Impairment Guides Resource Center (updated 2/21/2012)

Welcome! We've designed this resource center to help you locate Impairment Guides-related materials, here on the LexisNexis Workers' Compensation Law Community, the Internet, and lexis.com. Please be sure to check back often for new updates to the resource center. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Free Web & Internet

• Blogs
• Articles (Journals, Magazines, etc.)
• Podcasts
• Ask the Expert
• Free Downloads
• American Medical Association Bookstore
• LexisNexis Bookstore

Lexis.com Users:

• Deconstructing the AMA Guides Fifth Edition, Chapter-by-Chapter
• Emerging Issues Analysis Articles
• Medical Information With AMA Guides Practice Tips
• AMA Guides Case Summaries: State by State
• List of AMA Guides Issues with Citations 

*    *   FREE WEB & INTERNET   *    *

 BLOGS

Sixth Edition
Robin Hood the Tax Man 
A New AMA Guides Handbook, Just in Time for the Holidays 
ABA TIPS Task Force on the AMA Guides 
AMA Guides, Sixth Edition Arrive on the Scene
Member Report - Iowa Task Force Regarding AMA Guides Sixth Edition
Workers Comp Impairment Ratings
The New Edition of the AMA Guides: Six Times a Charm?
Is Fibromyalgia Ratable Under the AMA Guides? 
New Version of Sixth Edition to AMA Guides Published
National
The AIA's Positions on Workers' Compensation Issues- Medical Costs, AMA Guides Sixth Edition, State Funds, and California's Left Coast Litigation: Taking a Hard Look at the Ball of Confusion (Karen C. Yotis)
Congress Holds Hearing on Developments in State Workers' Compensation Systems, Including Sixth Edition of AMA Guides to Permanent Impairment (Mark A. Reinhalter)
2010 Year in Review: The Top 10 Workers’ Compensation Issues From a National Perspective (Thomas A. Robinson)
House Education and Labor Committee Hears Testimony on State Workers' Comp Systems, AMA Guides
California
Catching Up on Some Zs in California - Sleep Disorders  (Robert G. