Disability Technology Inc
John Hopkins,MD,PhD
Disability Technology is a maker of AMA Guides
6th edition software
tel:214-755-5726
According to AMA:
The Purposes of the AMA Guides
The Preface to the
initial edition of the AMA Guides (1971) established a
clear
distinction between permanent impairment – “a purely medical condition” and permanent disability – “when [a
patient’s] actual or presumed ability to engage in gainful activity is reduced
or absent because of ‘impairment’ which, in turn, may or may not be combined
with other factors.”
This
distinction -- between impairment and work disability -- and the stated purpose
of the publication -- to provide a system for rating impairments have been maintained through all six editions
of the AMA Guides.
There
is, however, another purpose of the AMA Guides, namely to provide a rating that is a crucial determinant of
the cash benefits provided in workers’ compensation programs.4 This is clearly
articulated in the Sixth Edition of the AMA Guides (2008, p. 20):
There
is increased use of the Guides to translate objective clinical
findings
into a percentage of the whole person. Typically, this
number
is used to measure the residual deficit, a loss – a number
that
is then converted into a monetary award to the injured
party.
This scheme is most commonly used in various workers’
compensation systems in the United States and abroad.
