Dr. Sandhu is certified in the state of California to perform Qualified Medical Evaluations (QME’s). He has clinics in Oakland, Redding and Freemont, California. For other states, Independent Medical Evaluations (IME’s) can be performed under special circumstances. Please feel free to contact us with your needs if this is the case.

If you have questions about your California QME or to make an appointment, you can visit the California Department of Industrial Relations website or call their hotline at 1-800-736-7401. If you have an attorney they can help you with these questions as well.  

Scheduling Your Appointment

To make an appointment for a QME, if you are unrepresented by an attorney you must first get a panel number assigned to you by the Department of Workers Compensation for the state of California.  When you call our office to schedule, please have the following information available: the panel number, your address, date of birth, social security number, date of injury, parts of the body that were injured, name/address/phone of your employer at the time of injury, name/address/phone of the worker’s compensation insurance company, the claim number, and the name/address/phone of your attorney if you have one (In most cases, if you are represented your attorney will make this appointment for you). 

What to Bring to Your QME

When you come to your appointment, please have the following information ready: The DEU forms below should be completed in advanced of your appointment. The DEU 100 is for you to complete, and the completed DEU 101 should be available from your insurance claims adjustor.

1. DEU 100
2. DEU 101
3. Details of the injury at the time it happened: how the injury happened, what pain you felt immediately, how it felt later, how it feels now.
4. Details about treatment of the injury: when/where did you first seek treatment, was there any testing/x-rays/MRI, were medications or other treatments prescribed, how did the treatment help, did you continue treatment, did you seek different treatment later, etc. Although Dr. Sandhu will review all of your medical records prior to your appointment, he will ask for this information in your words. Knowing the names of the doctors and the names of the medications prescribed will be helpful to tell your story, along with specific dates and timeframes.

In many cases, an Electromagnetic/Nerve conduction study (EMG/NCS) will need to be performed. Dr. Sandhu will determine this at the time he sees you for your QME.  He may have time to conduct the test at the time of your QME, or he may have to schedule the EMG/NCS for another day.  This is a nerve conduction test that reads your muscle activity and can determine the level of damage from your injury. 

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU DO NOT APPLY ANY LOTIONS, GELS, OR CREAMS OF ANY SORT ON YOUR SKIN FOR AT LEAST THREE (3) DAYS PRIOR TO YOUR APPOINTMENT. THE MINERALS AND CHEMICALS IN THESE PRODUCTS CAN INTERFERE WITH EMG TEST RESULTS.