FROM: Barbara Hannah, Chief Counsel
SUBJECT: 2021 Medical Advisor Panel and Hearing Officer Panel
RECOMMENDATION:
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Approve the 2021 Medical Advisor Panel and Hearing Officer Panel; approve the Board adjusting the hearing officer's hourly rate to $200 per hour.
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BACKGROUND:
Annually, the Board reviews, considers, and determines the members of the Medical Advisor and Hearing Officer panels for the upcoming calendar year. On January 9, 2020, the Board approved both the current Medical Advisor and Hearing Officer panels.
Medical Advisors:
Medical Advisors (MA) are essential to the overall process review of disability retirement cases and lead medical advisors to the Board of Retirement. The MA's recommendation is crucial to the ultimate determination made by the Board on granting or denying a member's disability retirement benefit. Therefore, it is important to have a panel of MAs that will give accurate advice to the Board based upon review and analysis of the medical evidence. At the beginning of 2020, SBCERA approved three doctors to its MA panel, one of which is no longer serving on the panel. Consequently, the Board, at its August 6, 2020, added Dr. Jeffrey Wainstein to the panel. Beginning in 2018, staff started the practice of evaluating the performance of each medical advisor in the following areas:
* Knowledge of the Issues of Disability Retirement;
* Accuracy of the Medical Advisor's Recommendation; and
* The ability to receive and return all assigned files within the required timeframe.
For this evaluation period, staff evaluated Drs. Mohr and Naqvi. Staff agreed that both are knowledgeable on medical issues applicable to disability retirement. Both communicate well with staff and provide clear explanations of medical conditions. As of the date of the evaluations, Dr. Wainstein had yet to complete a review of a case. However, the case Dr. Wainstein completed for the October Board, staff agreed that his report was well...
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