Impairment Rating Evaluation (IRE)

After you have been receiving temporary total disability workers’ compensation wage loss benefits for some time, the employer or its insurance company are likely to ask you to see a doctor for an Impairment Rating Evaluation (IRE).

An IRE is a type of medical examination where a doctor assesses your degree of disability. In almost all cases an IRE is bad for an injured worker’s claim, resulting in limiting eligibility for Pennsylvania workers’ compensation wage loss benefits.

The law in Pennsylvania about Impairment Rating Evaluations (IREs) has recently changed and there are still questions about the law being argued in courts. These questions may be argued in courts for years before they are all fully answered.

What this means for injured workers in Pennsylvania is that they should be very careful about how to proceed before agreeing to attend an IRE.

Because of these new questions, an injured worker in Pennsylvania may or may not have his or her benefits impacted by an IRE depending on the date of the work-related injury.

Since this is the case, we recommend that any Pennsylvania injured worker speak to an attorney experienced in handling Pennsylvania workers’ compensation cases before agreeing to attend an IRE.