Medical Certification Example: Please read
Redbudpt
55 Posts
We had an employee miss a few of hours of work two weeks in a row. She then called me and told me that she has a heart condition (tachycardia) and that she was having problems and had a heart cath done and was needing to go to the Dr. again for a follow up. I sent her medical certification and am having problems with determining if this would qualify as a chronic condtion that would fall under the FMLA just based on the Dr.'s answers. Would you please take a look at this and give me your thoughts?
1.) Approximate date condition commenced: Heart Cath Done 4/24/09.
Probable duration of condition: left blank Dates treated patient: 4/16/09, 4/24/09 and 5/01/09- follow up
Will patient need to have treatment visits at least twice per year due to condition? No
Was medication other than over the counter medication prescribed? Yes
Was the patient referred to other health care provider for evaluation or treatment? Yes. for tachycardia
2.) Is the medical condition pregnancy? No
3.) Is the employee unable to perform any of his/her job functions due to the condition? Yes
If so Identify the job functions the employee is unable to perform: Left blank (I am currently checking on this one to see if they can list the duties of if this was an error)
4.) Destribe other relevant medical facts....: Patient will need to be off day of procedure and day after, but may require leave for pain at incision (the employee took off a few hours the day of since the procedure was in the afternoon and the next day was a saturday)
5.) Will the employee be incapacitated for a single continuous period of time due to his/her medical condition.... No
6.) Will the employee need to attend follow up treatment appointments or work parttime: No
7.) Will the condition cause episodic flare ups periodically preventing the employee from performing his or her job functions? NO
Comments
Unfortunately, prescription medication constitutes a regimen of continuing care, so just about anything for which the doctor prescribes medicine can be FMLA qualified on that basis if the incapacity criterion is met. 29CFR 829.115: "(2) Treatment by a health care provider on at least one occasion, which results in a regimen of continuing treatment under the supervision of the health care provider." Of course, treatment includes diagnosis and monitoring of a condition, so this part of the test is probably met.
As far as incapacity is concerned, this is how they get you: "(2) A condition that would likely result in a period of incapacity of more than three consecutive, full calendar days in the absence of medical intervention or treatment, such as cancer (chemotherapy, radiation, etc.), severe arthritis (physical therapy), or kidney disease (dialysis)." (also 829.115)
What happens if Tachycardia is left untreated? Would it result in more than 3 consecutive full calendar days of incapacity? I think it can kill you.
These two parts of the regs, together, open the floodgates and were not addressed in the recent changes.
What happens if Tachycardia is left untreated? Would it result in more than 3 consecutive full calendar days of incapacity? I think it can kill you.
These two parts of the regs, together, open the floodgates and were not addressed in the recent changes.
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It can. . very quickly. On the other hand I agree it is FMLA qualified.
[quote user="IT HR"]I am really surprised by some of the doctors answers as the situation could potentially be worse after the procedure is done and they find out what is really going on. I would think the doctor would want to leave some room in case other treatment or procedures are required. I agree that this is FMLA qualified.[/quote]
This is a common complaint among medical professionals. The document's general language and direction of questioning presents itself as a request for the one true status of the patient and an infallible prediction of the one true outcome. Adjusted language would help a lot. You can do significantly better with a custom letter but it takes a lot of time to write a good one and you should expect to put it through legal review before using.