Guide

Sending records and an advocacy letter to a panel QME: the 20-day and 10-day rules

Once the panel QME is selected, the next piece of work is the records packet: what the evaluator will read, the letter that frames the questions, and the service on the other side that makes both admissible. This guide covers the rules for represented California workers’ comp cases under Labor Code §4062.3 and 8 CCR §35, with a worked timeline and a checklist.

Abbreviations: QME (Qualified Medical Evaluator), AME (Agreed Medical Evaluator), AA (applicant attorney), DA (defense attorney), POS (proof of service), WCJ (workers’ compensation judge), WCAB (Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board), LC (Labor Code), CCR (California Code of Regulations, Title 8).

1. Two different 20-day clocks

The statute sets two 20-day rules that are easy to run together. One is measured to the day the records reach the evaluator, the other to the day of the exam:

Because the objection window on non-medical records is 10 days, plus 5 when served by mail, fax or email to a California address (8 CCR §10605), serving the package 35 days before the exam lets the window close before the records have to leave for the doctor. The timeline below uses that spacing.

2. What may go to the QME

LC §4062.3(a) and 8 CCR §35(a) describe what either party may provide:

• Records prepared or maintained by the employee’s treating physician or physicians.
• Other medical records relevant to the disputed issue, including prior treatment records.
• A letter outlining the treating physician’s determination or the compensability issues the evaluator is asked to address (8 CCR §35(a)(3)).
• Non-medical records, including films and videotapes, once the 20-day service and 10-day objection process in §35(c) and (d) has run.

What may never go

8 CCR §35(e) bars three things from the packet no matter who sends it: a medical-legal report that was rejected as untimely under LC §4062.5; a report by a physician who is neither a treater nor an evaluator in the case, on permanent impairment, permanent disability or apportionment, unless a WCJ first ruled it admissible; and anything a WCJ has stricken or found inadmissible.

3. The 10-day objection

The objection right in LC §4062.3(b) is limited to non-medical records: “If the opposing party objects to consideration of nonmedical records within 10 days thereafter, the records shall not be provided to the evaluator.” 8 CCR §35(d) adds that a WCJ can order them provided anyway. Either party may use discovery to establish the accuracy or authenticity of a non-medical record before the evaluation.

There is no parallel objection right for medical records. A party who believes a medical record should not reach the QME, for example a report that §35(e) forbids, raises it with the other side and, if needed, the WCJ. The 20-day service period exists so that can happen before the doctor has read it.

When the claims administrator serves records on an unrepresented employee, §35(c) requires a conspicuous notice beginning “Please look carefully at the enclosed information” and telling the employee to object within 10 days. In a represented case the parties serve each other through counsel.

4. The index

8 CCR §35(c) requires the claims administrator to attach a log to the front of the records that identifies each item and lists them in the order attached, and requires the applicant attorney’s office to do the same for anything it sends to the evaluator directly. In practice both sides call it the index. It serves two purposes: the evaluator must identify in the report all information received, reviewed and relied on (LC §4062.3(d)), and if a record is later said to be missing or added, the index and the POS show what was served and when.

§35(g) closes the loop: copies of all records sent to the evaluator go to all parties, and a failure to copy a party “shall constitute ex parte communication” by the sender.

5. The advocacy letter

The WCAB’s en banc decision in Maxham v. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (2017) 82 Cal.Comp.Cases 136 drew the line between “information” and a “communication” under LC §4062.3. Records, and anything that contains, references or encloses them, are information and follow the records rules above. A letter that describes the mechanism of injury, the body parts claimed, each side’s contentions and the questions the evaluator is asked to answer is a communication: it may be sent, in writing, with service on the other side 20 days before the evaluation under LC §4062.3(e).

• Fine: dates of injury and employment, the mechanism, admitted and denied body parts, the firm’s position and the carrier’s stated position, the standard questions (causation, AOE/COE, MMI, impairment under the AMA Guides, apportionment under LC §§4663 and 4664, work restrictions, future medical).
• Not fine: quoting or summarizing a medical record that has not gone through the 20-day process, attaching records to the letter, misstating the record or the law, or telling the doctor what to conclude. Any of these turns the letter into information, or into a ground to strike it.

A party who receives a letter it believes crosses the line should object in writing right away and, if the letter goes to the evaluator anyway, ask the WCJ to strike it or the report. The safest schedule is to serve the proposed letter on the other side together with the records package, so any dispute is resolved before the 20-day mark.

6. Ex parte communication

LC §4062.3(g) prohibits ex parte communication with a panel QME or an AME. The remedy belongs to the aggrieved party: terminate the evaluation and obtain a new QME under LC §4062.2, or proceed with the original evaluator. 8 CCR §35(k) has the Medical Director issue the new panel. Under LC §4062.3(h) the party that made the communication may be charged with contempt before the WCAB and is liable for the costs it caused, including the cost of the evaluation, additional discovery costs and attorney’s fees for related discovery.

