AOECOE - Not Just Another Acronym
California Senate Bill 863 was passed in the fall of 2012 and went into effect on January 1, 2013. Senate Bill 1062 was just signed into law by Governor Mary Fallin of Oklahoma and will take effect January 1, 2014. On April 30, 2013, Tennessee Governor, Bill Haslam, signed into effect Senate Bill 200. House Bill 154 is expected to go into effect in Georgia in July, 2013. What are these bills? The first of many sweeping Workers' Compensation reforms. A common theme in these bills and other pending reforms is to level the playing field for employers and accept only those claims that arise out of the course and scope of employment, AOECOE.
A well-known term of art in the Workers' Compensation arena, AOECOE is not just an acronym. It is transitioning from a term of art to a statement with teeth, as reforms are actually including such wording into bills. The purpose of doing this is to establish whether an employee's alleged injury is work-related and happened in the course and scope of employment, or whether the injury is non-industrial or affected by third parties.
Workers' Compensation is a no fault system and thus benefits the injured worker, as, in order to receive benefits, he or she does not need to prove that the employer was negligent. However, it is the injured party's burden to show that the injury did, in fact, occur while at work, while employed as an employee and while undertaking some activity for the benefit of the employer. The injury itself must have been caused by the accident or employment conditions, and not from some other non-industrial related factors or degenerative factors.
The determination of AOECOE has long been an OSHA policy. OSHA's Injury and Illness Recordkeeping Regulation Section 1904.5: Determination of work-relatedness contained under section (a) basic requirement states in order for an injury or illness to be work-related an event or exposure in the work environment is either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing injury or illness. Work-relatedness is presumed for injuries and illnesses resulting from events or exposures occurring in the work environment.
California's SB 863 was signed into law by Governor Brown on September 18, 2012, for a January 1, 2013, effective date. While certainly not the first bill to consider AOECOE issues, it is one of the most significant Workers' Compensation reform bills to specify AOECOE language. SB 863 calls for an Independent Medical Review (IMR). While this process may be problematic for an employer, since an IMR can be requested only by an injured worker following a denial, modification, or delay of a treatment request through the utilization review (UR) process, the bill specifically states that this does not apply if the injury is in question for AOECOE reasons.
On May 8, 2013, Oklahoma Governor Fallin signed into law historic Workers' Compensation reform, Senate Bill 1062. The bill defines compensable injury as arising out of the course and scope of employment and does not include: any strain, degeneration damage or harm to disease or condition of the eye or musculoskeletal structure or other body part resulting from the natural result of aging, osteoarthritis, degenerative process or pre-existing, except if a treating physician clearly confirms an identifiable and significant aggravation arising out of AOECOE.
On April 29, 2013, Tennessee Governor Haslam signed a Workers' Compensation reform bill into law, SB 200. It specifies that injuries arise out of and in the course and scope of employment only if proven by a preponderance of evidence that employment contributed more than 50% to causing the injury, AOECOE.
In my experience, the majority of injuries are real, but they are not AOECOE. Injured parties may exaggerate the severity and extent of their injuries or may attempt to hide pre-existing conditions. So how do any employers determine if injuries are AOECOE? The answer is simple. They need to ascertain what the employees' statuses are pre-injury. This is effectively done with baseline testing.
Baseline testing is a bookend solution. To be effective, it should be objective, meet the criteria for evidenced-based medicine, be job related and consistent with medical necessity. It needs to be specific to the metrics being evaluated. A good example of a specific baseline test that is recognized in some jurisdictions by statute is audiometric testing. Hearing tests are routinely done in environments with high noise exposure to determine a baseline that is referenced once a claim is filed. This is commonly referred to as the lock box defense.
Audiometric testing is beneficial for documenting hearing loss but is not designed to address other conditions such as musculoskeletal disorders (MSD). MSDs are the most frequent and costly claims for an employer. In order for a baseline test to be utilized for MSD, it must not only be objective and reproducible, it must contain measurements to ascertain electromyography (EMG), range of motion (ROM) and function.
In addition, baseline testing must be legally defensible. In 1990, Congress enacted the Americans with Disabilities Act that outlines what makes a legally defensible test. To be legally defensible, the testing needs to be job-related and consistent with business necessity i.e. the employer must show that it "substantially promote[s]" the business' needs. It must be repeatable, objective and address functionality. Also, since baseline testing is considered to be a medical exam, it needs to evaluate some functions of the job.
Baseline testing is not a post-offer, pre-placement test, as it can not identify disability because the data is not read and no hiring decisions are made with baseline evaluations. When a work-related injury occurs, a post loss test is conducted, at which time the baseline test is read and compared to the post loss results, hence the bookends.
When compared, the results can determine if an injury exists and if it has arisen out of the course and scope of employment, thus determining an employer's true responsibility. Good baseline testing is non-discriminatory and prevents "false" claims. The sweeping Workers' Compensation reforms allow for a new definition of "false" claim: one that is not AOECOE. A false claim no longer means fraud! A proven example of an effective baseline test is the EFA-STM.
Workers' Compensation statutes are helping employers by allowing them to accept the claims that are only AOECOE. Employers need to see that they comply with legislation, and baseline testing now gives them an objective assessment to do just that.
