Act Now - The Report of the WCB Legislative Review Panel to the

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Recommendations: 3.5.1 Review Committee1. The legislation should be changed to define the Review Committee as an internalcommittee of the WCB, appointed by the WCB Board of Directors.2. The legislation should be changed to include the purpose of the Review Committeethat is, upon written submission of a worker, dependant, or employer, to objectivelyreview WCB administration decisions regarding financial, medical, or vocationalrehabilitation compensation and assessment.3. The legislation should be changed to require the Review Committee to hearrepresentations from appellants who wish to make them.4. The legislation should be changed to apply WCB Board of Directors’ policy whereapplicable.3.5.2 Conflicting Medical OpinionThe Panel heard a great deal about how conflicting medical opinions are handled now,and how they should be handled. Conflicting medical opinions were usually between aninjured worker’s health care provider and the WCB’s medical advisors.The Acts enable the Review Committee to call for a medical examination of an injuredworker for review purposes. The Acts do not specifically enable the Appeals Tribunal tocall for a medical examination of an injured worker. The Acts do enable the AppealsTribunal to establish its own rules of practice and procedure. The Acts do not require theinvolvement of the injured worker in selecting the health care provider or medicalassessment facility for these additional examinations.Many stakeholders told the Panel that they thought there should be some means toresolve differences of medical opinion between treating health care providers, specialisthealth care providers, and the WCB medical advisors. Some stakeholders suggested thatthe Panel consider recommending medical resolutions committees for this purpose. Theyreferred to the Friedman Report, which recommends the establishment of medicalWCB Legislative Review Panel Report Page 39 of 128December, 2001
esolutions committees, under the auspices of the Appeals Tribunal, as an approach tofollow. Other stakeholders advised the Panel not to consider medical resolutionscommittees because such committees add another layer of bureaucracy to the workers’compensation system, and because of the cost of operating such committees.Respondents to the Stakeholder Questionnaire thought that medical resolutionscommittees would be a good way to resolve conflicting medical opinion. They generallythought such committees should come under the auspices of the Appeals Tribunal. Theyalso thought the decision of such committees should be final.The Panel is concerned about the adversarial tone surrounding the discussion ofconflicting medical opinion. The Panel is also concerned about adding another layer ofbureaucracy to the workers’ compensation system. The Panel did not get the sense thatthe presumption in favour of an injured worker has been applied by the WCB whenassessing conflicting medical opinion.The Panel is not recommending the establishment of medical resolution committees. ThePanel does accept that there are serious problems in the way conflicting medical opinionis assessed in the administration of the Acts. The Panel believes that more workerinvolvement in the choice of health care providers to conduct medical assessments isrequired. The Panel also believes that the WCB, Review Committee and AppealsTribunal should be assessing conflicting medical opinions in a manner that reflects apresumption in favour of the injured worker and achieving the purpose of the Acts. TheReview Committee and Appeals Tribunal should also be assessing conflicting medicalopinions in an objective manner. If independent medical advice is required to do this,these appeals bodies must have access to independent medical advice.If the resolution of conflicting medical opinion continues to be an issue, future reviewpanels should reconsider the establishment of medical resolutions committees.WCB Legislative Review Panel Report Page 40 of 128December, 2001
Page 1 and 2: Accountable…to stakeholdersCompen
Page 3 and 4: Table Of Contents3.4.3 Employers’
Page 5 and 6: Table Of Contents5.0 A FINAL WORD 1
Page 7 and 8: The Legislative Review Directorate
Page 9 and 10: 3.0 Workers’Compensation Acts3.1
Page 11 and 12: 2.0 General ThemesDuring the course
Page 13 and 14: The Panel has generally adopted the
Page 15 and 16: The Panel did receive positive comm
Page 17 and 18: wanted was to return to work and st
Page 19 and 20: 2. Are there workers in specific in
Page 21 and 22: Panel feels legislation should be p
Page 23 and 24: 3.2 WCB Authority and Accountabilit
Page 25 and 26: WCB Board of Directors may chose to
Page 27 and 28: 3.2.6 Regular Reviews of the Worker
Page 29 and 30: Recommendations: 3.2.8 Liability Pr
Page 31 and 32: Legislation in 2 other jurisdiction
Page 33 and 34: The legislation in other jurisdicti
Page 35 and 36: ones held accountable for a decisio
Page 37 and 38: members may be reappointed to the W
Page 39 and 40: Some suggested that having a compen
Page 41 and 42: Recommendations: 3.4.2 Workers’ A
Page 43: The WCB Board of Directors made the
Page 47 and 48: The Appeals Tribunal must give the
Page 49 and 50: The Panel considered the establishm
Page 51 and 52: Recommendations: 3.5.5 Time Limits
Page 53 and 54: are not familiar with some of the u
Page 55 and 56: The Panel was interested in the Ont
Page 57 and 58: Workers’ compensation payments ar
Page 59 and 60: 3.6.3 Year’s Maximum Insurable Re
Page 61 and 62: The Acts are very specific in some
Page 63 and 64: 3.6.5 Indexing Compensation by Comm
Page 65 and 66: 2. The legislation should be change
Page 67 and 68: The Panel considered whether the in
Page 69 and 70: The Panel heard from some stakehold
Page 71 and 72: The Acts require any employer, whet
Page 73 and 74: Respondents to the Stakeholder Ques
Page 75 and 76: The Panel agrees. We see prior cons
Page 77 and 78: 3.9.3 Authority to Make Investments
Page 79 and 80: Respondents to the Stakeholder Ques
Page 81 and 82: The duty to accommodate is not an o
Page 83 and 84: payments such as income tax or payr
Page 85 and 86: 3.13 Environmental ChangeThe Acts h
Page 87 and 88: construction permits is a matter of
Page 89 and 90: date sections, reordering the “pa
Page 91 and 92: The Panel has recommended changes t
Page 93 and 94: the WCB when it is contemplating ch
Page 95 and 96:
4. The legislation should be change
Page 97 and 98:
The Panel was asked to consider rec
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No other jurisdictions regulate wor
Page 101 and 102:
4.2.5 Safety InspectionsSome stakeh
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4.4 Employer Responsibilities4.4.1
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The Panel feels that the instrument
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Recommendation: 4.6.2 Consistency w
Page 109 and 110:
others have experience as employers
Page 111 and 112:
While the Panel heard positive comm
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5. Operational versus Legislative I
Page 115 and 116:
3. The legislation should be amende
Page 117 and 118:
3. It is suggested that the first r
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Recommendations: 3.5.5 Time Limits
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Recommendation: 3.7.3 Rewarding Saf
Page 127 and 128:
Recommendation: 3.12.4 Employer Rec
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Regulations (see also Recommendatio
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5.0 A Final WordThe Panel has recom
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Glossary and DefinitionsAccident Fu
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Glossary and DefinitionsNet annualr
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WCB Legislative Review Panel Terms
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WCB LEGISLATIVE REVIEW PANELTERMS O
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STAKEHOLDER QUESTIONNAIRE AND SUMMA
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SUMMARY OF ISSUES FROM PUBLIC HEARI
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Key:SUMMARY OF ISSUES FROM PUBLIC H
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Key:SUMMARY OF ISSUES FROM PUBLIC H
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smoke.Key:SUMMARY OF ISSUES FROM PU
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SUMMARY OF FORMAL PRESENTATIONS AND
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SUMMARY OF FORMAL PRESENTATIONS AND
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