High Court Clarifies Process for Worker-Requested Exam

Injured workers are entitled to request their own exam if a carrier relies on results of its independent evaluation to contest the claim at any time, Oregon's Supreme Court ruled. State law allows injured workers to request a second exam only when a claim is denied based on the compulsory first exam. But a divided high court said a denial is based on an IME report "whenever the insurer uses an IME report to defend its continued denial of an open claim at any point in the claim resolution process, not just when the insurer mails notice of its initial decision." The majority...