EDD SDI sent me to an independent medical exam - will my payments stop before appointment?

omg same thing hapened to me last year!! EDD is the WORST with giving different info to people. in my case the FIRST rep was correct - my payments DID continue until I had the exam. but make sure ur regular doctor continues sending in ur monthly certifications on time or they WILL stop payments. the wait for my indpendent exam was like 6 weeks and they paid me the whole time.

The policy is that your benefits should continue until the independent medical examination as long as you maintain proper certification with your regular physician. The second representative was incorrect. The purpose of the independent exam is to verify your ongoing disability condition, not to suspend benefits before the assessment occurs. Make sure to: 1. Continue seeing your regular doctor for certifications as scheduled 2. Document the name of any EDD representative who tells you payments will stop 3. If payments do stop before your exam, contact EDD immediately and reference their own policy Keep a copy of the independent medical exam request form for your records. The law is clear that you remain eligible for benefits until determined otherwise.

i had my payments stop completely when i got that form. they said i needed the exam before they would continue. took 8 weeks to get in and no backpay either. depends on which supervisor is handling ur case i think

I've been having tge EXACT same problem with EDD! The inconsistency is so frustrating. I just wanted to share my experience trying to reach them - I was getting absolutely nowhere with the regular phone line (hung up on 6 times!!). Then someone at my doctor's office told me about Claimyr (claimyr.com) - they have this service that gets you through to an actual EDD representative quickly. I was skeptical but they have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/1X-mEsLtbmQ?si=1hcSq3KFtCr4oAmd I got through to an actual supervisor who confirmed that payments SHOULD continue until the exam as long as your regular doctor keeps certifying. Get it in writing if you can!

The EDD procedure manual actually covers this exact situation. When you're scheduled for an independent medical examination (IME), your benefits should continue without interruption until the exam date, provided that: 1. You continue to have your treating physician submit timely certifications 2. There are no other issues with your claim (like missing forms) 3. The IME was requested as part of a routine review, not due to suspected fraud Printing out your appointment confirmation and keeping detailed records of all communications is essential. Unfortunately, many frontline representatives aren't properly trained on this specific situation. If your payments do stop, immediately request a formal review by a claim examiner (not just a regular representative).

I went through this in February. Here's what ACTUALLY happens: they're SUPPOSED to continue your payments but the computer system often automatically flags your account when the IME request is generated. This happened to me and my payments stopped for 2 weeks until I got someone to manually override it. The most important thing is to keep certifying with your regular doctor AND call EDD at least once a week to make sure your claim isn't stuck. If payments stop, ask specifically for a "medical review bypass" until your IME appointment. Many reps don't know this is possible unless you specifically ask for it! Also after your IME, call EDD within 48 hours to make sure they received the results - the doctors are notoriously slow about sending them in.

Anyone know if this is the same for pregnancy disability? I got the same form but I'm 32 weeks pregnant so obviously they can see I'm actually pregnant when I go in lol. Kinda ridiculous they're making me do this.

UPDATE: I called again today and got a supervisor (took forever). She confirmed that my payments WILL continue as long as my regular doctor keeps certifying me monthly. She said the second rep I talked to was confusing IME requests with fraud investigations (which DO cause immediate payment stops). She made notes in my file and gave me a reference number. She also said to call back if any payment is delayed by more than 3 days. Thank you all for your help! This has been so stressful.

This is such valuable information for anyone going through the IME process! I'm dealing with a similar situation right now - got my IME notice last week and my appointment isn't until late May. Reading through everyone's experiences here really helps clarify what to expect. One thing I wanted to add based on my research: if you're having trouble getting consistent information from EDD phone reps, you can also submit questions through their "Ask EDD" online portal. Sometimes the written responses are more accurate than what you get over the phone, and you have documentation of their official answer. Also, for anyone worried about the actual IME appointment itself - from what I've read, these exams are usually pretty straightforward. The doctor just needs to verify your condition and limitations. Bring any recent test results or documentation from your regular doctor if you have them. Thanks again to everyone who shared their experiences - it really helps to know we're not alone in dealing with EDD's confusing processes!