Court Approves Class Settlement: Medical Management Group to Make Exams Accessible
08/08/2023On July 11, 2023, a federal court issued an order approving a class action settlement between Medical Management Group of New York, Inc. (“MMG”) and a class of individuals with disabilities who have or may be denied reasonable accommodations in connection with Independent Medical Examinations (“IMEs”) scheduled by MMG. The settlement resolves claims that MMG scheduled people with disabilities for IMEs in doctors’ offices that are not accessible to them; scheduled people with disabilities for IMEs in doctors’ offices that have policies and procedures denying accommodations to people with disabilities; and, in scheduling IMEs, ignored known disabilities and requests for accommodation from people with disability. The Settlement Agreement commits MMG to engage in ongoing improvements to its policies and practices to ensure accessibility of the IMEs it schedules.
United States District Court Magistrate Judge Sarah L. Cave previously granted preliminary approval of the settlement agreement on March 14, 2023 and appointed the law firm Vladeck, Raskin & Clark by Maia Goodell and Emily Bass as counsel for the Class and plaintiff Donna Frawley as representative of the Class. After notice was provided to the Class, Judge Cave held a Fairness Hearing on July 6, 2023. The Court’s July 11 decision granting final approval of the Settlement Agreement means it now has legal effect and MMG will begin implementing its requirements.
United States District Court Magistrate Judge Sarah L. Cave previously granted preliminary approval of the settlement agreement on March 14, 2023 and appointed the law firm Vladeck, Raskin & Clark by Maia Goodell and Emily Bass as counsel for the Class and plaintiff Donna Frawley as representative of the Class. After notice was provided to the Class, Judge Cave held a Fairness Hearing on July 6, 2023. The Court’s July 11 decision granting final approval of the Settlement Agreement means it now has legal effect and MMG will begin implementing its requirements.
Under the Settlement Agreement, MMG is required to:
- Revise all Independent Medical Examination (“IME”) Notices to clients to include language notifying clients of their right to request accommodations or make complaints about disability access violations, and how to do so;
- Hire and pay a mutually agreed third party (“Expert”) to provide:
- Consultation on IME notice language;
- Employee training on disability law compliance;
- A checklist consisting of no more than seven (7) questions (subject to review and approval of the Parties) for all doctors with whom MMG may schedule IMEs to self-certify basic architectural accessibility and doctors’ office policy compliance (“Checklist”).
- Review and approval of any new MMG office procedures for accommodation requests, complaints, and interactive process and/or cooperative dialogue, and;
- On-site surveys of doctors’ offices that the Expert determines require additional verification of disability law compliance after review of the completed Checklist (“Survey”);
- Designate a specific point person in the office with responsibility for disability law compliance, who will receive additional training from the Expert in disability law compliance;
- Cease scheduling IMEs with doctors who, after notice and one-month opportunity to cure:
- Fail to return the Checklist,
- Refuse to permit a Survey, or,
- Are in substantial noncompliance with disability law in the Expert’s sole determination based on the outcome of an Expert Survey
- Provide to plaintiff annual reports including the following information:
- The number of IMEs noticed and completed;
- The content and resolution of all (1) accommodation requests; and (2) client complaints; and,
- Names of doctors removed from the network for noncompliance.