What is an OWCP Schedule Award?
When dealing with a federal workers compensation injury, workers are entitled to compensation benefits if and when they prove their injury happened while on the job. There are several benefits available to the injured worker, including wage loss, medical bill coverage, and a schedule award. A schedule award is payment for the permanent impairment to an extremity as result of an on the job injury.
Eligibility Requirements
The award is not available for an injury to the spine, heart, or brain unless this injury causes impairments to develop at a body part linked with the nerve. For example, some lumbar injuries can lead to leg problems and some neck injuries can cause hand and arm impairments. The schedule award payment can either be paid in a present value lump sum or choose to have the payment paid out over a period of time.
To be eligible for a schedule award you’ll need to prove that the injury happened at work and has caused a permanent impairment to an extremity. It’s very important that your filed federal workers compensation claim be accepted by the Office of Workers Compensation Programs, or OWCP, and that your doctor provides a responsive report that is detailed and precise.
Medical Documentation
When your doctor is not precise in his diagnosis of your injury, this creates a whole new obstacle. It is not unusual for the employing agency to hire a doctor for an agency medical exam. If this doctor describes your injury or condition as pre-existing or degenerative, then he is providing the basis for the workers compensation claim’s denial.
You’ll need to have your doctor on your side in this and make sure their medical opinion is very detailed.
Make sure your doctor provides you with a detailed report to be filed in your record with the Office of Workers Compensation Programs, or OWCP. This report will be used as a rebuttal against the consulting doctor’s written opinion.
While your doctor may not be used to having their professional opinion questioned, it’s not uncommon with this process and this is why the detailed and specific report is necessary. If your doctor is vague or ambiguous this can have a major impact on your case.
Hiring a nurse to assist with the collection and organization of medical records is another way to improve your chances of a more detailed report. Another idea is to gather all of your records, securing them in a three ring binder with tabs, and add a table of contents and summaries. This makes it easier for your physician to review the opinions of other doctors and provide an overall thorough report.
Important Details
It is essential that your doctor acknowledge that you were not experiencing any of the symptoms caused by your work injury, or any symptoms in that area of your body, prior to the incident.
In addition, it is necessary that your physician explain that it is possible for an individual to have a degenerative condition without symptoms and then following an accident, become symptomatic. It is possible that a pre-existing, weakened condition can make an individual more prone to injury that one without.
Should your federal workers compensation injury exacerbate a pre-existing condition, this doesn’t mean you aren’t entitled to benefits. But stating your condition like this will allow your doctor to attribute your impairments and restrictions to the work incident. If your records clearly reflect no prior medical treatment for the injured portions of your body within 12 months preceding the incident, your case will be much stronger.
