The prior MRI
Every imaging report before the date of injury, set beside the first one after it, so the earlier findings and the first post-injury findings sit on 1 screen.
prior imagingNewMissing Records Detection: flags every visit, provider, and date missing from the file. See how →
- Solutions
- Medical evaluators
- Orthopedic IME record review
Orthopedic IME record review services
Prior imaging, the op report, range of motion and MMI, each traced to the page.
Orthopedic IME record review for the surgeon who does independent medical exams. Medrecords AI reads the file and puts prior imaging, operative reports, therapy range of motion and the treating MMI date on 1 page-cited timeline. It flags degenerative findings that predate the claim and history that conflicts with the chart. You review, you revise, you sign.
Updated 3 Nov 2026
At a glance
| Built for | Orthopedic surgeons, physiatrists and occupational medicine physicians who do IMEs, QMEs and file reviews |
| What it reads | Clinic notes, imaging reports, operative reports, PT and OT notes, earlier IME reports |
| What you get | 1 timeline by body part and date, every line cited to its page |
| Prior imaging | Every report before the date of injury, set beside the first one after it |
| Range of motion | Every measured value by joint, plane and date in 1 table |
| Speed | About 100 pages a minute |
| Duplicates | Set aside before billing, duplicate pages are free |
| Price | From 10 cents per deduplicated page, as low as 5 cents with volume |
| Security | SOC 2 and HIPAA |
| Trial | First case is free on us |
| What it does not do | It does not apportion, rate impairment or write your opinion |
In a sample 342-page, 2-packet production, Medrecords AI found 11 duplicate pages. You pay for unique pages only.
- HIPAA, under a BAA
- SOC 2
- 100 pages a minute
- First case is free on us
1 right shoulder claim across 4 yearstap a point
Imaging
Clinic, surgery and therapy
2 Apr 2024IME intake questionnaireClinic, surgery and therapy
Claimant reports no prior right shoulder complaints or treatment.
Illustrative case. The claimant, dates and pages are fictional.
100pages a minute
How fast Medrecords AI reads the file after upload.
Medrecords AI4663Cal. Labor Code
California bases permanent disability apportionment on causation, and the physician has to address it.
Cal. Lab. Code §466335FRCP rule
The federal rule for a court-ordered physical exam by a suitably licensed examiner.
Fed. R. Civ. P. 3511duplicate pages
Found in a sample 342-page, 2-packet production before billing.
Medrecords AIWho should use orthopedic IME record review?
Orthopedic surgeons, physiatrists and occupational medicine physicians who do IMEs, QMEs, AMEs and file reviews, and the IME companies that schedule them. If you spend the night before an exam paging through 2,000 pages of therapy notes to find the 1 prior MRI, it is built for you. If your files already arrive indexed and short, you need it less.
Does Medrecords AI apportion or rate impairment?
No. It lays out what the record shows about the body part before and after the date of injury, with pages. Apportionment, the impairment rating under the AMA Guides edition your jurisdiction uses, and the causation opinion are yours.
What should medical record review for orthopedic surgeons who do independent medical exams find?
An orthopedic IME turns on a few facts buried in a long file: what the joint looked like before, what the surgeon found, how motion recovered and when treatment stopped helping. These are the 6 places Medrecords AI looks, each flagged with its page.
The history that does not match
The intake and the claimant's account placed against earlier clinic notes for the same body part. A denial of prior complaints next to a 2021 note of shoulder pain gets flagged.
contradictionWhat the op report found
Procedures, findings and implants from the operative report, cited, beside the pre-op imaging that predicted them.
operative reportRange of motion over time
Every measured value by joint, plane and date across PT, OT and clinic notes, so a plateau shows up as numbers.
range of motionThe treating MMI date
Every statement that the patient reached maximum medical improvement, who wrote it and the restrictions attached.
MMIDuplicates and missing records
Repeat pages set aside and not billed. Records a note refers to but the file does not contain, such as an MRI cited but never produced, listed by date.
missing recordsHow does prior imaging line up with the new injury?
The same shoulder file, line by line. The 2021 MRI and the 2022 X-ray show degenerative change before the date of injury, and the 2021 primary care note contradicts the intake.
| Date | Source | Finding | Page | Flag |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 Jun 2021 | MRI right shoulder | Supraspinatus tendinosis. Moderate AC joint arthrosis. No full-thickness tear. | p. 88 | prior imaging |
| 11 Jan 2022 | X-ray right shoulder | Type 2 acromion. AC joint narrowing with osteophytes. | p. 102 | degenerative |
| 14 May 2024 | MRI right shoulder | Full-thickness supraspinatus tear, 1.4 cm retraction. AC arthrosis unchanged from 2021. | p. 312 | cited |
| Date | Source | Finding | Page | Flag |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 Mar 2021 | Primary care note | Right shoulder pain for 3 months, worse reaching overhead. NSAID started. | p. 41 | prior complaint |
| 2 Apr 2024 | IME intake questionnaire | Claimant reports no prior right shoulder complaints or treatment. | p. 1,204 | conflicts with p. 41 |
| 18 Jul 2024 | Operative report | Arthroscopic rotator cuff repair, subacromial decompression, distal clavicle excision. | p. 455 | operative report |
| 8 Jan 2025 | PT discharge note | Forward flexion 150, abduction 140, external rotation 50 degrees. | p. 690 | range of motion |
| 3 Mar 2025 | Treating surgeon note | At maximum medical improvement. No lifting above shoulder height. | p. 731 | MMI date |
Fictional case built for this page. Real output has the same columns, and every page links to the source PDF.
