California Code of Regulations
Title 8 - Industrial Relations
Division 1 - Department of Industrial Relations
Chapter 1 - Division of Workers' Compensation - Qualified Medical Evaluator Regulations
Article 3 - Assignment of Qualified Medical Evaluators, Evaluation Procedure
Section 31 - QME Panel Selection
Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 38, September 20, 2024
(a) The panels shall be selected randomly from the appropriate specialty identified by the party who holds the legal right to designate the specialty, with consideration given to the proximity of the QME's medical office to the employee's residence.
(b) The Medical Director shall exclude from the panel selection process any QME who has informed the Medical Director that he or she is unavailable pursuant to section of Title 833 of Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations.
(c) Any physician who has served as a primary treating physician or secondary physician and who has provided treatment to the employee in accordance with section of Title 89785 of Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations for the disputed injury shall not perform a QME evaluation on that employee. Whenever that physician's name appears on a QME panel, he or she shall disqualify him or herself if contacted by a party to perform the evaluation. Either party may request a replacement QME for this reason pursuant to section of Title 831.5 of Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations.
(d) To issue a panel in a selected specialty there shall be at least five active QMEs in the specialty at the time the panel selection is requested. In the event less than five QMEs are active in a requested specialty, the Medical Director shall contact the party who holds the legal right to designate the specialty for an alternate specialty selection.
1. New section filed 8-1-94; operative 8-31-94 (Register 94, No. 31).
2. Repealer of subsection (d) and subsection relettering, and amendment of newly designated subsection (d) filed 8-23-96; operative 9-22-96 (Register 96, No. 34).
3. Amendment of subsections (b) and (d) filed 4-14-2000; operative 5-14-2000 (Register 2000, No. 15).
4. Amendment of section and NOTE filed 1-13-2009; operative 2-17-2009 (Register 2009, No. 3).
5. Editorial correction reinstating inadvertently deleted section (Register 2013, No. 44).
Note: Authority cited: Sections 133, 139.2, 4061, 4062 and 5307.3, Labor Code. Reference: Sections 139.2, 4060, 4061, 4062, 4062.1, 4062.2, 4064 and 4067, Labor Code.
