The carrier (or their defense counsel) can schedule an Independent Medical Examination (IME) for a variety of reasons, including questioning your ongoing care and what is needed for that care, whether your symptoms are related to your work injury, whether you are cleared to return to work and at what level of work (full duty v. light duty), or for any other medical question they have. The carrier pays the cost of the IME (you can get mileage reimbursement). If you fail to attend without a valid reason, the carrier can try to stop wage replacement benefits.
Workers Compensation runs on medical documentation, and if the carrier disagrees with what your treating physician is saying, they need a doctor to support their disagreement before they can really do anything about it. Therefore, the carrier schedules the IME to obtain medical documentation against what your physician wants, which allows the carrier to deny treatment. At that point you may want to contact us as a denial should most likely be challenged.
However, occasionally the IME physician agrees with your treating physician, leaving the insurance carrier with no defense, so the requested treatment is authorized.
The IME physician is not your treating physician and sees you only for that examination.
This article is general information about Virginia workers' compensation and is not legal advice. Every case is different, so please contact us to discuss your individual situation.