What the panel ordered
The Appeals Board denied the defendant's Petition for Reconsideration of the Findings & Award & Order issued by the WCJ on January 12, 2022.
Defendant filed a Petition for Reconsideration challenging an interlocutory finding/order regarding applicant's entitlement to treatment outside of the medical provider network (MPN). The WCJ's decision included a threshold finding on injury AOE/COE, making it a final order subject to reconsideration. The Appeals Board applied the removal standard to the interlocutory issue and considered the WCJ's report in denying the petition.
What was disputed, and how it came out
Each issue the panel decided, with the reasoning it gave. An outcome is what this panel did on this record — not a rule, and not a prediction.
The Appeals Board applied the removal standard to the interlocutory issue of entitlement to treatment outside the MPN and found no significant prejudice or irreparable harm to defendant if removal was denied, and reconsideration would be an adequate remedy.
From the decision · page 2Although the decision contains a finding that is final, defendant is only challenging an interlocutory finding/order in the decision regarding whether applicant is entitled to treatment outside of the medical provider network (MPN). (See Babbitt v. Ow Jing (2007) 72 Cal.Comp.Cases 70, 78-79 (Appeals Board en banc) [applicant's substantive right to medical treatment is unchanged by the MPN statutes which "simply allow another method for providing that medical treatment"].) Therefore, we will apply the removal standard to our review. (See Gaona, supra.)