Maximum medical improvement (MMI) is when your authorized treating physician concludes that you have recovered as much as possible from your work injury.

Under Arizona workers’ compensation law, your MMI is critical in your workers’ comp benefits claim because it affects whether you can return to work, keep receiving benefits, and how much those benefits may be.

Depending on the extent of the harm you suffered in your work accident or other work-related injury, reaching your point of MMI could take weeks, months, or even years.

Sometimes, your employer and its workers’ compensation insurance company may have a different opinion about whether you have reached your MMI. When this happens, having a workers’ comp attorney from the Matt Fendon Law Group on your side can help ensure you are treated fairly.

If you are having trouble with a workers’ compensation insurer over your MMI, call our law offices at (800) 229-3880 to speak with an Arizona workers’ compensation specialist and arrange for a free consultation.

How is MMI in Workers’ Comp Determined?

Maximum medical improvement occurs when your injury or condition stabilizes to the point that your treating physician decides no more significant improvement is likely with additional treatment.

Although your treating medical or osteopathic doctor is the authority on whether you have reached MMI, the workers’ compensation insurance company may sometimes request you to undergo an independent medical examination.

Maximum medical improvement is not the same thing as being fully recovered. Sometimes you may never fully recover from your on-the-job injury or condition.

What Happens When You Reach Maximum Medical Improvement?

You will receive temporary workers’ compensation benefits during your medical treatment. While you receive treatment, your employer’s insurer will pay for all your medical expenses connected with the work-related injury or condition.

If you fully recover, then your case will be closed.

If, on the other hand, your MMI is less than a full recovery, your employer will no longer be responsible for paying for your medical treatment. At this point, you will be eligible for permanent partial disability benefits and settlement of your case.

How Does MMI Play a Role in Settling My Workers’ Comp Case?

When you reach maximum medical improvement, this is ordinarily the time to consider your settlement options with the workers’ comp insurer. This is because your condition has stabilized enough that your short-term medical benefits will end, and your long-term treatment needs can be identified with more certainty and a value assigned to your case.

Your permanent disability benefits and settlement can include payment for long-term medical expenses and further medical treatment like rehabilitative or occupational therapy. These may be payable on a schedular basis, or as a lump sum full and final settlement.

In Arizona there is no waiting period for you to receive partial permanent disability benefits once you have reached maximum medical improvement.

What Should I Look Out For When Negotiating a Post-MMI Settlement?

At the Matt Fendon Law Group, we have experience helping injured workers negotiate workers’ compensation claim settlements. We have observed some key factors to keep in mind when dealing with workers’ compensation insurance companies.

Carefully Consider Your Possible Future Needs

This may seem obvious, but sometimes the future is not always evident in the present, and this is true of your future medical expenses when you reach maximum medical improvement.

A comprehensive workers’ compensation settlement for a permanent impairment must account for many considerations, including ongoing medical care, permanent work restrictions, vocational rehabilitation, and additional medical treatment.

Think Long-Term

Once you accept a settlement with the insurer, your right to further workers’ compensation based on the same injury or condition will end. If you leave out important aspects of your future needs to manage an ongoing permanent disability, once your settlement is finalized, it can be hard or impossible to reopen settlement negotiations with the workers’ comp insurance company.

Consider a Worsening of Your Condition Post-MMI

If this happens to you, and your settlement does not take the possibility into account, then you will be responsible for paying for your ongoing medical care that exceeds your anticipated costs.

Can You Return to Work?

Sometimes you can have a permanent partial disability and still be able to work in a different capacity than you did before your injury. This can include duty restrictions or working in a different job for your employer.

If this work pays less than your old job, then your settlement needs to account for this.

If your treating physician clears you to return to work, then you must return to work to avoid losing your workers’ compensation benefits. Check with your supervisor to find out what types of modified work opportunities are available to you.

Be Prepared for a Functional Capacity Evaluation (FCE)

An FCE is a test-based examination that a health care professional, usually a physical therapist, performs on you. Its purpose is to determine your ability to perform work-related tasks, with an eye toward seeing whether you can return to work and what your permanent impairment rating may be.

What is Included in an FCE?

Tests the physical therapist may have you take can include job-related activities like lifting, pushing, pulling, bending, reaching, and other activities to measure your balance, coordination, range of motion, flexibility, and endurance.

What Happens After My FCE?

The results of your FCE will be shared with your employer and your employer’s insurance carrier, as well as with you and your attorney.

An FCE is important in helping to assess whether you can return to work and what your work restrictions might be. It is not the decisive factor in settling with the workers’ comp insurer but rather part of a whole-person impairment evaluation.

Talk to a Workplace Injury Lawyer in Arizona Today About Your Workers’ Comp Settlement

Once you reach maximum medical improvement, your temporary partial disability benefits will come to an end, and you will need to carefully assess your future options about returning to work if possible, what partial impairment rating you may receive after your FCE, and your long-term needs in a fair settlement with your employer’s insurance carrier.

Receive Permanent Disability Benefits That You Deserve

You may not know all the considerations that go into negotiating the best possible settlement of your workers’ comp claim, but an experienced workers’ compensation attorney will be able to help you address everything you need to cover your lost wages, ongoing medical treatment needs, and contingent possibilities like a worsening condition in the future.

Call the Matt Fendon Law Group Today

At the Matt Fendon Law Group, our Arizona workers’ compensation attorneys fight for the workers’ compensation benefits and compensation you need to pay medical bills and replace lost earnings after an injury at work.

We provide legal representation throughout all types of Arizona workers’ compensation cases, from initial claims to lump sum payment settlements.

If you are denied benefits for an occupational injury, our attorneys work hard to see that the decision is overturned.

If you have been injured in a workplace accident in Phoenix, Flagstaff, Tucson, Prescott Valley, or anywhere else in Arizona, then call the Matt Fendon Law Group toll-free at (800) 229-3880 or reach out to us online.

With so much at stake for your future, don’t leave anything to chance. We will schedule a free consultation to discuss how our workplace injury lawyer can help you as an injured worker.