Examination by a Medical Board

Composition of the Medical Board

The Medical Board is composed of one or two doctors (called "medical adjudicators") who specialize in various medical fields. The Board doctors are not employees of the National Insurance Institute and are appointed by the Minister of Labour to act as adjudicators on the Medical Boards of the National Insurance Institute.

The composition of doctors in the Medical Board is determined by an NII doctor, according to the medical specialty required for your type of injury. The Board also includes a secretary who is an employee of the National Insurance Institute whose job is to record your statements and to ensure that your rights are protected.

If you suffer from several medical impairments which require examination by more than two doctors, you will be sent for examination by a medical consultant, before or after the Medical Board meets, and the opinion of the medical consultant will be provided to the Medical Board for the purpose of determining the degree of disability. A copy of the opinion will be sent to you.

How does the Medical Board work?

Before you enter the room, the doctors will read the medical documents in your file, after which the secretary will ask you to enter the board room.

You will be asked to present your identity card or a photo ID (without a photo ID, the board will not examine you). The secretary will introduce himself and the doctors to you by name and specialty. The doctors and the secretary will be wearing identification tags.

Please note that if you are personally acquainted with one of the board doctors as your attending physician, or you have obtained an opinion from him, he will not be able to participate in the board that examines you. In such a case, you must inform the board secretary to that effect, and you will be summoned to a different board.

Presenting the medical problems

Before the examination, you will be asked to specify the medical disability from which you suffer as a result of the accident. If it is hard for you to describe your medical disabilities, you may bring someone to represent you (an attorney, translator or family member) who will present your claims for you. The claims will be recorded in the board’s report and you will be asked to certify them with your signature.

You can prepare a document that specifies your medical claims and disabilities and submit it to the board doctors or secretary. This document will be attached to the board’s report.

Submitting documents to the board secretary

When you arive at your appointment with the board, please bring copies of all the medical documents that are connected to your work injury, a medical opinion, letters of discharge, medical certification of incapacity for work, etc. There is no need to bring copies of documents that you submitted with the claim for an injury allowance. They are already in your file and will be provided to the board. Please bring any x-rays that were performed as a result of the injury, including the interpretation of the x-rays.

If you did not specify the details of your bank account on the work disability claim, or you have not yet provided a cancelled check as required, give these documents to the board secretary.

Physical examination

Before the examination you will be asked to sign a form stating that you consent to be examined by the board doctor.

In accordance with your type of injury, the board doctors will decide if it is necessary to conduct a physical examination. If the board is composed of two doctors, an examination by both of them is not always required. During the examination, the doctors will address the medical problems and disabilities that you noted and the injury that was recognized by the National Insurance Institute.

You may bring an escort who will be present during the physical examination and will help you to dress.

Please note:
The physical examination conducted by the board is designed to diagnose and determine the degree of your disability and not for the purpose of medical treatment. Therefore it is not the same as an examination conducted by your family doctor or another attending physician. Additionally, the doctor has no authority to discuss the medical treatment that you require, so there is no point in making requests connected with the medical treatment.

Discussion summary and establishing the degree of disability

At the end of the examination, after you leave the board room, the board summarizes its findings. The doctor reads his medical findings to the secretary in accordance with the medical documents in the file, the medical problems that you presented and the results of the physical examination. The degree of disability will be determined according to these findings.

A date will also be set for the start of the degree of medical disability and whether the degree of disability is temporary or permanent.

Referral for additional examinations

If the board believes that you must undergo additional medical examinations or provide additional medical documents, you will receive a letter to that effect. If this involves medical examinations, you will receive notification of the time and place of the examination. At that stage, a degree of disability will not yet be established for you. When the required medical material is received, the board will meet again and the degree of your disability will be determined without the need for you to be present.

Please note:
Notification of the board’s decision, along with a copy of the board’s report will be sent to you by mail, as soon as possible after conclusion of the board’s deliberations. Please keep the copy of the report - you will have to pay for a second copy. If a degree of disability was established for you, your file will be transferred to the claims officer for processing payment of the pension or grant.

Important!

•  It is important to appear before the board on the appointed date. Failure to appear before the board will delay the processing of your claim and payment of the pension or grant. An injured person who fails to appear twice will be charged for expenses.
• If you have a special reason for not being able to appear before the board at the appointed time, please notify the secretary of the medical board at least three days before your appointment. This will allow another person, who is waiting to appear before a medical board, to be summoned instead. 
• It is important to arrive at the time specified in the appointment notification. However, please remember that the appointed time is estimated and you may be required to wait for your turn.
•  It is important to bring your identity card or another identifying document with a picture. Without such a photo ID, you will not be able to appear before the board.
• If you arrived first but were not called first, do not be upset. People are not always called to appear before the board according to the order of their arrival. The board may call someone else before you because of medical or other considerations that are not always apparent to you.
• When an examination by the board is concluded, the doctor must summarize the decision. The doctor must also study your file before you enter the room. Please wait until the board secretary calls you to enter.
• The examination time is not the same for every case and depends to a large extent on the type of injury involved, the complexity of the examination that is required, the number of medical documents, etc.
• Please remember to bring all the medical documents you want to give the board doctor. However, you do not need to bring copies of documents that have already been submitted to the NII because they are already in your file. Make a photocopy of the documents that you wish to leave with the medical committee.
• If you did not note the details of your bank account on the claim form, or you did not provide a canceled check as required for the purpose of verifying your account, please bring the required information to the board secretary so that the NII will be able to pay you.

The National Insurance Institute does everything possible to complete the procedure as promptly as possible and to pay you the pension. However, there are often delays due to the need to obtain medical documents from a sick fund or hospital. If you have not yet returned to work and you are left with a disability because of your injury, you may request an advance from the National Insurance Institute (in special cases, the claims officer will initiate the payment of an advance, even without your request).

Instructional video in preparation of a medical board (in Hebrew)

Medical Board satisfaction questionnaire