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2004 brought significant reform to California's workers' compensation system, some good and some perceived as onerous. After careful analysis of this reform it appears that certain areas of reform permit either party to obtain the "Medical Evidence" they need and still be "Admissible".
For both the "Applicant" and "Defense" of statute 4064(d) when used in combination with 4061.5 can be powerful tools.
4064(d) permits either party to gather the "Medical Evidence" they need as long as they pay for it themselves.
4061.5 permits the treating physician to incorporate all consultative reports and evidence into his report by reference, inclusion or direct citation, and the treating physician report is admissible.
Combining 4064(d) and 4061.5 permits both applicant and defense to avoid being forced into the "last man standing QME process" better know as the "crap shoot", and permit the WCJ and WCAB to hear genuine medical evidence gathered by either party. Additionally, 4064(d) does not require that physician to be a QME or AME allowing either party "true access to their medical experts".
While combining 4064(d) with 4061.5 is a powerful tool 4064(d) may be employed independently as it has many other beneficial applications such as use in depositions, etc.
Employers still have the benefit of using to 4050 evaluation at any time during the course of a claim and/or treatment, and the right to within the "first 90 days conduct an AOE/COE evaluation" with both evaluations able to be incorporated into the 4061.5 report.
Given decision such as McClune (63 Cal. Comp. Case 261) wherein the contention was that the WCJ and the WCAB had the authority to order the taking of additional evidence to support the finding, and the court agreed, and in Tyler vs. WCAB (1997 56 Cal. App. 4th 389, 392) wherein the court had held that "Labor Code sections 5701 and 5906 authorize the WCJ and the WCAB to obtain additional evidence, including medical, at any time during the proceedings", given the 2004 reform utilizing and applying 4064 (d) in conjunction with 4061.5 or independently as well as for the employer the 4050 evaluation and/or the AOE/COE evaluation appears to be the appropriate course of action.
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