Printing - FECA-PT2 - National Association of Letter Carriers

work-related injuries simply because they are imprisoned. Medical treatment and examinations should be
arranged through prison officials. It may be sufficient to obtain routine medical services from the prison
physician. If needed, with cooperation of prison authorities, the claimant may be taken to a specialist's
office or arrangements may be made for the specialist to visit the prison to see the claimant. Such
arrangements may be made not only for treatment and periodic examinations, but also to obtain physical
work limitations for use in determining the estimated earning capacity. Copies of correspondence with
prison officials regarding medical examination and treatment should be sent to the claimant to keep him
or her informed.
2-0810-20 Functional Capacity Evaluations (FCEs)
20. Functional Capacity Evaluations (FCEs). These evaluations may be classified in two types
according to their purpose, duration and content: a general-purpose FCE, and an FCE for placement into
an Occupational Rehabilitation Program (ORP) such as Return to Work or Work Readiness (commonly
called work-hardening, work conditioning, etc.)
a. A CE or SN may authorize a general-purpose FCE in cases where management of disability
calls for clarification of job tolerance, job modifications, etc., and the treating physician, second
opinion or referee specialist recommends or require this service. However, only a Rehabilitation
Specialist can authorize an FCE in connection with an ORP (see PM 2-813).
b. Before authorizing the FCE, the CE or SN should review the case and verify that the injury
occurred more than three months ago, the functional impairment is of moderate to high
complexity, and the services recommended by the physician exceed routine physical performance
tests and measurements (e.g. CPT 97750). More detailed guidelines appear in Chapter 1 of
MEDGUIDE.
c. The CE or SN advises the recommending physician that the FCE is approved. Based on the
severity of the case and whether or not any complicating factors are present, up to eight hours can
be approved for a general-purpose FCE.
d. The CE or SN completes the authorization form and enters the authorization in the "Notes"
section of the Case Management File (CMF). To ensure the accurate processing of bills for the FCE,
the following information must be included: the approved service code, the number of hours
approved, the name of the provider, and, as necessary, the use of modifiers.
The CE or SN also notifies the Field Nurse (FN) assigned to the case of the authorization of the FCE
and provides the FN with a copy of the authorization.
FECA-PT2 Printed: 06/08/2010 352