Neri Hernandez v. Geneva Staffing, Inc. dba Workforce Outsourcing, Inc. (2014) 79 Cal.Comp.Cases 682 (Appeals Board en banc)
Labor Code section 4600(h) includes home health care services in the definition of medical treatment, requiring a physician's prescription received by defendant.
The Board applied this standard to evaluate the sufficiency of the prescription and defendant's duty to investigate.
From the decision · page 2I.
We also highlight the following legal principles that may be relevant to our review of this
matter:
As discussed in Neri Hernandez, Labor Code section 4600(h) includes home health care
services in the definition of medical treatment, but they must be prescribed by a physician and
the prescription received by defendant. As stated in that case, "...in order to obtain an award of
home health care services, section 4600(h) requires applicant to show that he had a prescription,
that it was received by defendant, and that he met the requirements of section 5307.1 or section
5307.8." (Neri Hernandez, supra, 79 Cal.Comp.Cases at pp. 688-689.) We further explained:
The prescription required by section 4600(h) is either an oral referral,
recommendation or order for home health care services for an injured worker
communicated directly by a physician to an employer and/or its agent; or, a signed
and dated written referral, recommendation or order by a physician for home health
care services for an injured worker.
Hamilton v. Lockheed Corporation (2001) 66 Cal.Comp.Cases 473 (Appeals Board en banc)
Decisions by the Appeals Board must be supported by substantial evidence and based on admitted evidence in the record.
The Board emphasized the need for an adequate and complete record to support decisions.
From the decision · page 4Decisions of the Appeals Board "must be based on admitted evidence in the record."
(Hamilton v. Lockheed Corporation (Hamilton) (2001) 66 Cal.Comp.Cases 473, 476 (Appeals
Board en banc).) An adequate and complete record is necessary to understand the basis for the
WCJ's decision. (Lab. Code, § 5313; see also Cal. Code Regs., tit. 8, § 10787.) "It is the
responsibility of the parties and the WCJ to ensure that the record is complete when a case is
submitted for decision on the record. At a minimum, the record must contain, in properly
organized form, the issues submitted for decision, the admissions and stipulations of the parties,
and admitted evidence." (Hamilton, supra, 66 Cal.Comp.Cases at p. 475.) The WCJ's decision
must "set[] forth clearly and concisely the reasons for the decision made on each issue, and the
evidence relied on," so that "the parties, and the Board if reconsideration is sought, [can] ascertain
the basis for the decision[.]... For the opinion on decision to be meaningful, the WCJ must refer
with specificity to an adequate and completely developed record." (Id. at p. 476, citing Evans v.
Workmen's Comp. Appeals Bd. (1968) 68 Cal.2d 753, 755 [33 Cal.Comp.Cases 350].)