What Is IME Coordination — And Why Your Cases Depend on Getting It Right

IME coordination involves more than scheduling a date. Here's what workers' comp and personal injury professionals need to know — and what can go wrong without a specialist.

If you've worked a workers' compensation or personal injury case, you know an Independent Medical Examination (IME) is one of the most consequential appointments on the file. The IME report can shape a settlement, challenge a treating physician's findings, or determine a claimant's maximum medical improvement. What often gets overlooked is how much the outcome depends on how the IME was coordinated — before the claimant ever walks in the door.

What IME Coordination Actually Involves

IME coordination is not simply calling a doctor's office and booking a time slot. Done correctly, it includes:

• Obtaining the IME physician name and facility address from the requesting attorney or adjuster
• Confirming the appointment date and time directly with the IME facility — not the claimant's treating physician
• Reaching the claimant, explaining the appointment clearly, and confirming their availability
• Providing the claimant with the correct address, arrival time, what to bring, and what to expect
• Documenting that the IME is at the request of the insurer or employer — never characterizing it as a treating physician visit
• Confirming claimant attendance immediately after the IME and reporting back to the requesting party the same day

Each of these steps has downstream consequences if skipped or handled incorrectly.

Where Things Go Wrong

The most common IME coordination failures we see:

• Claimant no-shows due to unclear communication about the appointment's purpose or location
• Rescheduling delays that push back the entire case timeline by weeks
• Documentation gaps where no confirmation was sent to all parties in writing
• Mischaracterization of the IME — claimants who believe they're seeing their own doctor show up unprepared or hostile, affecting the exam outcome
• Missed follow-up — the exam happened, but nobody confirmed attendance or retrieved the report

Any one of these adds time, cost, and friction to a file that's already under pressure.

What Proper IME Coordination Looks Like

At Claims & Kinnect Solutions, every IME coordination follows a documented workflow with written confirmation to all parties, 48- and 24-hour claimant reminders, same-day attendance confirmation, and a complete portal record of every contact made.

Our team brings hands-on experience as a licensed claims adjuster — which means we understand not just the scheduling logistics, but the procedural significance of an IME in the context of your specific claim. That background changes how we communicate with claimants, what we document, and how we escalate when something goes sideways.

Ready to Refer a Case?

Submit a referral at claimsandkinnectsolutions.netlify.app or email referrals@claimsandkinnectsolutions.org. Most IMEs are scheduled within 48 hours of a complete referral.