Injured workers in Washington State must designate one attending medical provider on their claim. As I’ve explained previously, the attending provider plays a very important role in workers’ compensation claims. Therefore, I always encourage injured workers to select their attending provider (AP) carefully. Changing your attending physician in the middle of a claim For […]
Our office works closely with medical providers to ensure that L&I and Third Party Administrators receive the information needed to effectively administer claims. Sometimes providing effective assistance to medical offices requires a bit of balancing on our part. This is because we don’t want to interfere with medical treatment or with the patient-physician relationship. At […]
On June 4th, 2019, L&I announced it is beginning new rule making process to improve vocational services in workers’ compensation cases. According to L&I, this is because vocational services are critical for helping injured workers return to work. L&I believes that changes it has already made to vocational services have resulted in significant improvements. These […]
I represent a significant number of injured workers residing on the Washington State Olympic Peninsula. Over time, I noticed a troubling trend involving non-cooperation and the IME process. The law regarding IMEs is quite clear under RCW 51.32.110. The law says that injured workers are required to submit to these kinds of examinations. It is […]
There are differences between occupational disease and industrial injury claims. However, the benefits available to injured workers under each of the two types of claims are the same. In addition, the rules for administering the claims are very similar, with a few exceptions. What is an occupational disease claim? An occupational disease is a […]
Happy administrative professionals’ week to all admins out there! Did you know that it’s administrative professionals’ week this week? Work injury for administrative workers When we think of high injury professions, we often think of ones with physically demanding jobs. While it is true that most administrative professional work is sedentary in nature, it […]
The open and active phase of a workers’ compensation or L&I claim begins to wind down as the injured worker begins to approach maximum medical improvement (MMI) for their industrially related conditions. Maximum medical improvement does not necessarily mean the injured worker has returned to their pre-injury level of health. Often, injured workers are left […]
One thing I try to do is to empower my clients to take an active role in the progress of their workers’ compensation claims. So many times, when injured workers meet with me, they express sadness, frustration or anger about their L&I claims. Sometimes those feelings have to do with specific circumstances or decisions that […]
Today I participated in a deposition and a hearing in Port Angeles. I have several injured worker clients that live in and around Port Angeles. Geographically, Port Angeles is located on the north end of the Olympic Peninsula in Clallam County. The setting is beautiful since the town lies between the Olympic Mountains and the […]
As part of an ongoing L&I claim and a workers’ compensation case, I attended today a discovery deposition of a medical expert. A significant focus of the questions asked was to address and clarify information contained in historical medical records. Medical records and chart notes are often significant in workers’ compensation cases. In this case, […]