By: Charles Taylor Matthews
An employer has the right to select their own treating physician to provide a Second Medical Opinion to counter the opinion of a claimant’s chosen physician. However, can an employer also choose their own physical therapist to conduct a Functional Capacity Examination?
To understand this issue, it’s crucial to first grasp the purpose of a Functional Capacity Examination and its implications for both the employer and the claimant. Functional Capacity Examinations are designed to assess various aspects of an injured worker’s physical capabilities, such as endurance, lifting capacity, and coordination, which are integral in determining their ability to return to work. According to the Louisiana Administrative Code, Functional Capacity Examinations should not be used in isolation to determine work restrictions but must be interpreted by an authorized treating physician based on the patient’s condition. While Functional Capacity Examinations can serve diagnostic purposes, like establishing a worker’s baseline status or monitoring progress during treatment, their application and interpretation are key to how they impact the return-to-work process.
There is caselaw that considers a physical therapist to be “medical practitioner,” as outlined under Louisiana Revised Statutes § 23:1121. This is the same statute that allows employers to require Claimant to submit to an examination by a duly qualified medical practitioner selected by the employer. While it should be noted that the Courts have only applied this reasoning for scenarios where Functional Capacity Examination was used to determine the claimant’s ability to return to work, and not for diagnostic purposes, such as assessing a worker’s baseline status or progress during treatment, the employer should be aware of their ability to select their own physical therapist to perform a Functional Capacity Examination for applicable situations, similarly to their ability to choose a physician for a Second Medical Opinion, requiring the claimant to attend the employer’s Functional Capacity Examination.
