What the panel ordered
Petition for reconsideration granted; WCJ decision affirmed except amended to require parties to meet and confer on selection of an Agreed Medical Evaluator (AME) before appointing Dr. Anderson as regular physician if no agreement; matter returned to trial level for further proceedings.
Defendant sought removal or reconsideration of the WCJ's October 3, 2024 Findings and Orders replacing QME Dr. Bronshvag with Dr. Anderson as regular physician; WCJ had found good cause for replacement under Labor Code section 5701.
What was disputed, and how it came out
Each issue the panel decided, with the reasoning it gave. An outcome is what this panel did on this record — not a rule, and not a prediction.
The WCJ found good cause to replace QME Dr. Bronshvag due to incomplete and inconsistent medical opinions and the inability to obtain a QME panel in internal medicine oncology, and appointed Dr. Anderson as regular physician; the WCAB affirmed but required parties to meet and confer on an AME before Dr. Anderson's appointment.
From the decision · page 3On October 3, 2024, the WCJ issued the F&O, finding in relevant part "good cause to replace QME, Michael Bronshvag, M.D., with Scott T. Anderson, M.D., who I will appoint as a regular physician pursuant to section 5701, to succeed him with respect to evaluation and reporting on all the relevant internal medicine medical/legal issues posed by this case." (Finding of Fact No. 3.)