What the panel ordered
Denial of Defendant's Petition for Reconsideration; telehealth evaluation with QME Dr. Bahman Omrani upheld
Petition for Reconsideration of the Findings and Order issued by the WCJ on November 16, 2020, denying reconsideration and affirming the order for telehealth QME evaluation
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.
Medical treatment / UR / IMRApplicant prevailedinternal system
The Appeals Board agreed with the WCJ that defendant unreasonably denied agreement to a telehealth evaluation under emergency regulation section 46.2, considering the applicant's health concerns and the QME's written attestation that a physical exam was not required.
From the decision · page 9Under the circumstances here, we agree with the WCJ that defendant unreasonably denied agreement to a telehealth evaluation per the emergency regulation. Applicant meets the elements of section 46.2(a)(3) for a telehealth QME evaluation for his internal medicine complaints. We decline to order him to risk his health and the health of his household, in addition to potentially other members of the public, to attend an in-person evaluation with Dr. Omrani.