What is not ex parte

• Oral or written contact with the evaluator’s staff on nonsubstantial matters: scheduling, a missed appointment, furnishing records and reports, whether the report is ready (LC §4062.3(f); 8 CCR §35(b)(1)). Put anything that matters in writing with a copy to the other side anyway.
• What the employee says to the evaluator during the examination, or at the evaluator’s request in connection with it (LC §4062.3(i)).
• The evaluator consulting the treating physician, which §35(j) allows; the evaluator must note any new information received.

7. Records that arrive late

Under 8 CCR §35(i), if a party fails to provide relevant records within 10 days after the evaluation, the evaluator still issues the report within the §38 time limits and notes that the records were not received. A supplemental evaluation follows on request once the records arrive. Under §38(h) the evaluator cannot get an extension because records are missing. Under §38(i) a supplemental report is due within 60 days of a written request, the parties may agree to 30 more days, and new records sent with the request must have been served on the other side under LC §4062.3 first.

8. A worked timeline

The applicant attorney wants the QME to read the treating records, two MRI reports, and a job description, and to receive an advocacy letter. The exam is Thursday, May 13, 2027.

1. Thu, Apr 8, 2027Applicant attorney serves the proposed records package, its index, and the draft advocacy letter on defense counsel with a proof of service. This is 35 days before the exam: 20 days for the records rule plus 15 for the mailed objection window.
2. Fri, Apr 23, 2027Defense’s window to object to any non-medical record closes: 10 days from service plus 5 for mail under 8 CCR §10605. No objection has arrived. The same day, AA sends the package and the letter to the QME, with a copy to defense, and serves a POS. This is exactly 20 days before the exam, so both 20-day rules are met.
3. Mon, May 3, 2027Defense serves its own records on AA. They cannot go to the QME before Sun, May 23, which is after the exam; the QME will see them, if at all, as a post-exam supplement with a record of when they arrived (8 CCR §35(i)).
4. Thu, May 13, 2027Evaluation. From here on, anything sent to the QME is copied to the other side the same day.
5. Sat, Jun 12, 2027Day 30: the report is due unless the QME has asked the Medical Director for an extension at least 5 days before this date (8 CCR §38(a), (c), (d)).

Dates chosen to avoid court holidays. The 30-day report date falls on a Saturday; the report is the evaluator’s deadline, not a filing, so no roll-over rule applies to it.

9. Packet checklist

• Cover letter to the QME that lists every enclosed item. LC §4062.3(d) requires the evaluator to identify all information received, reviewed and relied on; a complete list makes the report’s recital match what you sent.
• Index (log) at the front of the records, in the order the records are attached. 8 CCR §35(c) requires the claims administrator to attach one, and the applicant attorney’s office to do the same for anything it sends directly.
• Treating physician records and reports, then other medical records, then prior medical-legal reports. The categories LC §4062.3(a) and 8 CCR §35(a) allow. Leave out anything 8 CCR §35(e) forbids: a report rejected as untimely under LC §4062.5, a non-treating, non-evaluator report on impairment or apportionment that no WCJ has admitted, and anything a WCJ has stricken.
• Non-medical records (job descriptions, incident reports, films, surveillance), each with the POS showing when it was served on the other side. These are the records the other side can block within 10 days; the POS proves the window has closed.
• The advocacy letter, served on the other side 20 days before the exam. LC §4062.3(e). Keep it to mechanism of injury, body parts, each side’s contentions and the questions; see Maxham below.
• Proof of service on the opposing party for the package and for the letter. A copy that does not reach every party is an ex parte communication by the sender (8 CCR §35(g)).
• Calendar entries: the objection window, the send-to-QME date, the exam, day 30 for the report. The dates move together; see the worked timeline.

How Amber handles this

Amber is an AI agent for California workers’ comp firms. It reads the case’s documents and email as they arrive, so by the time a QME is selected it already knows which treating records, diagnostics and prior reports exist. For the packet it:

• Assembles the records in order and writes the index, flagging anything that falls under 8 CCR §35(e).
• Drafts the advocacy letter from the firm’s template, with the mechanism, body parts, contentions and questions filled in from the file and no record quoted that has not been served.
• Drafts the proofs of service and the email to defense counsel, and calendars the objection window, the send date, the exam and the day-30 report date together.
• Leaves everything as a draft for attorney review. Nothing is served until the attorney approves it.

Schedule a demo

Questions

Sources

• Labor Code §4062.3 (California Legislative Information)
• 8 CCR §35, exchange of information and ex parte communications (DIR)
• 8 CCR §38, medical evaluation time frames (DIR)
• 8 CCR §10605, extra time when served by mail, fax or email (DIR)
• WCAB en banc decisions, including Maxham v. CDCR (2017) 82 Cal.Comp.Cases 136 (DIR)

Last updated October 30, 2026. This guide is general information for practitioners, not legal advice. The rules change; check the current statute, regulations and WCAB decisions before relying on a deadline. See also our guide to the panel QME strike process.