The first two categories were payable while an injured worker received remedial care and until the worker reached
maximum medical improvement (MMI).
Until the claim is resolved by either settlement or verdict, you must monitor your client's medical condition so that you know when he or she has finished treatment or reached
maximum medical improvement. Pay careful attention to the applicable statute of limitations, and be sure that a lawsuit is filed in a timely manner, regardless of your client's treatment status.
As with any other state, loss of earning capacity is determined when the claimant has reached
maximum medical improvement. Historically, disability percentages, or ratings, in state workers' compensation systems have been determined by informal or formal litigation, sometimes from widely differing physician reports submitted by claimants and employer/insurer-hired doctors.
Ongoing therapy is frequently covered until a determination of
maximum medical improvement is made.
5) How long will claimants or their providers say they need to reach
maximum medical improvement and become medically stable?
Carlson concluded that the patient reached
maximum medical improvement on April 25,2001, and assigned her a permanent impairment of 5 percent to the right upper extremity based on AMA Guidelines.
"The smaller incision speeds the patients' time to reach
maximum medical improvement, and, more importantly, it offers patients greater function than a total knee replacement.
This doubling of return-to-work rates comes from a health recovery paradigm shift that incorporates anticipation of the injured worker's return to work, while striving for
maximum medical improvement.
Other amendments provide criteria for payment of plaintiff's attorney fees; establish conditions under which temporary disability payments continue when an injured employee reaches
maximum medical improvement; set new penalties for fraud; and provide means for dealing with increased membership in the assigned risk pool.
A scheduled permanent partial claim is closed after the injured person has achieved
maximum medical improvement, returned to work, and the degree of impairment and permanent partial award has been determined.
IMEs can also determine if someone has reached
maximum medical improvement. That's important because many workers' comp cases are left open for a long time without reexamination.
Sixty percent (N=24) of the total group responded that they had reached "
maximum medical improvement" (their treating physician had told them no more could be done medically to help them).