Correcting Errors in Designated Doctor Reports
Many cases that go into the dispute resolution process involve the three issues of MMI, impairment rating and extent of injury. Often the real dispute centers on the impairment rating given the injured worker. The issues of MMI and extent of injury are ancillary to the issue most important to both parties.
We frequently see the impairment rating assigned by the designated doctor at the heart of a dispute. Sometimes that impairment rating is flawed because of a calculation error on the part of the designated doctor.
The Division established a procedure to follow when you have identified a mathematical error in a designated doctor’s report. That procedure is outlined in a May 2, 2011 memo:
The TDI-DWC has the authority to correct such errors in a designated doctor’s impairment rating certification without a designated doctor opinion. This issue is addressed in the TDI-DWC’s Appeals Panel (AP) Decision Manual which states:
Mistakes in Calculating the IR. The AP has held that a hearing officer may apply a mathematical correction to a certification of an impairment rating when doing so merely corrects an obvious mathematical error and does not involve the exercise of judgment as to what the proper figures were. APD 040863. A clerical error made by the doctor in using the Combined Values Chart of the American Medical Association’s Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, 4th Edition may also be corrected. APD 041424; Old Republic Ins. Co. v. Rodriguez, 966 S.W.2d 208 (Tex. App.—El Paso 1998, no pet.). A hearing officer may not piecemeal doctors’ reports to assemble an impairment rating. APD 50729-s.
The issue has also been addressed by the Court of Appeals in Pacific Employers Ins. Co. v. Brown, 86 S.W.3d 353 (Tex-App.-Texarkana 2003, no pet.).
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