Rerun 1 closed orthopedic IME file and check our work.
Send 1 orthopedic IME file you already closed. You get the page-cited chronology and a list of what the file holds that a reviewer could miss, from prior imaging to MMI. Then we walk through it with you on a call.
How do the operative report and range of motion line up in 1 timeline?
What you send
- Clinic and primary care notes, in any order
- Imaging reports from every facility
- Operative and anesthesia reports
- PT, OT and chiropractic notes
- Earlier IME reports and prior claim records
- Any format: PDFs, scans, faxes, phone photos
What you get
- 1 timeline by body part and date
- Prior imaging set beside post-injury imaging
- Range of motion values by joint and date
- Every treating statement on MMI and restrictions
- History conflicts flagged with both pages
- A list of records the file refers to but lacks
We sort the file. You make the medical call.
Medrecords AI does not apportion, assign an impairment rating, decide causation or write the report. It places what the record says in order, with pages. You review, you revise, you sign.
HIPAA, BAA at signupEvery file is handled under our Business Associate Agreement.
SOC 2Encrypted in transit and at rest, with every PHI access logged.
No model trainingClaim files never train any AI model, ours or anyone else's.
Deletion on requestYou set retention, and files are deleted when you ask.
When does the chart say maximum medical improvement was reached?
Treating surgeons, therapists and earlier examiners often put MMI on different dates. Medrecords AI lists each statement with its author, date and page, so you see the disagreement before you write your own.
| Date | Author | Statement | Page | Flag |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 Nov 2024 | Physical therapist | Flexion unchanged over 6 visits. Plateau noted. | p. 668 | plateau |
| 3 Mar 2025 | Treating surgeon | At MMI. Permanent restriction above shoulder height. | p. 731 | MMI date |
| 21 Apr 2025 | Earlier IME examiner | Not yet at MMI. Recommends subacromial injection. | p. 802 | conflicts with p. 731 |
What does the record need to show before you address apportionment?
Where a system bases apportionment on causation, as California does under Labor Code 4663, the physician explains what share of the disability came from the injury and what came from other factors before and after it. Prior awards count under Labor Code 4664. That explanation stands on the earlier record: earlier complaints, earlier imaging, earlier treatment. Medrecords AI gathers that record and cites it. The percentages are yours. Read the apportionment guide.
What happens to duplicate pages in a 3,000-page IME file?
IME files arrive in stacks from the carrier, the claimant's side and each treating provider, and the same op report can appear 4 times. Exact duplicates are set aside before billing, so you pay for unique pages only and the timeline shows each entry once. At about 100 pages a minute, a 3,000-page file is read in about half an hour.
Orthopedic IME record review: common questions
Does Medrecords AI apportion or rate impairment?
No. It lays out what the record shows about the body part before and after the date of injury, with pages. Apportionment, the impairment rating under the AMA Guides edition your jurisdiction uses, and the causation opinion are yours.
Which body parts does it handle?
Any. Shoulder, knee, spine, hand and hip files run the same way: entries sorted by body part and date, every line cited to its page.
Does it flag prior injuries to the same body part?
Yes. Earlier complaints, imaging and treatment for the same body part are placed before the date of injury, each with its page, so degenerative findings are on the timeline before you read the new MRI.
What if the claimant's history conflicts with the chart?
Both statements are shown side by side with their pages and flagged. Which account to credit is your call.
Can it handle a 3,000-page file?
Yes. It reads about 100 pages a minute after upload, so a 3,000-page file is processed in about half an hour.
Does it work for QMEs, AMEs and court-ordered exams?
Yes. A California QME or AME file, where 8 CCR 35 governs what is served on the evaluator, and a court-ordered exam under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 35 run the same way. The apportionment analysis under Labor Code 4663 and 4664 stays with you.
Will the timeline go into my report as written?
Only if you put it there. The timeline is a working file for your review. You decide what goes in the report, you revise it and you sign it.
Do you retrieve records from providers?
No. Medrecords AI does not retrieve records. You upload the file you were sent, and review starts in minutes.
Is it HIPAA compliant?
Yes. Files are handled under a signed BAA with SOC 2 controls, and they never train an AI model.
What does it cost?
From 10 cents per deduplicated page, as low as 5 cents with volume. Duplicate pages are free, and the first case is free on us.
Send 1 orthopedic IME file. The first case is free on us.
Book a short demo. After it we open trial access on one of your own files, the first case free on us, with the timeline back page-cited.
Sources
Every rule, regulation, statute and published standard named on this page is linked below to the text the body that issues it puts out, read on the date shown. Where a standard is sold rather than published, the link goes to its publisher's page for it.
- AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment: American Medical Association, read 3 Nov 2026
- California Labor Code 4663, apportionment based on causation: California Legislature, read 3 Nov 2026
- California Labor Code 4664, prior awards: California Legislature, read 3 Nov 2026
- 8 CCR 35, exchange of information with the evaluator: California Department of Industrial Relations, read 3 Nov 2026
- Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 35, physical and mental examinations: Legal Information Institute, read 3 Nov 2026