Synopsis
The American Medical Association's Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (or AMA Guides) is mandated for use in many workers' compensation systems. The AMA Guides are now in their sixth edition, and various states are using either the third, fourth, fifth, or sixth edition of the Guides. In easy-to-follow language, Understanding the AMA Guides in Workers' Compensation brings you up to speed with a review of essential concepts... complete coverage of the 4th, 5th, and 6th Edition of the AMA Guides ...and a focus on the key changes.
Understanding the AMA Guides in Workers' Compensation delivers the concise, jargon-free information you need to prepare any case with confidence - and the courtroom-tested tactics to help you win it. Whether you're new to workers' compensation cases or a long-time practitioner, this expertise-filled resource will be an invaluable time and work-saving tool in every case involving the AMA Guides.
This resource is an arsenal of ready-to-use tools, techniques, and tips to help you build a better case from start to finish, including:
Expert insight on how physicians should reach impairment ratings - and how to spot mistakes that may compromise up to 80% of all ratings, according to one study
Case-tested guidelines for using the AMA Guides to prepare client and physician testimony
Sample proofs that illustrate how permanent impairment can be established for various injuries
A cross-examination guide that shows how to pick apart an opposing physician's credibility, including word-for-word cross-examinations from real cases
Dozens of questions to confound opposing witnesses - including case-clinchers like "The Ten Most Difficult Cross-Examination Questions"
Convenient digests of federal and state statutes and case law decisions that put a wealth of legal background at your fingertips
Understanding the AMA Guides in Workers' Compensation has been updated to include coverage of:
Which conditions are not adequately covered in each edition of the AMA Guides
The level of compliance with the AMA Guides legally required of a rating physician
When rating physicians may deviate from the Guides and how to justify or challenge such deviations
Which edition of the AMA Guides is legally required to be used
Whether the AMA Guides are admissible into evidence
How to challenge the adoption of the AMA Guides
What the courts find or do not find persuasive when ratings made under the AMA Guides are challenged
How the AMA Guides relate to scheduled awards
How to preserve the strongest record for appeal
When exactly a claimant is or is not at maximum medical improvementand#8212;for example, a claimant with a condition such as reflex sympathetic dystrophy, which may wax and wane over time
Can a claimant be evaluated for impairment even though he is not at maximum medical improvement
Who is qualified to rate impairment
And more!
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
From the Publisher
This book helps attorneys understand the AMA Guides. It shows how to evaluate a case using the Guides, how to challenge the determinations made under the Guides, and how to argue for or against the Guides. Translates the medical jargon of the AMA Guides into language useful for the attorney. Outlines the shortcomings of the fourth edition of the Guides and provides guidelines on challenging the Guides.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
