What Does Maximum Medical Improvement Mean in Workers’ Comp?
As workers’ compensation attorneys, we are asked this question all the time, “What does Maximum Medical Improvement mean?” This is one of the most important questions we can be asked by our clients. Pursuant to Florida Statute 440.02(10), Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI) is the “date after which further recovery from, or lasting improvement to, an injury or disease can no longer reasonably be anticipated, based upon reasonable medical probability.” Basically, this is the point that your authorized workers’ compensation doctor no longer expects any further recovery or improvement to you in your symptoms from your work accident. It is always a medical question that is addressed by an injured workers’ authorized doctor or by authorized medical evidence.
To our clients, the greatest significance of Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI) is that it will be that date that the workers’ compensation insurance company will end of any eligibility for temporary disability benefits (temporary partial disability or temporary total disability).
The date of Maximum Medical Improvement will stand so long as the medical evidence indicates it is appropriate. Upon occasion, Maximum Medical Improvement status can change if an injured workers’ doctor later recommends surgery or other curative treatment or medical procedures. Treatment is curative if the treating doctor begins the treatment with the reasonable expectation that it will result in lasting improvement for his or her patient. Setting the date of Maximum Medical Improvement always requires clear medical evidence and often this comes directly from the yellow, two page DWC-25 form usually given at the end of the workers’ compensation medical visit.
If you have questions about Maximum Medical Improvement, and what it may mean to your workers’ compensation case, please contact the worker’ compensation attorneys at Harris Guidi Rosner at (904) 777-7777 or email mills@harrisguidi.com to schedule a free consultation regarding your workers’ compensation case.
