Building Your Own IME Practice, Not Someone Else's
A full weekend, face to face workshop with Dr Helen Schultz is giving psychiatrists something the agency model usually cannot offer — practical, end-to-end training in how to do IME psychiatric work independently and properly.
Dr Schultz built the conference after her own experience with an agency that folded not long after she signed on. “Many experts, including myself, lost significant amounts of fees we had already earned, after lengthy payment delays and then nothing,” she says. The collapse left her exposed both financially and professionally, and it shaped the case for the workshop. “When an agency or any third party platform collapses, you face immediate financial and professional risk. If your work pipeline, systems and relationships sit in someone else's business, you are exposed when that business changes direction, is sold, restructures or fails.”
Rather than promising referrals in exchange for 30 to 40% of an expert's fee, then teaching a process built to suit the agency, the workshop is designed to help psychiatrists build their own IME practice, on their own terms. It is delivered by facilitators who have built their own practices themselves.
Over Friday, Saturday and Sunday, participants are guided through the entire process from start to finish.
How to set up a workable calendar, with maximum productivity and swift turnaround of reports, without compromising personal time
A session with a Partner and Special Counsel from a plaintiff law firm on how they choose one psychiatrist over another, what they look for in a report, and how to secure repeat referrals
Guidance from tax and accounting specialists who work exclusively with medical professionals, on building a practice that is sustainable and can grow and scale
A Q&A with a health law and medical indemnity insurer CMO on incorporating AI into practice safely, in line with current laws and the shifting regulatory landscape
A full walkthrough of a PIRS assessment via vignettes, ahead of any investment in formal accreditation
A complete mock IME covering a historical sexual abuse matter, from a two hour interview with a professional actor, through mock letters of instruction from both parties, to guided report writing with an experienced forensic psychiatrist and an indemnity insurer CMO
Practical guidance on putting a PIRS assessment into action and checking for integrated reliability
Advice on what to do if called to give evidence as an expert witness, from psychiatrists who have appeared in court many times over
The first two days close with complimentary drinks, canapes and networking.
Participants leave the weekend, and the Queensland sunshine, ready to begin a new chapter — either starting an IME practice from scratch or stepping away from reliance on agencies to generate income and dictate how reports read and how experts present professionally.
The underlying premise is independence. Rather than depending on an agency to supply work, set the process and take a percentage, attendees learn to build a practice they control themselves, including their standards, workflow, professional relationships and fees.
This is not simply a training weekend. It is a case for a different way of practising. Signing with an agency means learning its system, its preferences, and paying ongoing fees of up to 40% for the privilege. This workshop instead builds the skills, structure and confidence to run an independent IME practice, and to keep the full value of that work.
There is a broader lesson in it too. Relying too heavily on intermediaries can leave practitioners exposed when those businesses change direction or disappear. Building your own capability is not only sound professional development — it is a more secure and sustainable way to practise.
Places are limited each per day. Limited seats left [bookings close in 10 days]