Garcia, Harold

Applicant Harold Garcia sustained industrial injury to his neck, chest wall, lumbar spine, right shoulder, and psyche while working as a maintenance mechanic on May 15, 2018. After his neurology QME, Dr. Michael Butler, relocated his practice from the Sacramento region to Indio, California, the WCJ found applicant entitled to a replacement QME panel based primarily on the significant increase in travel burden (potentially a three-day trip). Defendant sought removal, arguing geography was only one of multiple factors and that section 4062.3(k) requires using the same QME to the extent possible. The Appeals Board treated the petition as one for reconsideration (because the decision included threshold findings of injury and employment), applied the removal standard, and amended the F&O to find that the evidentiary record did not warrant a replacement QME because there was no medical evidence contraindicating travel and applicant's testimony showed he could navigate air travel. The Board affirmed the WCJ's deferral of whether a reevaluation was necessary and suggested development of the record on the factual dispute over head trauma.