EPISODE DESCRIPTION
The episode provides valuable guidance for new Qualified Medical Evaluators (QMEs) to conduct effective evaluations and prepare high-quality reports. Key tips include:
– Gather all necessary information, determine if the patient has reached Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI), and identify any issues outside the QME’s scope.
– Create a checklist of key questions to ensure you have the required information for an informed assessment.
– Review cover letters from attorneys to understand the specific issues that need to be addressed in the report.
– Explain your role to the patient, review medical records, use a skilled historian, and follow a structured template.
– Work backwards from key questions about causation and MMI, referencing the AMA Guides to guide the evaluation and rating.
– Familiarity with the relevant AMA Guides chapters, tables, and pages allows for efficient addressing of central disputes and high-quality report writing.
KEY LESSONS
The key learnings that are likely surprising to the reader are:
• The importance of creating a checklist of key questions to ensure the QME has the information needed to make an informed assessment.
• The recommendation to review any cover letters from the applicant or defense attorney to understand the specific issues that need to be addressed in the report.
• The emphasis on the QME’s role in determining if the applicant has reached Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI) and providing a rating based on the AMA Guides, and the importance of
being familiar with the relevant chapters, tables, and pages in the AMA Guides.
CHAPTERS
00:00 Navigating Post-Exam Challenges as a QME
00:35 Gathering Comprehensive Medical Information for Accurate Assessments
02:19 Assessing Patient Status and Treatment Scope
04:16 Establishing Trust with Injured Workers
05:20 Building Rapport for Effective Medical Reporting
07:13 Organize with Templates and Work Backwards for Effective Reporting
08:21 Evaluating MMI Status and Recommendations
09:38 Determining Injury Severity: Unilateral vs Bilateral
SUMMARY
The speaker provides helpful advice for QMEs (Qualified Medical Evaluators) who are starting to see patients after passing the QME exam. They emphasize the importance of gathering all the necessary information, determining if the patient has reached Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI) and is permanent and stationary, and identifying any issues that are outside the QME’s scope of practice. The speaker suggests creating a checklist of key questions to ensure the QME has the information needed to make an informed assessment. They also recommend reviewing any cover letters from the applicant or defense attorney to understand the specific issues that need to be addressed in the report. Overall, the speaker’s guidance aims to help new QMEs navigate the process and provide high-quality evaluations. The speaker provides helpful tips for conducting effective medical evaluations of injured workers.
Key points include:
– Explain your role and put the worker at ease, acknowledging that memory lapses are normal – Review the worker’s medical records to avoid repetition and build trust
– Use a skilled historian to gather key details about the case
– Use a structured template to stay organized and ensure all critical questions are answered
– Work backwards from the key questions about causation and maximum medical improvement to guide the evaluation. The speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding the AMA
Guides and the key questions in a Qualified Medical Evaluation (QME) case when working backwards from the injured worker’s medical history. They highlight that the QME’s role is to determine if the applicant has reached Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI) and provide a rating based on the AMA Guides. The speaker shares their experience of a case where they were able to efficiently address the central dispute by being familiar with the relevant chapters, tables, and pages in the AMA Guides, allowing them to write a high-quality report.
