How &/or Why Become an IME
Doctor or Independent Medical Examiner?
I get the below questions
often, so I decided to create a page answering them.
FYI ... Any doctor can do
IME's, including MD, PhD, DO (doctor of
osteopathy), Chiropractic doctors.
I am a semi-retired (or
retired) board certified doctor. I am looking to
do from home with no (or some) traveling. I am
trying to decide if doing IMEs makes sense for me.
These are all excellent questions.
WHO ARE IME DOCTORS & WHAT
DO THEY DO?
Typically IMEs are physicians
that do insurance examinations for:
- Insurance companies
- Law firms
- Case managers /
adjusters
- Government agencies
- Independent medical
companies
- 3rd party administrators
- Others
The IME will review medical
records and often examine the examinee. Then do a case
review and write a report, and perhaps testify at a
deposition or trial or hearing.
- Many if not most of my
IME members are doctors who are RETIRED from
their clinical practice.
- Being Board Certified
more than qualifies a doctor to do IMEs
- Some providers
prefer board certification, but it is not required
- But I have members who
are doctors / physicians that are NOT board certified.
- Simply being an MD or
PhD or other such other related moniker is suitable
enough to qualify to do IME's
- An IME doctor must have
an active Medical License in the state they do
exams in
- IME physicians are
mostly hired in Defense cases, but sometimes by the
Plaintiff as well
HOW MUCH MONEY
$$$$ CAN IMEs MAKE?
According to
www.SEAK.com 2015
IME Fee Survey, they found:
- Average IME cost was
$1,577
- IMEs earn between $600 -
$1,500+ / exam
- If IMEs do multiple
exams / day, then they can earn $150,000+ / year
- A slight majority charge
flat fees
- Average length for the
entire IME process (record review, examination and
report writing was approximately 4.5 hours
- This means that on
average, IMEs earned $356 / hour
- The specialties with the
longest average IMEs were all mental health
professionals (psychiatry and psychology)
- Average no-show fee was
$562
-
www.seak.com/expert-witness-fee-study/ - great
detailed facts & fees list
-
http://store.seak.com/products.php?product=2017-Survey-of-Expert-Witness-Fees
- this report costs $100
Here is a WA state government
detailed fee schedule:
Some private fee schedules:
Being a Expert Medical
Witness or Expert Witnessing can be very lucrative, and is
intellectually challenging. It is also a great means
to utilize your existing and well established professional
skills.
Yes, you can earn significant
extra revenue by performing file reviews, writing reports,
serving as an expert legal witness &/or consulting.
The best way to develop and
maintain a successful and lucrative expert witness practice
is by finding and retaining counsel or getting attorney
clients, thus earning repeat business. Also, one
should target a niche market.
WORK FROM HOME
Best of all, much of the time
devoted to this business is usually spent on document and
file reviews, research, and report writing. All of
this can be done from your home office.
Of course, if you choose to
interview patients in person, what many of my clients to is
rent office space say 1-4 days of every month...
TRAVEL TIP / VACATION IRS
TAX WRITE OFF
Some of my members are very
smart, in that let's say they have a condo in Florida.
Well they rent office space for 1 day's worth of work in
seeing patients, while they may stay there for 2 weeks.
Thus, they get to write off their vacation as a business
expense.
- I am no CPA so I do not
know all the tax write off rules. But if you are a
doctor, you more than likely have a CPA, and they would
know.
CERTIFICATIONS
If you want to pay extra, you
can get some "IME Certifications" from:
-
www.SEAK.com (great
courses)
-
www.Abime.org - ABIME
Certified Independent Examiner
-
IAIME -
International Academy of Independent Medical
Evaluators.
Certified MedicoLegal
Evaluator
HOW TO GET CLIENTS
Read my page on
Why Join this IME
Directory.
- Also consider joining my
"competition" for additional IME education
IME doctors enjoy many
advantages such as:
- Lucrative potential to
generate substantial additional income
- Control over your
schedule
- Diversify your practice
and sources of income
- Assignments are
intellectually challenging
- Very low risk compared
to clinical medicine, because there is no physician /
patient relationship
- So there is very
little malpractice concerns
- Extremely low overhead
- Need very little
equipment
- Most or all work can be
done from your home office - an IRS tax write off
- What you learn often
improves your clinical and computer skills
Here is a sample blank IME
fee schedule:
Why Join this IME Directory
of Independent Medical Examiners Doctors?
How
to Become an IME
Doctor or Independent Medical Examiner?
JOIN NOW
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