La. Admin. Code tit. 40 § I-2003

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 5, May 20, 2024

Section I-2003 - General Guideline Principles

A. The principles summarized in this section are key to the intended implementation of all Office of Workers' Compensation medical treatment guidelines and critical to the reader's application of the guidelines in this document.

1. Application of Guidelines. The OWCA provides procedures to implement medical treatment guidelines and to foster communication to resolve disputes among the provider, payer, and patient through the Workers' Compensation Act.

2. Education. Education of the patient and family, as well as the employer, insurer, policy makers and the community should be the primary emphasis in the treatment of workers' compensation injuries. Currently, practitioners often think of education last, after medications, manual therapy, and surgery. Practitioners must develop and implement strategies to educate patients, employers, insurance systems, policy makers, and the community as a whole. An education-based paradigm should always start with inexpensive communication providing reassuring and evidence-based information to the patient. More in-depth education is currently a component of treatment regimens which employ functional, restorative, preventive and rehabilitative programs. No treatment plan is complete without addressing issues of individual and/or group patient education as a means of facilitating self-management of symptoms and prevention. Facilitation through language interpretation, when necessary, is a priority and part of the medical care treatment protocol.

3. Informed Decision Making. Providers should implement informed decision making as a crucial element of a successful treatment plan. Patients, with the assistance of their health care practitioner, should identify their personal and professional functional goals of treatment at the first visit. Progress towards the individual's identified functional goals should be addressed by all members of the health care team at subsequent visits and throughout the established treatment plan. Nurse case managers, physical therapists, and other members of the health care team play an integral role in informed decision-making and achievement of functional goals. Patient education and informed decisionmaking should facilitate self-management of symptoms and prevention of further injury.

4. Treatment Parameter Duration. Time frames for specific interventions commence once treatments have been initiated, not on the date of injury. Obviously, duration will be impacted by patient adherence, as well as availability of services. Clinical judgment may substantiate the need to accelerate or decelerate the time frames discussed in this document. Such deviation shall be in accordance with La. R.S. 23:1203.1.

5. Active Interventions. Emphasizing patient responsibility, such as therapeutic exercise and/or functional treatment, are generally emphasized over passive modalities, especially as treatment progresses. Generally, passive interventions are viewed as a means to facilitate progress in an active rehabilitation program with concomitant attainment of objective functional gains.

6. Active Therapeutic Exercise Program. Exercise program goals should incorporate patient strength, endurance, flexibility, coordination, and education. This includes functional application in vocational or community settings.

7. Positive Patient Response. Positive results are defined primarily as functional gains that can be objectively measured.

a. Objective functional gains include, but are not limited to, positional tolerances, range-of-motion (ROM), strength, and endurance, activities of daily living, ability to function at work, cognition, psychological behavior, and efficiency/velocity measures that can be quantified. Subjective reports of pain and function should be considered and given relative weight when the pain has anatomic and physiologic correlation. Anatomic correlation must be based on objective findings.

8. Re-Evaluation of Treatment within Four Weeks. If a given treatment or modality is not producing positive results within four weeks, treatment should be either modified or discontinued. Reconsideration of diagnosis should also occur in the event of poor response to a seemingly rational intervention.

9. Surgical Interventions. Surgery should be contemplated within the context of expected improvement of functional outcome and not purely for the purpose of pain relief. The concept of "cure" with respect to surgical treatment by itself is generally a misnomer. All operative interventions must be based upon positive correlation of clinical findings, clinical course, and diagnostic tests. A comprehensive assimilation of these factors must lead to a specific diagnosis with positive identification of pathologic conditions. The decision and recommendation for operative treatment, and the appropriate informed consent should be made by the operating surgeon. Prior to surgical intervention, the patient and treating physician should identify functional operative goals and the likelihood of achieving improved ability to perform activities of daily living or work activities and the patient should agree to comply with the pre- and post-operative treatment plan and home exercise requirements. The patient should understand the length of partial and full disability expected post-operatively.

10. Pharmacy-Louisiana Law and Regulation. All prescribing will be done in accordance with the laws of the state of Louisiana as they pertain respectively to each individual licensee, including, but not limited to: Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners regulations governing medications used in the treatment of non-cancer-related chronic or intractable pain; Louisiana Board of Pharmacy Prescription Monitoring Program; Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals licensing and certification standards for pain management clinics; other laws and regulations affecting the prescribing and dispensing of medications in the state of Louisiana.

