W.V. Workers’ Comp Division Chooses MDA

The West Virginia Workers’ Compensation Division, with recommendation of the Healthcare Advisory Panel (HCAP), began the implementation of The Medical Disability Advisor (MDA), from Reed Group Ltd., in their case management processes on June 1. The Division’s medical and non-medical staff will use the MDA guidelines as support in the decision making process for their cases.

In summarizing the implementation of the MDA by the West Virginia WCD, Executive Director Gregory Burton indicated that the MDA is a major new tool to promote more efficient and accurate claim decisions by the WCD. “MDA is the first of several administrative improvements that we will be making to address injured workers’ claims within West Virginia,” Burton said.

The MDA will not replace the need for consulting medical opinion, but will reportedly assist in establishing a more thorough understanding of the diseases or injuries, obtaining an integral study of the injured worker for the diagnosis provided, and identifying specific therapeutic treatments.

The resource will provide the Workers’ Compensation Division claims staff with medical information on more than 5,000 common injuries and illnesses of working people. The MDA guidelines provide reasonable, objective expectancy figures for normal recovery from a medical condition, injury, or procedure in its renowned disability duration tables.

These duration tables provide minimum, optimum and maximum recovery periods against which case information can be benchmarked to facilitate the patient’s return-to-work within medically-appropriate timeframes.