How do I change my attending physician in my OWCP case?

I am frequently asked by FECA claimants "how do I change my attending physician for my OWCP case?" This can be a problem because many claims examiners will at first ignore your inquiry, then send you a letter telling you to explain why you want to change physicians, and then send you a response to your explanation telling you that your current physician, in the opinion of the claims examiner, is giving you proper care. All of which will likely have wasted six months. The simple way to change physicians is to get a note signed and dated by your current attending physician addressed to OWCP in which the current physician writes "Please be advised that I turn over the function of attending physician to (fill in the name, address, tel number of the new doctor)." Under this circumstance, there is nothing for the claims examiner to do other than document to the file that the prior attending physician has turned you over to another physician. I find that by the time you want to change, the physician's office is often happy to see you go. You can bring in the note needing only a signature to your physician's office and explain that you need a note like this from the doctor. Frequently, the doctor will sign that note. Put your claim number on it and send it in to OWCP, you now have a new attending physician.

Of course, if the reason you need to change is that your current attending physician has retired, relocated out of the area, or has stopped accepting FECA claims, you should simply write the examiner explaining your physician has retired (etc) and you have selected a new attending physician who is ___.

Filing Deadlines

Typically, a claim for compensation must be filed within three years of an injury. The three-year time period begins to run from the time the employee knew or should have known that her condition was caused by her job.

This deadline may not apply if the injured employee’s immediate superior was notified of the injury within 30 days of its occurrence. The employee must show not only that the supervisor knew of the injury, but also that he/she knew that it occurred on-the-job. Section 8119 of the Act gives specifics of notification requirements.

In the case of occupational disease, the time for filing begins to run when the employee knows or should have known that her condition was caused by her employment. Where the employee continues to be exposed to the work factors causing the condition, the time limitation starts over every time the person is exposed again, and will run from the date of the last exposure to the work factor. For instance, if you are exposed to loud noise or asbestos on the job, if you learn that you have a medical condition caused by that exposure, but you continue being exposed while continuing to perform your federal employment, your time limitation does not start running until the last day you are exposed to that work factor in your job.

Flaws in the AMA Guides, 6th Edition

There is a crisis occurring with schedule awards. OWCP has adopted the AMA Guides, 6th Edition. Unfortunately, the AMA appears to be completely in the pocket of the insurance industry as impairment rating percentages have plummeted under the 6th Edition. OWCP with its complete focus on pleasing employing agencies and complete disregard for the well being and rights of injured workers will likely characterize this immense cost savings as the result of good management practices, not merely the adoption of an anti-worker methodology for determining schedule awards. Doctors now complain bitterly about how much more complicated and time consuming it is to do a rating under the 6th Edition and how frustrating the process is because they are forced to provide ratings that vastly underrate workers' impairment. The design of the 6th Edition prevents them from rating all of the conditions impairing a rateable body part, which is in direct conflict with the FECA requirement that all impairments to the rateable body part due to the injury or pre-existing conditions must be included in the rating.

Recently, the Employees Compensation Appeals Board had an opportunity to correct this violation of FECA, unfortunately they also chose to go along with the anti-worker sentiment that is entrenched at OWCP. Obviously, OWCP should have done what many other jurisdictions have been doing and rejected the AMA Guides, 6th Edition, as fundamentally flawed and unfair to the injured worker.

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Noise Exposure and Federal Workers' Compensation

Federal employees who are exposed to noise in the course of their job are entitled to workers compensation benefits for the damage this causes to their hearing. If you have worked around loud machinery in the USPS or for other federal agencies, or have been otherwise exposed to noise on the job, you must file for your workers compensation benefits within three years of when you learned that noise has damaged your hearing. If your work environment then continues to expose you to noise, your workers' compensation claim needs to be filed within three years of when you were last exposed to noise on the job. There are many errors that can arise in OWCP's handling of this sort of case that can cause your benefits to be denied or be far lower than they should be. If you think your federal job has damaged your hearing, you should be sure to protect your rights by acting within the relevant time limitations. If you are not sure of your time limitation, you should investigate this immediately in order to avoid losing your entitlement to benefits on a technicality.

USPS fails to submit CA-7 forms

I presently have several clients with accepted permanent restrictions from their workers compensation claims who have lost all or most of their working hours as a result of the USPS NRP. These folks are entitled to receive workers compensation pay for the hours that the USPS does not have work. And they would, if the USPS would complete and submit CA-7 forms. Unfortunately, families are going without income for weeks, and in some cases months, because the USPS will not process CA-7 forms, and OWCP will do nothing about it.

The claims examiners tell us that there is nothing they can do until the USPS provides the missing information. But I challenge that notion. Why can’t OWCP start paying the workers based on an educated guess as to their pay rate? OWCP could easily obtain a paycheck stub or an SF-50 from the injured worker. If the USPS later documents that the injured worker was overpaid, there would be a without fault overpayment because the overpayment was created by the USPS’ failure to respond.

OWCP’s refusal to take simple steps like this continues to document its complete alignment with employing agencies and the lack of concern for protecting injured workers.

Sun Exposure Can Cause Work-Related Cancers

I recently reviewed an article, “Skin cancer as an occupational disease: the effect of ultraviolet and other forms of radiation”[1] that explained: “Members of several occupational groups appear to be at a higher risk of skin cancer. There is an increased risk of skin cancer amongst outdoor workers, such as farmers, welders,…police officers, physical education teachers…. Although sun exposure is thought to be a common etiologic factor, some studies have suggested alternative explanations, such as irradiation from the welding arc in welders, [and] nonionizing microwave frequency radiation from radar use in police officers….Occupations in which there is an increased exposure to ionizing radiation, such as radiation technicians and radiologists, showed an increased risk for melanoma and NMSC” (non-melanoma skin cancers.)

Historically, federal workers compensation claims for skin cancer seem to be geographically distributed; letter carriers in the Southwest United States seem to file more skin cancer claims while such claims are quite rare in the Northeast.

Eczema is a less significant occupational disease for which health care workers are at risk as well as those engaged in printing, metal machining, motor vehicle repair, and construction.

In addition, NIOSH, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
has published a list of occupational carcinogens: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/cancer/npotocca.html
listing substances that cause a variety of cancers.

One tends to think of occupational disease claims as orthopedic in nature, to a lesser extent, psychological, along with some lung conditions and hearing loss, but there are a wide variety of complaints and disease types that may arise from the performance of duty in federal employment. Many occupational illnesses are underreported due to lack of awareness or fear. It is important to remember that occupational illnesses that can take many years to develop are also work-related, entitling injured workers to medical care, wage loss payments, and schedule awards.