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ExamWorks - IME's are Big Business

By Frank Pasternak, Esq.

Previously, I wrote about Wisconsin IME doctors, medical defense doctors, and defense ("independent") medical exams and the latter two posts linked to a company formerly known as Verity Medical.  Well, Verity Medical was bought and so you get an idea of how BIG a business it is for insurance companies (and their lawyers) to hire defense medical examination brokers to get them doctors willing to fight legitimate insurance claims - I present ExamWorks. 

Depending on the day, ExamWorks, publicly traded (NYSE symbol EXAM), has been worth about $225,000,000.00 to $900,000,000.00.  How's that for big business!  And that's only one IME broker.  Here's the list companies purchased by ExamWorks between 7/14/2008 and 2/28/2011:

• MES Group, Inc., Warren, MI
• National IME Centres Inc., Thornhill, ON
• Royal Medical Consultants, Inc., Tampa, FL
• BMEGateway, Woburn, MA
• UK Independent Medical Services, Durham, England
• Health Cost Management, Beaverton, OR
• Verity Medical, Madison, WI
• Exigere, Bellevue, WA
• SOMA Medical Assessments, Toronto, ON
• Direct IME, Toronto, ON
• Network Medical Review, Rockford, IL
• Independent Medical Services, St. Paul, MN
• 401 Diagnostics, Sacramento, CA
• Metro Medical Services, East Rockaway, NY
• American Medical Bill Review, Redding, CA
• Medical Evaluations, Minneapolis, MN
• Abeton, Portland, OR
• Medical Assurance Group, Phoenix, AZ
• MedNet I.M.S., Atlanta, GA
• QualMed, Mount Laurel, NJ
• IME Operations of Physician Practice, Boynton Beach, FL
• The Evaluation Group, Southfield, MI
• Benchmark Medical Consultants, Sacramento, CA
• IME Software Solutions, Farmington Hills, MI
• Florida Medical Specialists, Fort Lauderdale, FL
• Marquis Medical Administrators, Roseland, NJ
• Ricwel, Dublin, OH
• CFO Medical Services, Roseland, NJ
• Crossland Medical Review Services, Syosset, NY
• Southwest Medical, Dallas, TX

There are still hundreds, if not thousands, of other "independent medical examination" brokers out there selling doctors to fight diagnosis, causation, allege problems are pre-existing, argue treatment was unnecessary, asserting injuries aren't permanent, etc.

FYI, too, though the companies have become savvy at hiding doctors who work for them, here's a list of the doctors in the area who were working for Verity Medical, and likely now ExamWorks:

• Mark R. Aschliman, M.D. ? Orthopedic Surgeon
• Stephen E. Barron, M.D. ? Orthopedic Surgeon
• David H. Bartlett, M.D. ? Ortho Surgeon ? Knees & Shoulders
• Paul D. Belich, M.D. ? Orthopedic Surgeon
• Paul A. Cederberg, M.D. - Orthopedic Surgeon
• Steven C. Delheimer, M.D. ? Neurosurgeon
• Steven Donatello, M.D. ? Pain Management
• Anthony A. Ferguson, M.D. ? Ortho Surgeon - Foot/Ankle
• James C. Foster, M.D., MPH ? Occupational Medicine
• Steven P. Friedel, M.D. ? Orthopedic Surgeon
• Dan B. Futch, D.C. ? Chiropractor
• James G. Gmeiner, M.D. ? Orthopedic Surgeon/ Spine Specialist
• J. Jay Goodman, M.D. ? General/Vascular Surgeon                            
• Thomas W. Grossman, Jr., M.D. ? Orthopedic Surgeon
• Steven I. Grindel, M.D. ? Ortho. Surgeon/Upper Extremity
• Gary N. Guten, M.D. ? Orthopedic Surgeon ? Knee Specialist
• Timothy S. Hart, M.D. ? Orthopedic/Hand Surgeon
• Scott A. Kale, M.D. ? Internal Medicine
• William B. Kelley, M.D. ? General Surgeon
• William R. Klemme, M.D. ? Orthopedic Surgeon
• Norman Kohn, M.D. ? Neurologist
• Kevin J. Kulwicki, M.D. ? Orthopedic Surgeon
• Paul L. Liebert, M.D. ? Orthopedic Surgeon
• Daniel P. Lochmann, M.D. ? Orthopedic Surgeon
• Thomas A. Lyons, M.D. ? Neurosurgeon
• Hani Matloub, M.D. - Hand Surgery
• William T. Monacci, M.D. ? Neurosurgeon
• William D. Moore, M.D. ? Orthopedic Surgeon
• J. Christopher Noonan, M.D. ? Orthopedic Surgeon
• Michael R. Nordstrom, M.D. ? Otolaryngology
• Marc J. Novom, M.D. ? Neurologist
• Gregory Nystrom, D.C. ? Chiropractor
• Ellen O?Brien, M.D. ? Orthopedic Surgeon
• Thomas J. O?Brien, M.D. ? Ortho. Surgeon/Spine Specialist
• Timothy S. O?Brien, M.D. ? Orthopedic Surgeon
• Dan M Olson, D.C. ? Chiropractor
• Michael W. Orth, M.D. ? Orthopedic Surgeon
• Michael C. Reineck, M.D. ? Orthopedic Surgeon
• Francisco Sanchez, M.D. ? Neurosurgeon
• Thomas W. Schueppert, M.D. ? Ortho. Foot & Ankle Surgeon
• James E. Self, M.D. ? Orthopedic Surgeon
• David A. Solfelt, M.D. ? Orthopedic Surgeon
• Morris M. Soriano, M.D. ? Neurosurgeon
• Sridhar V. Vasudevan, M.D. ? Physical Medicine & Rehab
• Michael A. Weiner, M.D. ? Plastic/Hand Surgeon
• Gilbert Westreich, M.D. ? Neurology
• John M. Williams, Sr., M.D. ? Occupational Medicine
• Michael G. Wirth, D.C. - Chiropractor
• Randal Wojciehoski, D.O., DPM ? Internal/ER Med./Podiatry
• John S. Xenos, M.D. ? Orthopedic Surgeon

Note, according to New York lawyer Eric Turkewitz, Allstate (Allstate's Obstructing Justice, Allstate exposed, Insurance Companies again,  Allstate's issues continue) is getting its stable of IME doctors from ExamWorks.  Surely, that can be no surprise.

Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyer

Full post as published by Wisconsin Personal Injury Lawyers Blog on April 03, 2012 (boomark / email).