Many federal employees that are injured on the job are bombarded with federal claim forms. When filing for a new workers compensation claim, the most common are the CA-1 and CA-2.
The CA-1 is a new claim for traumatic injury. A traumatic injury is when something outside of the patient causes sudden injury. A good example would be twisting a knee while climbing steps, or slipping and falling on a sheet of ice while performing your job. Many traumatic injury are dismissed by the injured employee as minor. This can lead to problems down the road.
If the injured federal employee doesn’t seek medical care, it is hard to establish that the events at work are what actually caused the subsequent injuries. Always report injuries to supervisors and fill our incident reports whenever possible. If you do carry on with the day or even go home before realizing that the injury is severe, report how the event happened whenever you do make it to your doctor.
The OWCP wants for your care provider to explain to them how you were injured. the more detail you can provide the better. It also significantly helps if your doctor is familiar with federal workers compensation rules. Many doctors are familiar with state law workers comp, but few know the federal.
In order to have a good chance at an accepted OWCP claim, your doctor will need to provide the OWCP with documentation concerning his or her opinion regarding the events that caused the injury itself. It doesn’t matter if your knee was hurt previously, if your job made it worse, your doctor will need to outline how the incident on the job worsened your condition.
The more objective findings and diagnostic studies your physician can provide along with their detailed medical narrative and opinion, the higher your chances are of having an accepted federal workers compensation claim.
Use FedDoctor to find a local federal doctor to help you get treatment and documentation for your file.
To be continued…
Tags: 6th edition ama guides, causation report, federal doctor, federal workers comp doctor, federal workers compensation doctor, owcp doctor