New Director of OWCP

Leonard J. Howie, III, is the new director of OWCP replacing acting director Steinberg:

http://www.dol.gov/owcp/owcpdir.htm

FECA reform arises again, nothing here will benefit federal employees, just make an already harsh system worse...

And so it starts again. I would love to know what "federal managers" are actually pushing to eviscerate FECA benefits as opposed to private insurance companies taking a long view towards figuring out how to privatize and make money off of others' misfortune. As the Obama administration is on the record supporting the stripping of benefits from FECA, and with the changes in Congress in the last midterm elections, this could quickly gain traction. I will update as I learn more.

 

http://www.fedweek.com/federal-managers-daily-report/feca-proposals-repeated-2/

The federal workers compensation system administered by OWCP could certainly use some reform, but simply reducing the level of benefits and making it harder to receive benefits is not in the interest of federal employees, nor the unnamed "federal managers" who supposedly support this action, as opposed to private interests and their lobbying staffs who simply want to shrink the federal government any way possible.  

OWCP and reports from someone who is not considered a physician

In a federal workers compensation case, reports must be from a physician. A physician includes  a podiatrist for a foot condition, a psychologist who has a Ph.D., and a chiropractor ONLY for the condition of subluxation. The Employees Compensation Appeals Board has held that a report from a non-physician will be considered medical evidence if countersigned by a qualified physician. This is also found in the Procedure Manual, at Chapter 2.805.3a(1) (January 2013).

Why does OWCP claim not to have received my CA-1032 or other information?

When you send something to OWCP it is scanned to your file. The file contains both scanned documents and an index, or table of contents, that points to the documents received to your file. It is quite common for a CA-1032 or other document to be incorrectly indexed to your file. Your claims examiner will look at that index and not see that a CA-1032 form is listed and assume you did not return it. If you sent in the form and then get a letter saying your claim is going to be suspended because you did not return the form, you should call in and speak to the customer service representative or your claims examiner and ask them to look at the incoming documents scanned to your file around the time the "missing" document should have arrived, not just the index. Most likely it is there and was just not coded correctly when it was scanned.

Get SSA to "pay" your attorney fees in your workers compensation case

This is a topic I posted on about 2 years ago. If you are receiving a check from OWCP and are also entitled to Social Security Disability payments from SSA, you can get SSA to "pay" your attorney fees as an "excludable expense." This also applies to other expenses related to your workers compensation such as paying for medical reports.

SSA has a document available online explaining how to report your attorney fees paid in connection with receiving FECA wage loss benefits from OWCP. The attorney fees (and other qualifying expenses) will be used to reduce the offset amount. Please click on the link below to SSA POMS - DI 52150.050 - Excludable Expenses, and carefully follow SSA's instructions:

link updated 1/26/15: the url below is correct, if the link does not work, cut and paste the link in your browser.

https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0452150050
If this link does not work, do a google search for the document number  "0452150050"

OWCP announces a change of contact number for ACS effective 1/1/2015

Effective January 2, 2015 the ACS customer service number for questions related to provider enrollment, Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA) bill payment, and FECA medical authorization status is changing to a new toll free number, (844) 493-1966. Please continue to use the current ACS contact number of (850) 558-1818 until January 2, 2015, when that number will be disconnected. By providing a toll free number, we will be able to offer a more stable service for our stakeholders.

OWCP and other workers compensation systems no longer meet their basic goals

The idea behind workers compensation systems was that injured workers should get immediate benefits allowing them to not lose income and get the medical care they need to return to work as quickly as possible so as to avoid simple injuries becoming serious and the destruction of families due to lengthy waits to receive replacement income. Unfortunately, this system is presently failing many injured workers. This is an interesting article on how OWCP other state systems no longer provide the benefits that they were intended to provide because of the increasing complexity of a system that become more employer oriented by the day:
 http://www.nesri.org/news/2013/03/workers-compensation-the-systems-devastating-economic-impact-on-workers-lives