When?
The closure of an Oregon Workers’ Compensation claim occurs when an accepted disabling medical condition is medically stationary, and the insurance company has sufficient information to determine permanent partial disability and issue a Notice of Closure. There are a few issues an injured worker can appeal from a Notice of Closure.
What Happens?
When your claim is closed, a few things happen. First, any temporary total or partial disability benefits stop. You are also no longer eligible for any medical care that seeks to restore your physical abilities or function, although other kinds of medical care are available after claim closure.
What's In The Notice of Closure?
The Notice of Closure tells you the status of your work release. You may have permanent work restrictions, or be released back to your job at injury. The closure also provides the dates that your health care provider took you off work, and released you to perform any kind a modified work.
The Notice of Closure will tell you if you are entitled to a permanent partial disability as a result of your accepted condition, and the benefit calculation. You also learn the date your condition became medically stationary, and when your aggravation benefits expire.
What Else?
The Notice of Closure is not the only document you receive at claim closure. You also receive an Updated Notice of Acceptance. This document notifies you of the medical conditions the insurance company accepted as part of your claim. You can ask the insurance company to include additional conditions as part of your Notice of Acceptance.
What Can You Do?
The most important thing to remember is that you have sixty days from the date of the Notice of Closure to file an appeal. The appeal is called a "Request for Reconsideration." You can raise many issues at reconsideration.
What Do We Do?
When we review the Notice of Closure, we confirm whether your doctor actually found you medically stationary, and check the permanent partial disability benefit calculation. We also make sure the the insurer is taking responsibility for all the work related injuries to determine whether we need to file a new or omitted medical condition claim. Depending upon the evidence in the claims file, we may recommend that our client appeal the Notice of Closure and file a Request for Reconsideration.
If you have questions about a Notice of Closure, and want to know your options, contact us. We offer over twenty years’ experience helping injured workers in Oregon.
