexis Advance subscribers can read it.
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EVALUATION OF IMPAIRMENT BY the chiropractic PQME |
This noteworthy panel decision will be added soon to the LexisNexis services.
 Permanent Disability; Rating; Evaluation of Impairment by Chiropractic PQME. WCAB, affirming WCJ, held that defendant was not denied due process by WCJ's reliance on opinion of chiropractic panel qualified medical evaluator to rate permanent disability caused by applicant's 6/8/2008 back, neck and psyche injuries, despite defendant's assertion that PQME, as licensed chiropractor, was not qualified to provide opinions on any impairment regarding neurological or sensory disorders, sleep, chronic pain, scarring or effects of medication usage and was limited solely to commenting on AMA Guides impairments that fell strictly within scope of chiropractic treatment, when...read more.
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hurricane obamacare |
Experts Attempt to Forecast Impact of Affordable Care Act on Workers' Compensation, by John Stahl, Esq.
 Workers' Compensation Research Institute Executive Director Richard Victor stated in his presentation "Impact of the Affordable Care Act on Workers' Compensation" during WCRI's 2014 Annual Issues and Research Conference that predicting the impact of the Affordable Care Act on workers' compensation was comparable to forecasting the path of a hurricane. He explained that both the effect of the ACA on workers' compensation and the characteristics of large storms possessed uncertain elements and that the impact of those events may vary among different geographic areas...read more.
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| california news headlines | |
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 chiropractic pqme, cont. |
....WCAB found that chiropractic panel qualified medical evaluator was competent and statutorily bound to utilize all sections of AMA Guides to provide opinion on impairment that most accurately described applicant's condition, that all panel qualified medical evaluators, to obtain licensure, must undertake testing and formal training in use of AMA Guides and preparation of evaluation reports, and, to provide expert opinion using appropriate section of AMA Guides, must in some cases utilize areas of AMA Guides that are not specifically within their area of practice, that to bar licensed qualified medical evaluator from use of certain sections of AMA Guides solely because he is a chiropractic practitioner would be discriminatory and in conflict with case law interpretations that injured worker is due most accurate depictions of their impairment within AMA Guides, and that chiropractic panel qualified medical evaluator's opinions regarding applicant's impairments were adequately described within four corners of AMA Guide and consistent with medical record, and constituted substantial evidence to support WCJ's permanent disability determination.See Tallent panel decision. |
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NOTICE OF CORRECTION |
The DWC has brought to our attention an error in Table 1, Present Value of Permanent Disability, in Workers' Comp Laws of California, 2014 Edition. Access a corrected table here. We apologize for the error and inconvenience. |
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enewsletter archives |
Take a deep dive into our past eNewsletters for 2014 and prior...warning - some links to articles may not work...report any linking problems to Robin.E.Kobayashi@lexisnexis.com.
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