Ohio Administrative Code › Title 3307:1 - Defined Benefit › Chapter 3307:1-7 - Disability Benefits › Section 3307:1-7-03 - Disability - medical evidence and appointments

Current through all regulations passed and filed through July 1, 2024
Each applicant or recipient shall be responsible for providing
				medical evidence needed by the retirement system and  for cooperating
				fully with all assigned medical examinations, as follows:
(A) Medical evidence or reports from an
			 attending physician shall be filed with the retirement system within fifteen
			 calendar days of the date the retirement system requests such information. The
			 information shall provide objective and pertinent medical evidence supporting
			 the conditions the applicant or recipient claims as disabling.
(B) The retirement system shall provide
			 written notice of the independent medical examiners who will conduct medical
			 examinations and testing. The applicant or recipient shall, within fifteen days
			 of notice from the retirement system, schedule appointments so that examination
			 or testing is completed within the following ninety days, as instructed in the
			 notice. In the event the appointment times available with an independent
			 medical examiner preclude completion of the examination or testing within
			 ninety days, a request for extension to the earliest practicable appointment
			 date may be granted by the retirement system.
(C) The applicant or recipient shall travel
			 to the offices of the assigned independent medical examiners, unless the
			 chair of the medical review board determines that
			 medical evidence submitted by the attending physician
			 of the applicant or recipient demonstrates that he or she is medically
			 unable to travel to the examination site. A request that the
			 chair of the medical review board make such a
			 determination shall be made by the applicant or recipient within fifteen days
			 of notice of the assignment of the independent medical examiners.
(D) The applicant or recipient shall be
			 responsible for all travel costs incurred.
(E) The retirement system will accept
			 responsibility only for the cost of the independent medical examination
			 assigned by the retirement system and requested testing completed at the
			 independent medical examiner's office. The retirement system will also accept
			 responsibility for a missed appointment fee if an applicant or recipient fails
			 for good cause demonstrated to the retirement system to keep the first
			 appointment scheduled with an independent medical examiner, but in no case will
			 payment of more than one such fee per applicant or recipient be made.
(F) An applicant or recipient may request an
			 extension or exception to the foregoing requirements. Any such request shall be
			 in writing directed to the retirement system, and will be granted only if the
			 request demonstrates good cause to the retirement system in its sole
			 discretion. In the event an applicant fails to carry out the foregoing duties
			 in a timely manner, the application for disability benefits will be cancelled.
			 In the event a recipient fails to carry out the foregoing duties in a timely
			 manner, notice will be given by the retirement system to the recipient that the
			 failure will be deemed a refusal if the required examinations and testing are
			 not completed by a specified date. If the recipient has not by that date
			 submitted to the required examination and/or testing, benefits will be
			 suspended as of the first of the month following the specified date. If the
			 failure continues for one year or the disability benefit is terminated for any
			 reason during the one-year period, all of the recipient's rights to the
			 disability benefits shall be terminated as of the effective date of the
			 original suspension.
(G) Any costs
			 incurred by the applicant or recipient in the application
			 or reexamination process, except as noted in this rule, will not be reimbursed by the
			 retirement system.