... and impairments from the one course I had in Low Vision, but finally, Bernard R. Blais, MD, author of AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Ophthalmic Impairment and Disability, has written a very easy to read and understand paperback book I would recommend to be part of the curriculum for all three levels...

...Christopher R. Brigham, MD; Aimee McEntire; Craig Uejo, MD, MPH The Florida workers’ compensation system uses the 1996 Florida Uniform Permanent Impairment Rating Schedule (FUPIRS), that was based in part on the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment ( AMA Guides ), Third Revised...

...Kenneth Subin, MD, MPH; Christopher R. Brigham, MD The approach to assessing impairment for headaches differs among the fourth, fifth, and sixth editions of the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment ( AMA Guides ). In summary, the fourth edition provides only a qualitative...

...Christopher R. Brigham, MD The AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment ( AMA Guides ), Sixth Edition, takes approaches to the lower extremities that are consistent with Chapter 15, Upper Extremities (reviewed in the March/April 2008 issue of The Guides Newsletter ). Because...

...Lorne Direnfeld, MD; Christopher R. Brigham, MD; Elizabeth Genovese, MD, MBA The AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment ( AMA Guides ), does not provide a Diagnosis-based estimate of impairment due to syringomyelia, a disorder in which a cyst (syrinx), develops within the central...

...Arthur Ameis, BSC, MD; Christopher Brigham, MD; Robert J. Barth, PhD; Norma Leclair, PhD, RN; Steven Leclair, PhD Several Canadian provinces use the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment ( AMA Guides ) to adjudicate workers’ compensation claims, and the Province of Ontario uses...

...Craig Uejo, MD, MPH; Phil Walker A 2005 Benefits Review Board decision by the US Department of Labor, Peter J. Desjardins vs Bath Iron Works Corporation affirmed a decision and order (2004-LHC-1364) regarding the utility of impairment rating critique. The administrative law judge credited...

...James B. Talmage, MD; Charles N. Brooks, MD; Christopher R. Brigham, MD In 2005, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved an artificial disc replacement (ADR), and physicians likely will be called on to evaluate permanent impairment in some patients who have been treated using an ADR...

...Allan Colledge, MD; Greg Krohm The AMA Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codebook lists specific codes that can be used for impairment ratings, and in some industrial cases insurance carriers require an impairment rating determination at medical stability for which a CPT code is needed...

...Lorne Direnfeld, MD; James Talmage, MD; Christopher Brigham, MD This article was prompted by the submission of two challenging cases that exemplify the decision processes involved in using the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment ( AMA Guides ). In both cases, the physical...

...James B. Talmage, MD; Christopher R. Brigham, MD Before the publication of the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment ( AMA Guides ), Fourth Edition, each chapter focused on a single organ system and provided a description of the diagnostic and evaluative methods for assessing...

...Christopher R. Brigham, MD; Kathryn Mueller, MD, MPH Many chapters in the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment ( AMA Guides ) provide a range of numbers within four or five impairment classes, and evaluating physicians are required to justify the choice of a class and the impairment...

...Kathryn Mueller, MD, MPH; Christopher R. Brigham, MD A 1999 study of adults showed hearing loss was the fifth most common disability in the US population, and almost 50% of workers in carpentry, plumbing, and mining had hearing impairment. Determining hearing impairment according to the AMA Guides...

...Chris Brown, DDS, MPS Temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TJD) is a term applied to a group of problems that affect the muscles of mastication, the temporomandibular joint, and their supporting structures. The AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment ( AMA Guides ), Fifth Edition...

... to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment ( AMA Guides ) specifically addresses IDET. Evaluators who use the AMA Guides, Fifth Edition, apply the Diagnosis-related estimates (DRE) method to assess impairment when the patient is at maximum medical improvement (MMI). Because the long-term effects of IDET...

...Edward Klimek, MD, FRCPC, FAADEP Chapter 18, Pain, is the first attempt in the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment ( AMA Guides ), Fifth Edition, to define comprehensive pain evaluation and rating. Chapter 18 focuses on situations in which the pain itself is a major cause...

...James Talmage, MD © 2002 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved. 2002 American Medical Association The first four editions of the AMA Guides use the same method to measure finger range of motion (ROM) and derive impairment percentages. This method is reliable and works well...

...Kathryn Mueller, MD, MPH; Christopher R. Brigham, MD Chapter 11, Ear, Nose, Throat, and Related Structures of the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment ( AMA Guides ), Fifth Edition, includes a new section on voice impairment, a new table on vestibular disorders, and information...

... of standards.” (5th ed, 17) Chapter 1, Philosophy, Purpose and Appropriate Use of the Guides (5th ed, 1–16), and Chapter 2, Practical Applications of the Guides (5th ed, 17–24) provide guidance to physicians performing impairment evaluations. These chapters establish standards for a quality impairment...

... injury; traumatic sphincteric disruption from chronic urethral catheterization in neurologically impaired women 2. Urge incontinence Bladder overactivity resulting in involuntary loss of urine associated with uninhibited detrusor contraction (detrusor-external sphincter dyssnergia) Bladder...