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!

I went through this exact same situation about 6 months ago and I completely understand your stress! The good news is that based on my experience and what I see from others here, your payments should definitely continue until your exam date as long as you keep up with your regular doctor certifications. What really helped me was getting everything documented. When I called EDD, I always asked for the rep's name and employee ID, and I kept a log of every conversation with dates and times. This saved me when there was a brief hiccup with my payments - I was able to reference exactly who told me what and when. One tip that made a huge difference: when you go for your monthly certification with your regular doctor, mention the upcoming IME to them. My doctor actually wrote a brief note on my certification form acknowledging the IME request, which seemed to help prevent any automatic system flags on EDD's end. The waiting period is definitely nerve-wracking, but hang in there! The IME itself was much less intimidating than I expected - just a standard exam to verify my condition. Make sure to bring any recent medical records or test results with you to the appointment. You've got this! Keep advocating for yourself and don't let inconsistent information from different reps discourage you.

I'm currently going through this same situation and it's been such a roller coaster of emotions! I received my IME notice two weeks ago with an appointment scheduled for early June. Like you, I got completely contradictory information from different EDD reps - one said payments continue, another said they'd stop immediately. What finally helped me was calling and specifically asking to speak with a "disability claims examiner" rather than a general customer service rep. The examiner I spoke with was much more knowledgeable and confirmed that payments should continue as long as I maintain my regular doctor certifications. She also explained that the confusion often comes from reps mixing up IME procedures with fraud investigation procedures. One thing that's been helping me manage the anxiety is setting up a simple tracking system - I log every EDD call with the date, rep name, and what they told me. It's made me feel more in control of the situation and gives me documentation if anything goes wrong. The waiting period is definitely stressful, but reading everyone's experiences here has been so reassuring. It sounds like most people do continue receiving payments during the wait as long as they stay on top of their regular certifications. Hang in there - we'll get through this!

I went through this exact situation about 8 months ago and wanted to share my experience to hopefully ease some of your worry! Like everyone else has mentioned, your payments should absolutely continue until your IME appointment date as long as you keep getting certified by your regular doctor. The key thing that helped me was being super proactive about staying in touch with EDD. I called every two weeks just to confirm my claim status was still active and that there were no issues. It might seem like overkill, but it actually prevented problems - during one of these check-in calls, the rep noticed my claim had been accidentally flagged for review and was able to remove the flag immediately. Also, I highly recommend asking your regular doctor to write a brief summary letter about your condition and limitations to bring to the IME. The independent examiner appreciated having that context, and it seemed to make the whole process smoother. The actual exam was honestly pretty straightforward - just basic questions about your condition and a physical assessment. One last tip: after your IME, don't just wait for EDD to contact you about the results. Call them about a week after the appointment to make sure they received the doctor's report and ask about next steps. Sometimes there are delays in processing that you can help speed up by staying on top of it. You're going to get through this! The waiting period is nerve-wracking but it sounds like you're already doing everything right by staying informed and advocating for yourself.

I'm so glad you updated us and got confirmation from a supervisor! This thread has been incredibly helpful for me too - I'm currently waiting for my own IME appointment and was dealing with the same confusion about whether payments would continue. Your experience really highlights how important it is to keep pushing until you get someone knowledgeable. It's frustrating that the system allows for such wildly different information to be given to people who are already dealing with health issues and financial stress. For anyone else reading this thread who might be in a similar situation, I'd recommend specifically asking to speak with a supervisor or disability claims examiner right from the start rather than getting conflicting information from multiple regular reps. And definitely get that reference number like Sophia did! Thank you to everyone who shared their experiences here - this kind of real-world information from people who've actually been through the process is so much more valuable than trying to navigate EDD's confusing website or automated phone system alone.

I'm going through this exact same situation right now and this thread has been incredibly reassuring! I got my IME notice last week and my appointment isn't until July - which feels like forever away when you're worried about your income. Like others mentioned, I've been getting conflicting information from EDD reps. One told me payments would continue, another said they might be suspended pending the exam results. It's so frustrating that they can't give consistent answers about their own policies! After reading everyone's experiences here, I'm going to call back tomorrow and specifically ask for a disability claims examiner rather than a regular rep. I'm also going to request a reference number and get everything documented properly. The stress of not knowing what to expect financially is honestly making my health condition worse. It's crazy that people dealing with disabilities have to become experts in navigating bureaucracy just to maintain their benefits. Thank you to everyone who shared their real experiences - it's so much more helpful than trying to decipher EDD's confusing website on your own. I'll make sure to update this thread with my outcome to help future people in the same situation!

I'm currently dealing with this same situation and wanted to add my experience to help others who might be going through this. I received my IME notice about three weeks ago with an appointment scheduled for mid-May. After reading through this entire thread, I called EDD and specifically asked to speak with a disability claims examiner (thanks to everyone who mentioned that tip!). The examiner I spoke with was incredibly helpful and knowledgeable compared to the regular reps I'd talked to before. She confirmed that payments absolutely should continue until the IME date as long as I keep getting my monthly certifications from my regular doctor. She also explained that the computer system sometimes automatically flags accounts when an IME is requested, but that this can be manually overridden if it happens. What I found really helpful was asking her to walk me through exactly what happens after the IME. She said the independent doctor has 10 business days to submit their report to EDD, and then EDD has another 14 days to make a determination about continuing benefits. If approved, payments continue without interruption. If they need additional information, they'll contact both me and my regular doctor before making any changes. She also mentioned that I can call anytime to check the status of my IME results once the appointment is completed - I don't have to just wait and wonder what's happening. Having this clear timeline and process really reduced my anxiety about the whole situation. I'm still nervous about the exam itself, but at least I know what to expect now. Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences - it made such a difference in helping me navigate this!