MARGARET URBANEK Applicant
INFINITY HEALTHCARE INC Employer
SOCIETY INSURANCE A MUTUAL CO Insurer
No. 2017-011760
Wisconsin Workers Compensation
State of Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission
June 28, 2019
Attorney Hayley Clark
Attorney Michael H. Gillick
WORKER'S COMPENSATION DECISION
1
Interlocutory
Order
The
commission affirms in part and reverses in
part the decision of the administrative law judge
(ALJ) issued in this matter on April 16, 2018. Accordingly,
within 30 days from this date, Infinity Healthcare, Inc. and
Society Insurance a Mutual Company (respondents) shall pay to
the applicant compensation in the amount of Five Thousand
Five Hundred Forty-Three dollars and Twelve cents
($5,543.12); and to applicant's attorney, Michael H.
Gillick, fees in the amount of One Thousand Four Hundred
Eighty-Five dollars and Seventy-Eight cents ($1,485.78), and
costs in the amount of Four Hundred dollars ($400.00).
Applicant
submitted a WKC-3 that itemizes claims for: (1) unpaid
provider medical expenses; (2) reimbursement due a
nonindustrial insurance carrier for medical expense payments;
and (3) reimbursement due the applicant for out-of-pocket
medical expense, as well as for mileage expense for
treatment.2 The parties appear to have
agreed to a mutual review of these expense/reimbursement
claims, and respondents submitted a post-hearing document
that alleges a total dollar amount of medical expense
payments made, without detailing the particular payments.
There was no post-hearing submission from the applicant in
this regard.
The
commission therefore leaves this order interlocutory
solely with respect to the unresolved issue of
medical expense/reimbursement reasonably incurred up to the
date of hearing, February 20, 2018. The parties shall attempt
to reach agreement with respect to this issue, but if
agreement cannot be reached, jurisdiction is reserved for the
Division to hold a hearing to resolve the issue. No medical
expense/reimbursement shall be due for any treatment/mileage
expense incurred after February 20, 2018. In all other
respects this order is final.
NOTE:
Chairperson Gillick did not participate in the
commission's review or in its decision issued in this
matter.
By the
Commission:
David
B. Falstad, Commissioner, Georgia E. Maxwell, Commissioner.
Procedural
Posture
On May
15, 2017, the applicant submitted a hearing application
claiming bilateral wrist injuries. The date of injury claimed
was October 15, 2016. On February 20, 2018, a hearing was
held before an ALJ of the Department of Administration,
Division of Hearings and Appeals, Office of Worker's
Compensation. On April 16, 2018, the ALJ issued a decision
finding bilateral wrist injuries and awarding compensation as
set forth in his Interlocutory Order. Respondents timely
submitted a petition for commission review alleging error in
the ALJ's decision.
The
commission has carefully considered the petition, the
positions of the parties as set forth in their briefs, and
the entire hearing record. Based on its review and analysis
the commission makes the following:
Findings
of Fact and Conclusions of Law
1. The
applicant, whose birthdate is July 11, 1958, began her
employment with the employer in 2002. The employer is a
medical billing office and the applicant began there as a
coder. This involved bringing up patient diagnoses/treatments
on a computer screen, and then assigning specific codes to
them. The applicant is right-handed and used that hand to
control the computer mouse to bring up the information on her
computer. She also used her right hand to enter numerical
codes, and she used both hands to perform substantial,
repetitive typing duties.3
2. In
2010, the applicant's job classification changed to
coding educator. In that position she again used the computer
mouse to bring up physician treatment documentation, and then
checked the accuracy of that documentation. After performing
these checks, the applicant would email the physician to
inform him/her of any errors found in the documentation. She
used both hands to type these emails. This job also involved
some of the regular coding and typing duties that she had
always performed for the employer. The keyboard the applicant
used for typing was not ergonomically designed.
3. The
applicant had no health concerns until May or June of 2016,
at which time she was at work and experienced pain in her
right wrist, "and all the way up to my elbow
area."4 She thought she had simply
pulled a muscle, or something to that effect, and did not
mention it to the employer. However, her symptoms persisted
and progressed to the point that whenever she would type or
use the mouse, she would experience wrist pain and then
numbness in her fingers.5 A few weeks after she developed her right
wrist symptoms, the same symptoms developed to a lesser
degree in her left wrist.6 The applicant noticed a correlation
between the performance of her work duties and her
symptoms.7
4. The
applicant's work duties continued to provoke her
symptoms, and eventually they became so painful that she
would have to stop and "shake out" her hands before...
