Medical Expenses

• Jurisdiction: Maryland

X. MEDICAL EXPENSES

A. In General

The employer has an obligation to pay, for the worker's lifetime, all medical, surgical, and nursing expenses required by the injury, as well as the cost of prosthetic devices.³³² This includes reasonable and necessary transportation expenses for travel to and from medical treatment.³³³ This obligation may also include the cost of necessary modifications of the employee's home and motor vehicle which are required for access to necessities, and are not merely for the improvement of the quality of life.³³⁴

The injured worker is permitted to choose his or her own physician for treatment.³³⁵

A device or service that is not inherently medical in nature, such as an alarm system for a victim of a crime or a weight-loss program for an obese worker, may qualify as medical treatment if it provides therapeutic medical relief from the effects of the injury.³³⁶

The employer is not responsible for the cost of a medical examination for the purpose of testimony or evaluation rather than treatment.³³⁷

A spouse may be compensated for acting as nurse for his or her disabled spouse, but such services must be extraordinary, unusual, and clearly above and beyond the usual call of the marital obligation.³³⁸

B. Amounts Payable

The Commission publishes a Medical Fee Schedule pursuant to LAB. & EMPL. § 9-663, which sets limits on the amount an employer must pay for various types of medical and surgical treatment.³³⁹ The employee is not liable for the remainder of the cost of medical treatment which exceeds the amount approved by the Commission.³⁴⁰

The Commission is also empowered to regulate medical fees for evaluation of disability and fees for medical testimony.³⁴¹

A health care provider must present a claim for payment of medical expenses to the Commission rather than suing in court.³⁴²

C. Refusal to Accept Medical Treatment

If...