The AMA Guides – Exploring the Four Corners

By Kenneth Kingdon

Did you know:

• A strict rating of the AMA Guides permits combining station and gait with a rating for radiculopathy.
• The American Heart Association has issued new guidelines for diagnosing hypertension.
• Table 11-2 in Chapter 11 should be ignored as it should not have been included in the Guides.
• Chapter 18 ratings for pain are based on the effect of pain on ADLs.
• The Guides incorporate synergy into several of its ratings.
• According to recent case law, the WCAB does not believe that the Lindh case removed the distinction between cause of injury and cause of disability.
• Not all examples in Chapter 13, the neurology chapter, rate neurologic impairments?
• Ratings for corticospinal injuries are combined with ratings from the DRE method.
• CRPS can be rated in both Chapters 13 and 16.
• If the criteria for rating strength loss in the upper extremities is met, strength loss in the elbow or shoulder is determined using manual muscle testing while strength loss in the hand wrist or forearm is determined using grip loss.

If you didn’t know any of the above facts related to the AMA Guides and want to know more, please sign up for our eight-part webinar on rating and apportionment. The webinars will take place one per month, beginning in January of 2020 with Judge Petty being the initial speaker and providing her usual insightful and entertaining presentation. She will provide an in-depth analysis of Chapters One and Two which provide the foundation for the rest of the Guides.

Case law update will also be provided on apportionment and Almaraz/Guzman, including the current status of Hikida, Fitzpatrick, Herrera, Kite, Lindh.  In addition to Judge Petty, scheduled speakers include DEU manager Barry Knight, Sherry Grant, Esq., Luis Cordero, Mark Kremer, Kenneth Kingdon, Esq. and others.