How does an IEE work?

[Anonymous]

Do you just go get one and then apply for reimbursement? Or do you apply first, get approval and they pay the providers directly?

[Anonymous]

You need to give the school the opportunity to do the testing first. If they decline or you have an issue with the testing they did (the results, interpretations, recommendations, etc. - you don't have to say why), you inform them you will be pursing an IEE. The evaluator you use, must meet, at a minimum, the qualifications they require of school personnel who do the same evaluation. The school is allowed to provide you a list a providers they have pre-approved but you are not required to choose one from their list. The list I got from FCPS wasn't great. Some of the providers were no longer doing assessments, some weren't able to do the testing we sought and one had a conflict of interest (spouse was a school employee who had previously worked with my DC). The school will also tell you what documents are required for reimbursement and where to send them.

[Anonymous]

^^PP here. I forgot to mention that you'll have to work out payment arrangements with the service provider. Some we paid for directly, some were willing to be paid by the county.

[Anonymous]

We just had one done. We asked for the school to do one, it was ABYSMAL, and so we asked for an IEE. They had to get approval, but we got it, and then we got a list of providers who do the IEEs (this is with DCPS).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just had one done. We asked for the school to do one, it was ABYSMAL, and so we asked for an IEE. They had to get approval, but we got it, and then we got a list of providers who do the IEEs (this is with DCPS).

The thing is, you are not required to have their permission before pursing an IEE and you do not have to use their list of providers who do them. The only way they can avoid paying for an IEE is if they take you to due process. If, at the hearing, you can show you weren't unreasonable in your pursuit of an IEE, it's highly unlikely you would be denied reimbursement. When I went through it (FCPS), an administrator told me I was not authorized to get a neuro-psych eval and they wouldn't pay more than what they would for a psycho-educational evaluation. But, I could document why the more in-depth assessment was called for. I also did a table of what providers on the list charged for a psycho-ed eval and speech. Most charged more than what FCPS said it would reimburse! I then called different providers who did neuro-psych evals to show that what the provider we chose charged was not unreasonable. I was ready for due process but FCPS paid up.