JustHealth

IME Checklist

• Prepare for the evaluation in advance. Prepare a written document listing your medical history and place it in a folder. Do not write the "story of your life." Just list your medical history, dates of diagnosis, physicians treating you, and hospitalizations. Also, put a copy of your social security disability award letter if you have been awarded benefits, in the folder as well as the most recent medical records from each of your doctors. This folder will be given to the IME physician the date of the examination.

• Let your physician know you have been asked to submit to an IME, and make an appointment to be examined by him/her on the same day of the exam. This is very important. You need to make sure there is a record of your physical condition, given by your primary care physician on the same day you are examined by the IME doctor.

• Take someone with you to the exam who can speak for you and take accurate notes of the procedures. Take pictures of any swelling or obvious physical marks in the IME physician's office.

• Do not attempt to exaggerate symptoms or over react when touched or prodded.

• Be cognizant of the fact the IME physician is neither your advocate or medical doctor. Do not ask medical questions about your treatment, and answer only the questions you are asked. Do not contribute information beyond the scope of the examination. In other words, during the IME exam, don't discuss the problems of your life.

• Wear hand/arm braces and use any rehabilitative assistant devices like canes, walkers etc. at least two days before the exam, the day of, and two days after the exam. Be watchful and mindful you are likely to be under surveillance for these days as well. Look for strangers in your neighborhood or unfamiliar cars following you during that time period. If you are on good terms with your neighbors, ask them to alert you if they are contacted by anyone out of the ordinary. Insurance companies frequently use a ruse whereby they call you on the telephone and tell you they want to deliver some sort of mail or package. Be careful of strange phone calls.

• Send the insurance company a request for credentials and other information about the IME physician. Also, request a copy of the report within a reasonable time after the examination.

• Ask for a copy of the in-house physician's report on the IME. The insurance company may or may not give it to you, but ask anyway and get your request on the record. If you are impaired due to a mental or nervous disease, insurance companies will send the IME report to your psychiatrist or therapist, but not to you directly. This is normal, but ask your doctor to obtain it for you.

• Stay calm, and if the IME physician hurts you, say so. No physician likes to have a patient carried out of his office on a stretcher. If the IME physician manipulates you, or physically hurts you to the point of pain, ask for an ambulance to be called, and go to the hospital to be checked out.

• After the exam, go home, relax, and be positive. These exams often have an emotional effect of making you feel guilty, or defeated. Never allow an insurance company to have that much power over you. You showed up for the exam, you did your best, you were honest, and that is the best anyone can do under these circumstances. Whatever conclusi0n the insurance draws from the IME report, has nothing to do with you, or how you presented yourself during the exam.

• If you were asked to submit to a Neuropsychiatry Examination, ask your Neurologist or Psychologist to request a copy of the raw data from the examining IME physician. Remember, a neuropsychiatry IME consists of a battery of tests (raw data) which are compared to normative standards, and then are interpreted. You want to make sure YOUR physician has a chance to "interpret" the results along with the IME physician. Neuropsychological organizations prohibit the sending of raw data to persons not qualified to interpret it, so your raw data results will never be sent to you, and certainly should never be sent to a claims handler or placed in your disability file. However, your Neurologist or Neuropsychiatrist may request and receive the data.