Florida Senate - 2016                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 986
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì563546;Î563546                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  02/01/2016           .                                
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       The Committee on Banking and Insurance (Smith) recommended the
       following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with directory and title amendments)
    2  
    3         Between lines 277 and 278
    4  insert:
    5         (c) If there is disagreement in the opinions of the health
    6  care providers, if two health care providers disagree on medical
    7  evidence supporting the employee’s complaints or the need for
    8  additional medical treatment, or if two health care providers
    9  disagree that the employee is able to return to work, the
   10  department may, and the judge of compensation claims shall, upon
   11  his or her own motion or within 15 days after receipt of a
   12  written request by either the injured employee, the employer, or
   13  the carrier, order the injured employee to be evaluated by an
   14  expert medical advisor. The injured employee and the employer or
   15  carrier may agree on the health care provider to serve as an
   16  expert medical advisor. If the parties do not agree, the judge
   17  of compensation claims shall select an expert medical advisor
   18  from the department’s list of certified expert medical advisors.
   19  If a certified medical advisor within the relevant medical
   20  specialty is unavailable, the judge of compensation claims shall
   21  appoint any otherwise qualified health care provider to serve as
   22  an expert medical advisor without obtaining the department’s
   23  certification. The opinion of the expert medical advisor is
   24  presumed to be correct unless there is clear and convincing
   25  evidence to the contrary as determined by the judge of
   26  compensation claims. The expert medical advisor appointed to
   27  conduct the evaluation shall have free and complete access to
   28  the medical records of the employee. An employee who fails to
   29  report to and cooperate with such evaluation forfeits
   30  entitlement to compensation during the period of failure to
   31  report or cooperate.
   32  
   33  ====== D I R E C T O R Y  C L A U S E  A M E N D M E N T ======
   34  And the directory clause is amended as follows:
   35         Delete line 247
   36  and insert:
   37  (a), (c), and (f) of subsection (9) of section 440.13, Florida
   38  
   39  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   40  And the title is amended as follows:
   41         Between lines 27 and 28
   42  insert:
   43         providing requirements for the selection of an expert
   44         medical advisor;