Medical Review Panel

The Board Appeal Tribunal (tribunal) will review the written request and the enabling certificate from a doctor or chiropractor. The tribunal will then determine if the request is based on one or more of the four reasons for a Medical Review Panel outlined in the Act. A written decision will be provided as to whether the Medical Review Panel can proceed. If proceeding, the pre-injury employer will be notified that a Medical Review Panel will be taking place. If the Board Appeal Tribunal finds that the enabling certificate does not qualify, a written decision will be provided to you or your dependant along with a blank new enabling certificate. A new enabling certificate completed by a physician can be provided to board services to start the Medical Review Panel process again. Should a physician charge a fee for completion of the enabling certificate, reasonable costs will be reimbursed by board services upon submission of an invoice.

If the enabling certificate qualifies, board services will provide the worker or deceased worker’s dependant a list of specialists, or specialists and chiropractors, who practice in the field related to the injury in question. Either one chiropractor and a specialist, or two specialists can be chosen for the panel.

To avoid delays, you or your dependant may provide your top four choices of physicians for the panel. The top four choices should be provided to board services ranked in order of preference. An assistant to the board (from the board services department) will begin contacting the physicians in order of preference to ask if they would be interested in sitting on the panel. If each of the top four choices of physicians declines to sit on the panel, the assistant of the board will ask you to make further physician choices from the list that has been provided. The assistant to the board will continue to reach out to the physicians you or your dependant have selected until there are two physicians who agree to participate. 

The WCB will select the chairperson of the panel in consultation with the Saskatchewan Medical Association.

Any physician who filled out the enabling certificate, provided an adverse opinion or is in a conflict of interest cannot be on the panel. The Board Appeal Tribunal will provide a written decision regarding a physician’s eligibility as a panel member and their ability to perform the assessment without bias or the perception of bias. This is in accordance with the principles of natural justice.

The chairperson will contact the other two panel members to set a date, time and location for the panel examination. Once a date is set, board services will notify you of the date, time and locations and will also provide the Medical Review Panel members with all relevant documents from the claim file.

While the Medical Review Panel usually examines you in person, a request can be made for a virtual examination. In the case of a virtual examination, one of the panel members must still be physically present with you to perform an examination.

If applicable, travel expenses, authorized by board services, will be issued to you for travel to Regina or Saskatoon for the examination. The Medical Review Panel may also arrange tests that are required to reach a decision. The Medical Review Panel sets its own procedure once all three panelists are in place.

If the panel is being established on behalf of a deceased worker’s dependant, the chairperson will contact the other two panel members to set a date and time to discuss the medical documentation received from the WCB and come to a consensus regarding the six questions they are tasked with answering for a Medical Review Panel.

The Medical Review Panel sends the WCB a certificate of decision after the panel examination has been completed. This certificate must include:

• Your condition and fitness for employment.
• Why you cannot work, if the panel found the you unfit to work.
• The nature and degree of any limitation in capacity to work caused by the injury the Medical Review Panel reviewed.
• The extent of any permanent functional impairment caused by the injury the Medical Review Panel reviewed.
• Any other medical matters that any member of the Medical Review Panel considers are associated with the claim.

Board services will return the certificate to the Medical Review Panel for clarification if it does not address all of the above items. A complete certificate of decision is binding on you or your dependant and the WCB.

Board services will send you or your dependant a written notice of the panel’s decision within 10 days of receipt of the panel’s decision. The chairperson and members of the Medical Review Panel either destroy the documents they received from the WCB for the Medical Review Panel or return the documents to the WCB to be destroyed within one month of the panel examination.