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Thursday, April 26, 2012

Rant of Shame


Today I’m ranting about Senate Bill 1789. I don’t want to rant about the specifics of this Bill, I’m going to rant about the hypocrisy of the people who thought this Bill up, the ones who wrote it out, the ones who think it's a good idea and most especially the Deciders voting on this Bill.
How is this Bill NOT discrimination? We’re talking about injured employees…people with physical disabilities that were acquired while benefiting their Agency.

First the Postal Service comes up with the National Reassessment Program/Process (NRP) and dumps its responsibilities to their injured employees. McConnell Class Action ensues. Now this; what’s up with picking on the injured Federal employees? Talk about kick you while you’re down.

Here’s another question; did ANY of the Deciders look into what the cost of OWCP-directed exams are costing the system? Why are injured employees going to have their benefits cut, when OWCP is wasting so much money on their directed appointments? Shouldn’t we look into THOSE costs? And cut them? Limit them? How much would that save? There’s your 1.2 billion right there, and it wouldn’t take ten years to save it.

To attempt to prove my point, I issue this challenge: If I or this blog have helped you, answered your question, if I talked to you on the phone, wrote an E-Mail, got you paid, reversed your decision or anything else…I ask you to add up at least some the cost of any PROMPT-PAY bills on ACS and post them either here or at http://theowcpclassroom.freefourms.org/ There's a topic called: PROMPT-PAY results. Let’s see who wins the “My OWCP doctor got the most money” award. Then tell me what the average amount YOUR doctor gets from OWCP. It can be any PROMPT-PAY.

Hey, why is it only OWCP’s medical personnel get PROMPT-PAY? Incentive? Shouldn’t everyone get paid in the same timely manner? What up with PROMPT-PAY?

Okay, now let’s ask ourselves this, what do you think would happen if your doctor charged $3,000.00-$4,000.00 for one report? Tell me OWCP wouldn’t be screaming fraud. Yet it’s reasonable for OWCP to pay their doctors a sickening amount of money for one report? Why? What makes their reports worth so much more? My experience is they’re usually defective; shouldn’t that cost less or be free until they provide the service they’re being paid for? And we shouldn’t believe the deck is stacked against Claimant’s when sent to an OWCP-directed exam? There’s nothing fishy going on here.

It’s not unusual for OWCP to pay $3,000, $4,000, $5,000 or even $6,000 for an IME. For ONE report. Is that excessive for one medical report? I think so. What about when OWCP makes you travel 100, 200 miles or more or across State lines for a directed exam? Should we believe there isn’t ONE other doctor within the whole State that could examine you?

How about when one of OWCP’s physicians is brought in to examine you? You know the ones that work for OWCP in 4 or 5 (or more) States. Ever wonder about the travel arrangements? Do they get a car? Hotel? Per Diem? How much does that doctor cost now? Has any Decider thought, hey, maybe we could save some dough finding a doctor in the SAME State as the Claimant. Even more if we can track one down in the same city.

Your doctor gets a couple of hundred bucks and OWCP expects perfection and extreme detail which is time consuming. Their doctor glances in your general direction, turn in a slop report and gets thousands and the Deciders don’t see anything wrong with that. Why isn’t there a vote to cut the “benefits” OWCP’s doctors are receiving before cutting the benefits of the injured employees?

Okay, maybe I don’t know anything and there really isn’t ONE doctor in your whole State to examine you for OWCP, but I ask you this, if there isn’t ONE doctor in your whole State that can examine you, why not the next State over? Why does OWCP regularly send their doctors to the opposite coast to examine claimants? Why do they pop around from State to State just to examine Claimants? You’re telling me there isn’t ONE doctor in your State OR the next State over? OR even the one after that? They need to bring someone from one coast to the other? Really? How is this cost effective?

How about the DMA’s? True story: DMA gets paid to answer a specific question. DMA writes two paragraphs and gets PROMPT-PAY of $225. Report states, “I do not NOT think surgery is warranted” CE goes back to DMA for clarification on the “not NOT”. DMA removes “NOT” and gets another $225 PROMPT-PAY. DMA still hasn’t answered the one specific question CE asked. CE issues formal decision denying benefits. Claimant appeals on the grounds that no valid medical was used in the decision. Decision reversed. Question, if you can keep getting $225 to remove a single word, what’s your incentive to be accurate?

I haven’t even mentioned the waste of money for the Field Nurses, who are not doctors. How come OWCP’s field nurses opinion counts? But Claimants are told and any of their nurses, nurse practitioners, physician’s assistants, physical therapists, Chiropractors aren’t a physician under the Act and their opinion doesn’t count? What’s so special about OWCP’s nurses?

How about the FCE, which is usually done by a physical therapist, who is not a doctor. Oh and how many people were sent to an FCE where they told you to stop if your symptoms were aggravated then after you do stop, the FCE examiner turned around and wrote you didn’t give a maximum effort? Next thing you know, you’re sent to another FCE. Now OWCP paid for two.

How is it possible that we can see this so clearly and the Deciders cannot see it at all? Lots of us have had to contact our Congress people and/or Senators because of OWCP. A lot of them have OWCP liaisons now…Why would they need a liaison if there weren’t enough complaints against OWCP to NEED a liaison. We know they know they have the liaison. Why is there a special OWCP address for Congress/Senators? OWCPland, we have a problem.

Oh, but there’s more, what do all OWCP’s bogus decisions cost? What is the cost of just repeatedly saying no, no matter what the evidence? Or when decisions appear as if OWCP didn’t even know the decision was about you. The ones where OWCP talked about everything except the arguments and evidence which they somehow couldn’t see to read. The ones that get thrown back to OWCP that ends up in a reversal on appeal because the decision was nothing but downright stupidity and the art of saying no at its worst. Couldn’t we get rid of DOL personnel from hearing reps, to ‘reconsideration’ specialists if OWCP made accurate decisions according to its own rules and regulations?

Again, shouldn’t we look into this sort of waste before we start slashing ANY OWCP benefits? Which is another thing, why aren’t the wages of the healthy Federal employees being slashed? At least they have the physical and/or mental ability to work. Hey Government Deciders, we’re talking about injured employees. Some severely. Some permanently. There’s a whole boatload that have acquired consequential injuries from their original injuries and you want to take more away from them?

Explain how the scales are balanced here? Independence is achieved by unity.

If by some chance anyone reading this is one of the people involved in this Bill…

Shame On You!