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Frequently Asked Questions & Helpful Tidbits
I IME, Inc.,
was established in 1986 and has providing Medical Legal Consultant services working with attorneys, insurance claims
professionals, and other medical professionals. During this time, many first time
medical legal consultant, legal medical record evaluation and physician medical exams clients have had the same questions. We have conveniently gathered
these medical legal consulting questions and provided our IME answers to those who
are not familiar with our medical legal consultant and legal nurse consulting programs. Our team of medical and legal consultant professionals will also
be glad to discuss our medical operations/legal routines with you personally or visit you on-site at your request.
WHAT CAN I DO TO ASSURE RECEIPT OF A COMPREHENSIVE MEDICAL LEGAL EXAMINATION OR INDEPENDENT MEDICAL EVALUATION - IME?
KNOW YOUR MEDICAL FILE!
Obtain appropriate medical records -
especially a police report of the
legal incident if pertinent and ambulance and emergency room records! Although it is not always
possible, every attempt should be made to obtain all pertinent medical records and legal files prior to
the IME. The most important medical legal consultant records to include, besides the
mdical diagnostic testing, are any physician examination notes, physical therapy examination notes, and the initial medical treatment records.
It is also helpful to know what the medical legal claimants chief complaints and physical assessment were at
the time of the accident. This is especially important when the critical IME issues of causality are
being raised.
Independent Medical Evaluations IME, Inc. asks that you provide a
cover letter with specific medical & legal questions you want addressed and
share any pertinent information or concerns with our medical legal nurse consultants. Feel free to
call the Independent Medical Evaluations IME, Inc. corporate office to discuss the legal medical consultant case with one of our
legal nurse consultants at
1-800-968-4637.
WHAT IS AN APPROPRIATE INDEPENDENT MEDICAL EVALUATION - IME?
The primary focus of an IME should be to
gather medical insight from an impartial / independent physician source to answer specific questions
or clarify issues associated with the legal claim and assist in resolving problems with the
medical legal claim. Those medical legal consultant questions may include medical or healthcare issues such as; diagnosis / prognosis, the need
for further treatment, appropriateness of certain medical treatment or physician referrals, causal
relationship, medical disability, and or worker's compensation work issues etc.
The best independent medical examinations are those in which the physican/doctor is provided with all appropriate
medical records and a cover letter with specific medical legal questions / issues to be addressed.
The pPhysician is provided with an actual
physical job description for the examinee when return to work issues or medical claims are in question.
The pPhysician is provided with actual
x-ray films and medical reports to base objective medical opinions on.
The Physician must obtain a detailed medical history of the examinee, including a thorough review of the medical records.
The physician expert must document a detailed independent medical examination that is limited to the specific body part involved in the legal medical claim.
The independent medical physician examination expert must answer your specific medical legal consultants questions with an opinion
within "reasonable medical certainty or probability"
The physician must provide an expert independent medical opinion that is based on the objective medical exam findings, diagnostics physical exam, diagnostics, recent
medical records, pre-accident records and post accident records.
The physician experts are trained to limit legal medical consultant opinions to those specific medical legal questions posed.
WHAT MEDICAL LEGAL CONSULTANTS RED FLAGS SHOULD ALERT YOU TO MEDICAL FRAUD?
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Was the medical legal incident witnessed by a friend or relative?
Did the alleged medical incident happen on a Friday and was NOT reported until Monday?
Find out if legal medial claimant is participating in hobbies. Ask
for details of those hobbies.
Learn the medical legal claimants medical history. Ask specific medical legal questions such as have you ever had any accidents, hospitalization, surgeries,
or illness. Have you ever seen a chiropractor? Were you ever seen in the hospital emergency room?
Be suspicious if a medical legal claimant goes directly to a chiropractor for medical treatment after an incident -
chances are they have treated for the medical injury before.
Watch for excessive complaints of physicial pain. For example, if the medical legal claimant has an alleged lower back
injury and complains of pain in the shoulders, elbows, hands, knees and over the entire body.
If the medical legal claimant walks with a limp, notice how he walks on his toes. The limp should still be present.
Get names of all the doctors the medical legal claimant has seen. If medical legal claimant says
they did not like a particular doctor, chances are he really didn't like what the doctor had to say. Legal Discovery may be just a phone call away.
Worker's Compensation medical claims often occur prior to seasonal layoffs. Does the medical legal claimant work
well with supervisors? Get employee work attendance records from the employer. Does claimant like the company, or just
may be getting even with the company for a previous job dismissal?
Why use Independent Medical Evaluations - IME, Inc. to set up and coordinate medical legal consultants, IMEs, or legal nurse consulting services when I could do it myself directly?
More than ever, independent medical evaluations and medical legal consulting services are being arranged and coordinated by private firms such
as IME Inc. We have at our fingertips large panels of medical legal consultants and independent physician experts that represent all medical specialties in numerous locations in all 50 states convenient to the claimants
nationwide. We are able to provide medical legal consultant resources, legal nurse consulting knowledge and medical physician exam efficiency
to medical legal claims management often resulting in enormous savings to the liable party. [See IME "Services"]
What is the Medical Legal Nurse Consultants, Legal Nurse Consulting (LNC) role in the Independent Medical Evaluation (Legal IME) process?
The results of an independent medical evaluation (IME) can be crucial in determining the outcome of your
medical legal case. A legal nurse consultant LNC can strengthen your position and contribute to the satisfactory resolution of your medical legal consultants case by . . . .
Reviewing the medical records and offering recommendations on an appropriate physician
selection based on medical reasoning which will provide you with a more focused independent physician exam and medical legal consultant report, potentially eliminating the need for unnecessary and costly physician medical examinations.
Identifying the
pertinent legal medical records needed to fully discover the medical legal case and provide for an objective,
comprehensive, value added medical report from the physician. This will help you make informed decisions on the direction of your medical legal case.
Determining the appropriate timing of the IME from both a medical and strategic legal standpoint, potentially
eliminating the need for addendums or multiple IMEs, saving you time and money.
Providing
information about medical legal consultant options (i.e. Physical Medicine consultations) which could potentially
avoid reaching a premature settlement based on MMI.
Screening reports
to make sure all pertinent medical issues and legal questions were addressed and assist the
adjuster/attorney in obtaining any additional medical legal consultants information or clarifications from the
physicians. In addition, the legal nurse consulting LNC will focus on the reports objectivity,
thoroughness, consistency and balance. Our goal at IME, Inc. is to exceed your expectations!
Medical Legal Consulting with
clients to avoid misinterpretation of the report, avoiding decisions that could negatively impact the case, especially if costly litigation is an issue. Our
medical legal nurse consultants (LNCs) are also available to consult on the medical-legal issues, offering an expert independent medical legal consultant opinion on the compensability of your
case. [See IME "Legal Nurse Consultants"]
Top
Independent Medical Evaluations, Inc. Corporate Office
IME, Inc.
Lee Plaza, 3881 M-72 East
Williamsburg, MI 49690
Phone: (231) 929-1474
Toll-Free: (800) 968-4637
Fax: (231) 929-4356
Email: info@imei.com
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