dealing with two doctors

mushroomHR

An employee recently submitted their Certification of Health Care Provider. The doctor answered question number 5, which asks the approximate date the condition commenced and the probable duration of the condition by saying the following: "The condition commenced 6/11 and the patient will be unable to work until he sees a specialist for this condition."

Is this acceptable? Should I return the form to the employee and ask for further clarification from their physician? Or should I give the employee another form for the specialist to complete? To me this is too open-ended. Thanks.

Don D

Yes, you should provide another form to be completed by the specialist. The referring physician won't know the outcome of that visit. I don't ever accept open ended durations unless it's intermittent and not expected to change for at least a year. You might remember the one I had from an engineer that said, "Needed to care for children secondary to his wife's illness, expected to continue until wife has a hysterectomy". Hell, that could be ten years.

mushroomHR

Thanks Don. I thought that's what I should do.