About us

About us

A Canadian civil forensic practice built on experience.

Els and Gelinas – collectively have almost 50 years of experience in conducting independent medical examinations (IMEs) and regularly conduct training in this field, including in collaboration with the International Academy of Independent Medical Evaluators (IAIME) (add link).
Els – is an occupational psychiatrist and addiction physician (link to bio; uploaded to Google Drive) and conducts mental and behavioural disorder-related (M&BD) IMEs and other civil forensic assessments, and is regulated by CPSA (hyperlink please) under the HPA.
Gelinas – conducts musculoskeletal (MSK) IMEs and impairment rating evaluations and holds a DC (Doctor of Chiropractic) and an MD (Doctor of Medicine) and is regulated by CCOA (College of Chiropractors of AB) under the HPA (link to bio).He also holds an MD degree.

10 Years of Experience

Over the course – of time, and after having completed numerous (IMEs), they asynchronously recognized the need to reduce IME protocol variability, to improve impact, quality, efficiency and effectiveness of the IME work product.
Els & Gelinas – also recognized that, unlike is the case for MSK IMEs, there existed no comparable guidelines for Mental and Behavioural Disorder (M&BD) IMEs. In the latter, it is common to encounter limitations like (1) “the failure to adhere to using standard nomenclature and evidence-based impairment ratings, (2) neglect to introduce sufficient objectivity and screening for malingering, and (3) lack of appreciation of the IME as a forensic psychiatric assessment, accompanied by a lack of observation of principles of ethical practice in this arena”.
Both – also recognized the occurrence of unnecessary and prolonged disability resulting from sub-optimal IME work products, the occurrence of so-called hired guns in the civil forensic field, as well as the disproportionate cost associated with adjudicating files.
Their main – focus has been to improve quality and to establish best practice guidelines.
Most recently – they established a community of practice to scale promote accountability and adherence to ‘gold standards’ to a national level.
In their – offerings to a range of employers, unions, regulators, legal professionals, and others, Els & Gelinas invite referring parties in their selection of an IME provider, to consider cost, quality, validity, and defensibility of the work product.
Els & Gelinas – place a strong emphasis on alignment with the most current Best Practice Guidelines as well as the most current AMA Guides® Impairment Rating methodology. It is critical for IME examiners to not rely solely on subjective (claimant / examinee) self-report, recognized as the Achilles heel of psychiatric IMEs.
The Civil Forensic – Group aims to ensure the consequential decisions about impairment, disability, causation, and other matters must be based on solid quantifiable evidence.
Els’ and Gelinas’ work – has been published in numerous high-impact peer-reviewed journals, in collaboration with several global leaders in the field, collectively cited more than 1,500 times in other peer-reviewed publications.
Background

The benefits of belonging to this civil forensic community of practice: (CF-COP)

Access professional support and belonging: Reduce isolation (siloed working), validate experiences, and foster trust-based relationships and connections within the field.
Enhancing defensibility of work products.
Mitigating medico-legal risk.
Bidirectional mentoring; access to experts and global opinion leaders.
Knowledge sharing: Exchange experiences, insights, tools, and examples of what works (and what doesn’t), guided by published best practices.
Learning & Skill Development: Mutual learning from other CF-COP members through review of challenging case scenarios together
Building a Shared Identity & Standards: Develop common language, norms, and approaches that define what works and what does not. Also, creation of, and endorsement of agreed-upon standards.
Innovation & Improvement: Generate new ideas, improve methods, and co-create solutions to shared challenges.
Knowledge Retention Capture and preserve institutional or professional knowledge over time; senior experts mentor newer professionals to retain expertise within the field.
Networking.
Research and publication opportunities.
Improve professional credibility.
Why choose us

Excellence in civil forensic practice.

We provide objective, evidence-based civil forensic assessments and consultations with a strong focus on quality, consistency, and defensibility in every medico-legal opinion.

Our Vision

To lead civil forensic consultations, education, training, and IME services across Canada.

Our Mission

  1. Delivery of high-quality defensible IMEs and medico-legal consultations to meet the needs in the community.
  2. Train and educate a range of service providers (scribes, IME providers, stakeholders).
  3. Ongoing QI initiatives and research
  4. Disseminate best practices.

About

Dr. Charl Els

Dr. Charl Els is a fellowship-trained psychiatrist, addiction specialist, occupational physician. 

He serves as a clinical professor in the Dept. of Psychiatry and the Dept. of Medicine at the UofA. Els practices in a military setting, and also offers civil forensic assessments. He has provided expert testimony before several levels of the court; retained both by the Crown and by defense. 

Els has published his work in numerous journals, including the Lancet and the Cochrane library.

His current research is funded by the Government of Alberta, the Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence, and WCB. 

Els is a recipient of the 2023 Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal recognizing his contribution to mental health and addiction. 

Dr. Charl Els

Founder & Ceo

Barry J. Gelinas

MD, DC
About

Barry J. Gelinas

Barry J. Gelinas, MD, DC, is an International Academy of Independent Medical Evaluators (IAIME) Certified MedicoLegal Evaluator. He served as an Advisor to the American Medical Association’s Guides® to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment Editorial Panel (the AMA Guides Editorial Panel). In July 2019, the AMA convened diverse experts with deep expertise across a broad range of medical topics to serve as the AMA Guides® Editorial Panel.

Dr. Gelinas was appointed as an Advisor to the AMA Guides Editorial Panel in August 2019 and served on the Panel until the Panel’s active work concluded at the end of December 2025.  As an Advisor to the AMA Guides Panel, he provided global insights into the adoption and implementation of the AMA Guides.

Dr. Gelinas has co-authored and published several papers with leading global opinion leaders in occupational medicine. 

Dr. Gelinas is Co-Author-Editor for the updates to the three musculoskeletal chapters – Chapter 15 (Upper Limb), Chapter 16 (Lower Limb), and Chapter 17 (Spine and Pelvis) – published in the AMA Guides® to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, Sixth Edition, 2024 and a contributor to the 2023 Sixth Edition.

He is a past president of the International Academy of Independent Medical Evaluators (IAIME), serving in the 2020-2021 presidential term; an IAIME Fellow; and a faculty member who actively teaches updates to the AMA Guides® Sixth Edition, 2008, three musculoskeletal chapters published in September 2024.

Dr. Gelinas performs comprehensive injury management evaluations, independent medical evaluations, impairment analysis critiques, causation analysis critiques, and records reviews.

Our Criteria

Criteria for entry into CF-COP

Tier

Tier Title

Function

1

Learners

Optimize additional training; gain experience and expertise.

2

Practitioners FFS Delivery

Service Delivery

3

Primary focus practitioners

COP functions

4

Consultants

Consultants High-level consultancy

5

Equity partners

Equity partners Promote CF-COP objectives

Video

See how we work with touch of experience

Founding Principles

Our Guiding Principles and Core Values

Integrity and neutrality.
Highest attainable quality and defensibility of work product.
Innovative (AI).
Collaboration.
Education (vs service delivery only) focus.
Sustainability.

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Melbourne, Australia
(Sat - Thursday)
(10am - 05 pm)
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