What an IME is, what to expect, and how to prepare. The IME report often decides the disputed claim at the final hearing.
Reviewed by Graham W. Syfert, Esq., Florida Bar No. 39104. Last updated .
An Independent Medical Examination under section 440.13(5), Florida Statutes, is a one-time examination by a doctor selected by the carrier or the worker to address a disputed issue. The IME doctor does not treat. The IME report is evidence at the final hearing. Carrier IMEs are typically defense-friendly.
The IME is a standalone evaluation. The doctor reviews medical records, examines the worker, and writes a report addressing the disputed issue: causation, maximum medical improvement, impairment rating, work restrictions, or future medical care. The doctor does not provide ongoing treatment.
Each side gets one IME per accident, per medical specialty, per claim. The carrier IME is the more common animal. Plaintiff IMEs are useful when the authorized treating physician's opinion does not match the worker's clinical reality.
The same names show up on carrier IME reports across cases. The Office of the Judges of Compensation Claims publishes hearing records that reveal the patterns. A defense lawyer who books the same orthopedist for every back-injury IME is signaling something. Use that pattern in cross-examination.
Discovery into the IME doctor's volume of carrier work, payment relationships, and historical opinions is generally permitted. Pull the discovery before the deposition.
The visit takes 20 to 60 minutes, sometimes less. The doctor reviews records (sometimes in the room with the worker, sometimes before), takes a history, performs a physical examination, and may order or review imaging. The worker should answer questions truthfully and consistently with what the worker has told treating physicians.
Surveillance often accompanies an IME. Carriers commonly hire investigators to observe the worker on the day of the IME and the days surrounding it. Live the day honestly. Do what you would do on any other day. Inconsistencies between IME observations and surveillance footage become deposition fodder.
Get the report as soon as it is filed. Read it carefully. Identify factual errors (wrong dates, wrong body parts, wrong mechanism), opinions outside the doctor's specialty, and conclusions unsupported by the documented examination findings. Each becomes cross-examination material.
Schedule the IME doctor's deposition. The deposition is the chance to expose bias, expose factual errors, and develop the record for the final hearing.
When IMEs from each side conflict, the Judge of Compensation Claims may appoint an Expert Medical Advisor under section 440.13(9). The EMA's opinion carries presumptive weight. EMA appointments are infrequent, but in disputed cases they can be decisive.