It shall be the policy of the board to issue an order for an examination by a health care provider of the carrier's choice within 30 days after initial date of filing with the board a combination form entitled carrier's request for permission or requested medical examination order.
  (1) The carrier shall send the properly completed combination form to the claimant or his attorney by certified mail, with a copy to the board.
  (2) The claimant or attorney is required to respond to the request for permission within 10 days from receipt of the request in the space provided at the bottom of the combination form. The response by claimant's attorney shall be returned to the carrier by certified mail with a copy forwarded to the board. An unrepresented claimant may use a return envelope provided by the carrier, and the carrier shall immediately file the claimant's response with the board.
  (3) An order will not be necessary if the claimant or his attorney agrees to the examination. An examination by agreement will have the same force and effect as a formal board order. If permission is neither granted nor refused within 10 days from receipt by the claimant or his attorney, the board shall enter a formal order directing the examination as requested by the carrier.
  (4) All examinations available under this section must be scheduled as soon as possible, with at least 10 days notice to the claimant or his attorney.
  (5) If the examiner of the carrier's choice finds that the claimant is able to return to work and compensation is being paid, the case will be set on the next available prehearing docket, but in no event will the scheduled prehearing conference be more than 30 days from receipt of the carrier's request for prehearing conference if the request is accompanied by the carrier's examiner's report.

Source Note: The provisions of this §69.15 adopted to be effective February 19, 1988, 13 TexReg 617.