11. Six Month Time Frame. Injuries resulting in temporary total disability may require maintenance treatment and may not attain return to work in six months.

12. Return to Work. Return to work is therapeutic, assuming the work is not likely to aggravate the basic problem or increase long-term pain. An injured worker's return-to-work status shall not be the sole cause to deny reasonable and medically necessary treatment under these guidelines. Two good practices are: early contact with injured workers and provide modified work positions for short-term injuries. The practitioner must provide specific physical limitations and the patient should never be released to non-specific and vague descriptions such as "sedentary" or "light duty." The following physical limitations should be considered and modified as recommended: lifting, pushing, pulling, crouching, walking, using stairs, bending at the waist, awkward and/or sustained postures, tolerance for sitting or standing, hot and cold environments, data entry and other repetitive motion tasks, sustained grip, tool usage and vibration factors. Even if there is residual chronic pain, return-to-work is not necessarily contraindicated. The practitioner should understand all of the physical demands of the patient's job position before returning the patient to full duty and should request clarification of the patient's job duties. Clarification should be obtained from the employer or, if necessary, from including, but not limited to, occupational health nurse, physical therapist, occupational therapist, vocational rehabilitation specialist, chiropractor or another professional. American Medical Association clarifies "disability" as "activity limitations and/or participation restrictions in an individual with a health condition, disorder or disease" versus "impairment" as "a significant deviation, loss, or loss of use of any body structure or body function in an individual with a health condition, disorder or disease".

13. Delayed Recovery. Within the discretion of the treating physician, strongly consider a psychological evaluation, if not previously provided, as well as initiating interdisciplinary rehabilitation treatment and vocational goal setting, for those patients who are failing to make expected progress 6 to 12 weeks after initiation of treatment of an injury. The OWCA recognizes that 3 to 10 percent of all industrially injured patients will not recover within the timelines outlined in this document despite optimal care. Such individuals may require treatments beyond the limits discussed within this document, but such treatment requires clear documentation by the authorized treating practitioner focusing on objective functional gains afforded by further treatment and impact upon prognosis.

14. Guideline Recommendations and Inclusion of Medical Evidence. All recommendations are based on available evidence and/or consensus judgment. It is generally recognized that early reports of a positive treatment effect are frequently weakened or overturned by subsequent research. Per R.S. 1203.1, when interpreting medical evidence statements in the guideline, the following apply to the strength of recommendation.

Strong	Level 1 Evidence	We Recommend
Moderate	Level 2 and Level 3	Evidence We Suggest
Weak	Level 4 Evidence	Treatment is an Option
Inconclusive	Evidence is Either Insufficient of Conflicting

a. Consensus guidelines are generated by a professional organization that the guidelines are intended to serve. A committee of specialists and experts are selected by the organization to create an unbiased, vetted recommendation for the treatment of specific issues within the realm of their expertise. All recommendations in the guideline are considered to represent reasonable care in appropriately selected cases, regardless of the level of evidence or consensus statement attached to it. Those procedures considered inappropriate, unreasonable, or unnecessary are designated in the guideline as "not recommended."

15. Treatment of Pre-Existing Conditions The conditions that preexisted the work injury/disease will need to be managed under two circumstances:

(a) A pre-existing condition exacerbated by a work injury/disease should be treated until the patient has returned to their objectively verified prior level of functioning or Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI); and

(b) A pre-existing condition not directly caused by a work injury/disease but which may prevent recovery from that injury should be treated until its objectively verified negative impact has been controlled. The focus of treatment should remain on the work injury/disease.

B. The remainder of this document should be interpreted within the parameters of these guideline principles that may lead to more optimal medical and functional outcomes for injured workers.

La. Admin. Code tit. 40, § I-2003

Promulgated by the Louisiana Workforce Commission, Office of Workers Compensation Administration, LR 37:1631 (June 2011), amended by the Louisiana Workforce Commission, Office of Workers Compensation, LR 40:1119 (June 2014), Amended LR 49515 (3/1/2023).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 23:1203.1.