Workers Compensation: The Company Doctor and Independent Medical Exams (IMEs)

If your employer has a list of doctors – often called a "panel of physicians" or a "panel of doctors" – posted at the work site, you must treat with one of these company doctors for the first 90 days of the disability in order to be compensated for any medical bills. If you choose to treat with a personal physician, your employer does not have to pay any medical bills until after the first 90 days of the disability. If a panel of doctors is not posted at the work site, you have the right to see a personal physician and to receive payment for medical bills from the start.

If a company doctor recommends extensive or invasive surgery, you have the right to seek a second opinion and to have your employer's insurance company pay for that visit. However, any medical services recommended by the doctor giving the second opinion must be carried out by a company doctor for the first 90 days of treatment.

After 90 days from the first treatment with a company doctor, you have the right to choose a personal doctor, chiropractor, or other "practitioner of the healing arts." Your employer's insurance company needs to be notified within five days of this change to ensure that your doctor is paid. You also have the right to refuse to have a representative of the insurance company present during examinations with a personal doctor. However, your employer can request that you see a company doctor once every six months during your workers compensation process.

Doctor visits requested by your employer are referred to as Independent Medical Exams, or IMEs. During these exams, you are seen by a physician who is being paid by the employer's insurance company. After undergoing these evaluations, the doctor may find that you are no longer injured and therefore capable of returning to work. Because the physician who is doing the IME is paid by your employer's insurance company, it is not unusual to have this doctor conclude that you are no longer injured.

You may agree with this physician and return to work, or you may not agree with the physician because you feel too injured to return to work. If you disagree with the physician and do not return to work, chances are your employer will file a Petition to Terminate, Modify, or Suspend your workers compensation benefits. A workers compensation judge is going to have to decide if compensation benefits can continue. This is a lengthy process that could involve as many as three or four hearings. Once again, we recommend consulting an attorney before the payments are stopped.

Did the Company Doctor Approve You for Work Even Though You're Still Inujured? Contact Our Pennsylvania Workers Comp Law Firm Today