424 Health Care Services Review Division: availability of applications for designation as an impairment rating evaluation physician
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND INDUSTRY Health Care Services Review Division: Availability of Applications for Designation as an Impairment Rating Evaluation Physician [28 Pa.B. 1354] The Department of Labor and Industry (Department), Bureau of Workers Compensation announces that the application for designation as an Impairment Rating Evaluation (IRE) Physician is available to any physician who desires to be placed on the list of IRE physicians established in accordance with section 306(a.2) of the Workers Compensation Act (act). Qualified physicians who are placed on the Department's list will be eligible for designation by the Bureau to perform IREs.
The amendments to the Workers Compensation Act of Act 57 of 1996, established the use of the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (Guides) to determine an employe's percentage of whole body impairment due to a compensable work-related injury after the receipt of 104 weeks of total disability benefits.
In accordance with the provisions of section 306(a.2) of the act, IRE physicians must be licensed in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; certified by an American Board of Medical Specialties approved board or its osteopathic equivalent; and be active in clinical practice for at least 20 hours per week. Under the Department's regulations ''active in clinical practice'' means the act of providing preventive care and the evaluation, treatment and management of medical conditions of patients on an ongoing basis. In addition, in order to qualify as a physician on the Department's list, the physician must have completed a Departmentally approved course on the use the AMA Guides or be certified by a Departmentally approved examining organization.
Please contact the Bureau of Workers Compensation at (717) 783-5421 Ext. 300 to request an application or to inquire about application procedures or qualification requirements for IRE physicians.
JOHNNY J. BUTLER,
Secretary[Pa.B. Doc. No. 98-424. Filed for public inspection March 13, 1998, 9:00 a.m.]
