United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office General Government Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1994-02-11 monographic deposited born digital GA 1.13:GGD-94-67 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GGD-94-67 P0b002ee18038f8f3 f:gg94067 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-GGD-94-67 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GGD-94-67 GGD-94-67 Workers compensation Physicians Payments Medical examinations Compensation claims Medical fees Eligibility determinations Disability benefits Personnel recruiting Computerized information systems DOL Physician Directory System Letter Report GGD

Claimants and their representatives have alleged that the Labor Department's Office of Workers' Compensation Programs lacks objectivity and has "shopped" for doctors who, when examining claimants, would be predisposed against supporting their claims for workers' compensation benefits. GAO did not find this to be the case. When claimants' benefits were terminated after a second-opinion examination, these adjustments were usually unrelated to conflicts in medical evidence that would have required an impartial medical examination. Also, the Office has an automated system--the Physician Directory System--in place to ensure that physicians were chosen in an unbiased manner. Finally, given the number of impartial medical examinations done by individual doctors and the amounts paid to those who did both second-opinion examinations and impartial medical examinations, it seems unlikely that the Office was repeatedly using the same doctors to achieve predetermined results. Yet, there have been situations in which districts have been unable to use the Physician Directory System when choosing doctors to do impartial medical examinations. It would be in the Office's best interest to establish controls to ensure the impartial selection of doctors whenever methods other than the Physician Directory System are used to select doctors. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GGD-94-67/html/GAOREPORTS-GGD-94-67.htm GAO/GGD-94-67 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GGD-94-67 Letter Report GAO/GGD-94-67; Federal Employees' Compensation Act: No Evidence That Labor's Physician Selection Processes Biased Claims Decisions; Workers compensation Physicians Payments Medical examinations Compensation claims Medical fees Eligibility determinations Disability benefits Personnel recruiting Computerized information systems DOL Physician Directory System Title 5 Section 8107 5 U.S.C. 8107 Title 39 Section 3901et seq. 39 U.S.C. 3901et seq.