how to become a designated doctor?

If you are not yet a Designated Doctor with the Texas Department of Insurance, Workers’ Compensation Division, then you will need to follow the steps outline below in becoming credentialed. Once you are credentialed and your profile is complete on the TXCOMP website, you will begin receiving assignments of patients. The patients that you will see will require a history and physical exam at a minimum and there will be certain questions that will be asked of you, including:

1. Determine maximum medical improvement (MMI)
2. Determine impairment rating (IR)
3. Determine the ability of the employee to return to work
4. Determine the extent of the employee’s compensable injury
5. Determine whether the employee’s disability is a direct result of the work related injury
6. Other question(s)

In order to answer the questions above in your patient dictations you will require a certain amount of training in the form of a course, as well as some training and orientation provided by our company.
 
 

step 1: call us

Please contact either the Medical Director or Physician Administrator at (940) 497-4204 for an in-depth understanding of the credentialing process.

 

step 2: take an accredited IR training course

This course is very similar to any CME course that you have taken. It is classroom style, presented in a large city hotel, with lectures given by a number of people with slides and hand-out material.
 
The course is primarily given by either of two accredited entities: Texas Medical Association (TMA) or the American Academy of Disability Evaluating Physicians (AADEP). The course lasts for two days and is usually given on a Friday and a Saturday. The next scheduled events are hosted by AADEP:

• February 10-11 at the Renaissance Hotel in Dallas
• March 30-31 at the Marriott Hotel in Houston
• June 1-2 at the Hilton Palacio del Rio in San Antonio
  

 
                    

step 3: get the book A.M.A. Guides

It will be necessary for you to obtain a copy of the American Medical Association’s book called Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, Fourth Edition. Please call the AMA at (800) 621-8335 and order a copy over the phone. This is the book that you will need to study to participate in the IR course and it is the book that is necessary to study in order to take and pass the test. I would recommend that you have a copy with you when you arrive at the course. This book contains all of the information needed to create an impairment rating on a patient. It is based on 15 chapters:

1. Impairment Evaluation
2. Records and Reports
3. The Musculoskeletal System
4. The Nervous System
5. The Respiratory System
6. The Cardiovascular System
7. The Hematopoietic System
8. The Visual System
9. Ear, Nose, Throat, and Related Structures
10. The Digestive System
11. The Urinary and Reproductive Systems
12. The Endocrine System
13. The Skin
14. Mental and Behavioral Disorders
15. Pain

The majority of the test that you will take is based on the first 138 pages of the book, which is primarily about the musculoskeletal system. This is where you will concentrate a great deal of your study. The first 138 pages are also the basis of probably 95-96 percent of your exams when you finally begin seeing patients.
 
 

step 4: take the north texas medical evaluators
training and orientation course

This is an intense study seminar that lasts 4-6 hours and helps prepare the new Designated Doctor prospects for the upcoming impairment rating test. This is a practical problem solving course that encourages audience participation in a round table discussion of how to compute impairment ratings on patients. Once a student has completed this course he will be prepared to take the test. The course is administered by one of our qualified Designated Doctors. This course is well worth attending. Please call (940) 497-4204 for more information.
 
 

step 5: take the IR exam

The IR test is given by three state approved entities:

• American Academy of Expert Medical Evaluators (AAEME)
  www.aaeme.com
  (800) 639-1233
   
  
• National Assessment Institute
  www.nainst.com
  (866) 570-6200
   
• AADEP
  www.aadep.org
  (800) 456-6095

The impairment rating test formerly was offered online for your convenience. However, it no longer is offered online and must be taken either after the course on Saturday afternoon at the course site in person, or, it can be taken at a Sylvan Learning Center by making arrangements with the nearest Sylvan Learning Center. Please go to this web site to learn about this method of test taking: www.aaeme.com/tirsat_sylvan.asp. The test is an open book test and generally lasts four hours. You must bring a copy of the book, Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, Fourth Edition published by the American Medical Association.
 
 

step 6: become a credentialed designated doctor

Once you have passed the IR test, there is a waiting period of three weeks to two months in which the Texas Dept of Insurance, Workers’ Comp. Div. takes to credential your name into the record. Once this has occurred, then you are eligible to begin receiving patient assignments. We will tell you more about this process once you have contracted with our company.
 
 

step 7: begin receiving patients

When you have gone through all of the steps and begin receiving patients, our staff of dedicated workers will do so many things for you that you will really enjoy doing this type of work. We are always ready to assist you in all aspects of this very interesting niche of medicine, so do not hesitate to call on each and every one of us.
    
 
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