IME

Senior Arbitrator Nastasi reported that a recent unit meeting arbitrators reported two separate hearings in which in the middle of testimony by a doctor or assessor, it became clear that the report issued / produced by the Clinic or assessor was not the same report created by the doctor / assessor on the witness stand. Liz put the issue out to the group to assess whether this has been a recent issue or new trend that counsel have also experienced.

Counsel Response:

In the past IR adjusters would contract out to individual assessors and defence counsel could potentially request certain doctors that they liked to work with BUT today – to save money almost 100% of the assessment work is farmed out to Brokers leaving very little choice about who will do the assessment.

Stan P. – 100% of ALL assessments are “doctored” – in that the actual doctors and assessors are not able to do MOST of the report for $2000. The result is that the clinic administrators are the ones setting up most of the report and then doctors actually write a small portion of the actual report.

Eric G – the $2000 cap is “unworkable” – most of the work is done by the broker because of the limited amount of money available to pay for the report.

Suggestion – FSCO needs to look at this in a more systemic way

Query – what is FSCO’s or an arbitrators’ responsibility when this issue comes up during a hearing ? – When an arbitrator does encounter this during a hearing then they need to report on it and this will have an effect in the future on whether that company or assessor receives any further business