Independent medical examination: Deadlines, Tactics and Common Mistakes

The IME physician is paid by the carrier — a fact that shapes the report. Answer questions truthfully and completely, describe bad days accurately, and never exaggerate (surveillance tests credibility).

This stage in the process

Claims are procedural contests as much as medical ones — every stage has a deadline, and the carrier’s file builds from your first words on the first call.

What actually moves the needle

The IME physician is paid by the carrier — a fact that shapes the report. Answer questions truthfully and completely, describe bad days accurately, and never exaggerate (surveillance tests credibility).

• Keep a claim journal: every call, date, name and promise.
• Send everything certified or through the carrier’s portal with confirmation.
• Escalate to a disability attorney at the first denial — not the second.

Mistakes at this stage

Over-volunteering activity levels, missing written deadlines while ‘waiting to hear back,’ and treating the adjuster as an ally. None of these lose claims by themselves; together they build the file the denial cites.

Independent medical examination: the deadline is carrier-scheduled — calendar it the day the claim opens.