Book Description

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 . 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. 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 recently been updated to include: The practical and legal implications of the AMA's 52-page Corrections and Clarifications To The 6th Edition of the AMA Guides A chapter-by-chapter analysis and guide To The significant changes under the Corrections and Clarifications To The 6th Edition of the AMA Guides The legal ramifications of a rating physician's failure to cite with specificity how the impairment rating under the Guides was arrived at How to use the fact that the claimant is not at Maximum Medical Improvement to maintain benefits for a claimant How far an examiner may deviate from the Guides when evaluating CRPS-1 The effect of a rating physician's failure to use "magic words" The legal effect of a physician's use of the wrong edition of the Guides The permissibility of using impairment percentages from the Neurological Impairment Chapter where the 4th Edition of the Guides does not provide impairment percentages for mental impairment The permissibility of using impairment percentages from the 2nd Edition of the Guides where the 4th Edition does not provide impairment percentages for mental impairment How to handle a situation where the claimant is eligible for a scheduled award and is rateable under the Guides When an examiner is legally permitted to use the range of motion model for spinal impairments under the 4th Edition How closely an examiner must follow the AMA Guides to have a supportable rating How to rate conditions not addressed in the AMA Guides The ramifications of a physician making a mistake in an impairment rating