FAQ

A California Qualified Medical Examiner (QME) is a doctor who has been certified to provide objective opinions on a work injury claim. A QME is a workers’ compensation expert and an impartial physician—he or she is supposed to review a work injury claim without any sort of bias.

To request a QME in California, you will need to fill out a Panel QME request form which includes the date of injury claim number requesting party medical specialty requested reason for request employee contact information. 

A panel QME is a randomly generated list of three QME physicians issued to you when there is a question about whether or not your injury is work-related, or if there is a medical dispute that hasn't been resolved by the treating physician's report.

During a QME evaluation in California, you can expect to be examined by a physician who has been certified by the state to perform these evaluations. The physician will review your medical history and may perform a physical examination. The physician will then prepare a report that will be used to determine your eligibility for workers’ compensation benefits.

The length of the evaluation can vary depending on the type of injury and the complexity of the case. 

A qualified medical examiner has 30 calendar days to issue a report. The examiner has to provide the report 30 days from the date of commencement of the QME exam.