Valdez Decision Gets it Right on MPN
In previous posts we discussed the case of Valdez v. Warehouse Demo Services, how it provided force for the medical provider networks, then vanished in a puff of smoke as the commissioners of the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board needed to think more about their various positions on the issue.
Your humble blogger expressed concern that the WCAB would attempt to fix something that had not yet been broken, by rendering the MPN system useless and without force. It appears that those concerns were much like the mythical city of Gregtopia– unfounded.
The original Valdez decision proclaimed that the reports of treating physicians outside a validly established MPN are inadmissible and the defendant is not liable for the costs incurred of treatment or drafting the report.
The WCAB then took time to consider the issue further, reasoning that there might be instances in which non-MPN treator reports are admissible. The verdict is now in – there aren’t.
Over the concurring in part/dissenting in part opinions of two of the five commissioners, the WCAB finally concluded that the MPN provides a shield against increasing litigation and questionable medical opinions.
In what is no doubt an overstatement of the gravity of this decision…