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Table 1 Characteristics of Dutch social insurance physicians

From: Stereotyping of medical disability claimants' communication behaviour by physicians: towards more focused education for social insurance physicians

In the Netherlands, most social insurance physicians are employed by the Dutch Institute of Employee Benefit Schemes. On average, a physician working there interviews 10 claimants - who may have all kinds of disabilities - each week. The medical disability assessments they perform, are mainly based on an assessment interview, which includes an examination. In addition, usually the physicians have information available from the claimant's occupational physician and the treating physician, or they can consult these professionals [33, 34]. Most often, after the interview with the social insurance physician, a labour expert examines which jobs the claimant should be able to perform with the medical disabilities as assessed by the social insurance physician [35]. The combination of the findings of both professionals determines whether or not a claimant is eligible for a benefit.