Rule changes move slower than statutes, but they land on every disputed rating. In May the DWC posted proposed amendments to the QME regulations for public comment. Per the announcement, the proposals: clarify eligibility requirements to become a QME (including for retired physicians); update time requirements for administration of the QME examination and for the Medical Unit to respond to applications; set requirements for availability of office locations with “parameters for listing offices as remote only locations”; require online panel selection for Uninsured Employers Benefit Trust Fund cases; and add additional replacement panel criteria.
The remote-office and replacement-panel items track the two loudest complaints in the med-legal system: panels stacked with far-away or unavailable evaluators, and the fight over when a party gets a new panel. RAND’s 2026 study of 1.75 million panels documented the thin bench outside the metros — our brief on that data — and replacement-panel practice after Vazquez is already a live issue in panel strategy.
The comment window closed May 15, 2026. These are forum-stage proposals — not law yet; formal rulemaking with its own comment period comes next, and nothing changes at an exam until adoption. We’ll cover the adopted text when it lands. The current process, as it stands today: how panels work now · the exam itself.
Plain-language summary for informational use; not legal advice. Figures are quoted from the cited sources.