Step 1:
Writing Your Work Narrative – Doctors must understand your day to day duties to formulate a medical opinion, providing a short one-page description of an average work day will help them comprehend the physical nature of your work, Explain the physical acts, they need to know about standing, walking, lifting, reaching, carrying, pushing, pulling, you do every day. Use terms like “Approximately” or “About” when describing Volumes and times, use conservative estimates of weights, distance, repetitions time that takes to perform each duty. Most important describe the work factors that are appropriate for your injury. For example, for a shoulder injury you want your doctor to know how much reaching, pulling, pushing, lifting you do on an average day. A series of short paragraphs should be enough to give your doctor an accurate picture of your work duties, so the Doctor can provide an opinion on the casual relationship between specific work duties and the diagnosed injury or condition.
Step 2:
The Doctor’s Narrative – Causal relationship is a Medical issue and the medical evidence generally required to stablish a causal relationship it is a rationalized medical opinion by your doctor. A rationalized medical opinion is a medical evidence that includes a doctor’s opinion on whether there is a causal relationship between the worker’s diagnosed condition and work factors. The doctor’s opinion must be based on a complete factual and medical background of the injured worker, must be one of reasonable medical certainty, must be supported by medical rationale explaining the nature of the relationship between the diagnosed condition and specific work factors. In the medical narrative, your doctor will need to describe the physiological mechanisms by which specify works factors (standing, walking, carrying, etc.) caused the diagnosed condition. The diagnosed conditions must be based on objective medical evidence such tests, X-Rays or MRIs, and include the proper ICD codes. OWCP requires the doctors’ opinion to be reasonable medical certainty. Once you have the medical narrative describing the casual relationship between your work and your medical condition, ask your supervisor to for a CA-2, as you fill out the form you will come to question 11, which ask for the day you first became aware of the disease or illness, the answer is likely the first time you sought treatment. Question 12 ask for the date you first realized the disease was caused or aggravated by your employment.
Step 3:
Submitting the CA-2 – Once you have completed your portion of the CA-2, make a copy of it and hand the original along with your narrative to your supervisor. Get the signed receipt portion of the CA-2 from your supervisor, your employing Agency is required to send your CA-2 to the office of Workers Compensation Programs within 10 days of receiving it from you. Once OWCP gets your CA-2 it will assign you a claim number and send you a letter, Medical reports should be send directly to OWCP, once you have a file number you can mail all medical information such as test results and narratives directly to OWCP. OWCP normally takes 90 days to make a decision in an occupational disease claim. That time can be shortened if you follow this step and swiftly respond to any correspondence OWCP sends to you.
