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A qualified medical evaluator is not limited to commenting solely on impairments that fall within the scope of treatment for his medical specialty, according to a panel decision by the California Workers' Compensation Appeals Board. A WCAB panel last month accepted and adopted a decision by Workers' Compensation Judge Rosa Moran holding that a chiropractic QME could and should address all the impairments ratings that most accurately reflected Victor...

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Comments (14):
“How wonderful you can have three QME's/ AME's saying this person can return to work and then one doctor saying their all wrong and this injured worker is 100% disabled. Just when you thought it was safe to get back into the water. Findings like this will lead to nothing but another reform. Unfortunately, the WCAB continues to be short sighted and focuses on individual cases instead of the industry. Just what everyone wanted another round of reforms in the next year or two. ”
By: Anonymous, 04/16/2014 03:04:24 pm

“WCAB is supposed to "Think of the Industry".”
By: Anonymous, 04/16/2014 05:04:05 pm
“Sure, why don't we just have one, all Chiropractic panel list issued by the Medical Unit since they can "comment" now on any and all aspects of any and all injuries claimed. I'm sure when a judge makes a finding that the chiropractor PQME's opinion that the injured worker does not need brain surgery to remove a cancerous tumor is not substantial evidence and Tyler's the case, it won't be a big waste of time for everyone!!”
By: Sherry Coletti, 04/16/2014 07:04:57 pm
“To WTH?: You really didn't get the gist of the article did you? ”
By: Anonymous, 04/17/2014 06:04:43 pm
“To The Cure: Your opinion would only hold true if Dc's were all extreme applicant oriented. They aren't. What does bother me is though that although QME's are supposed to be unbiased, they tend to lean towards whichever side their referral source is. And insurance industry only has a problem with this if the QME leans the wrong way for them. As long as they lean towards their side, they don't mind paying $12,000 bill to an orthopod AME. ”
By: Anonymous, 04/17/2014 06:04:42 pm
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“UR allows doctors to DENY treatment outside their specialty. So this makes more sense than that. But I wonder if this allowed case meets the the Daubert evidentiary standard? I doubt it. Per this opinion a chiropractor may testify at the next sanity trial of an alleged mass murderer. ”
By: John Stalberg, 04/16/2014 07:04:50 pm

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“The QME chiropractor who did this evaluation is REALLY hot. Maybe not be relevant, but thought it was worth mentioning.”
By: Anonymous, 04/16/2014 09:04:38 pm

“I would much rather be evaluated by hot chiropractor QME than be I the grips of a grouchy baby splitter MD.”
By: Anonymous, 04/16/2014 09:04:48 pm
“"In the grips of" is what I meant to type. http://www.yelp.com/biz/justin-j-frieders-dc-pleasant-hill”
By: Anonymous, 04/16/2014 10:04:56 pm
“Does look count? Maybe I should post a professional photo of me LOL....”
By: Anonymous, 04/17/2014 06:04:33 pm
“looks don't matter. It was a joke. I google searched the chiropractor to see his credentials, which he has numerous pictures of himself on his web-site. He actually has a descent background, and has many positive reviews from patients. I agree chiropractors are not doctors, however claims adjuster are not either, and they do ratings all the time to estimate PD payments etc.Since AME/QME's no longer have say on treatment issues, the question is does a chiropractor have the capabilities to rate patients? Many have been doing so for years.”
By: Anonymous, 04/18/2014 11:04:49 pm
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“I think the problem posters here are having (defense) is that the evaluator is a DC. Would the same arguments have been made if an orthopedist was adding on a rating for sleep. or if a pain management doc was adding on for a wrist injury? Answer: "No." But because this was a chiropractor the defense didn't trust him, and assumed he would give him a boat-load of disability, And as far as "the fourth contrary QME" that is why we have judicial review -- to weight the medical evidence. if one crappy med-legal comes out, the judge can smell cheeze.”
By: Nicholas DiSabatino, 04/16/2014 11:04:18 pm

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“Why does insanity always prevail. Let's forget a chiro can be a QME. A chiro is not an MD. He never went to medical school. He can relieve back and neck pain with modalities and manipulation. It ends there. I don't care what they tell you. In today's age of specialization, I'm sorry, an orthopedic surgeon has very little knowledge of internal medicine. Yes, we learned it in medical school, but things change so rapidly that a specialist has trouble keeping up with his own specialty. YOU CANNOT COMMENT ON IMPAIRMENT from another specialty, unless you have multiple residencies and boards. This is just plain common sense, which the WCAB may lack. Please look past the letter of the law to the intent.”
By: Anonymous, 04/17/2014 12:04:44 am

“Chiro is not an MD. But MD isn't a chiro either and we don't raise the issue when MD opines on chiro do we? Or do you? Having said that, in the case of opining on impairment, we are just talking about functional loss, not about making diagnoses or opining on treatment. There are 2 issues with your post. #1, you don't know what DC training entails. #2, you don't really know what's involved with impairment rating. If you had knowledge of the above 2 criteria, your post would've been quite different. ”
By: Anonymous, 04/17/2014 06:04:19 pm
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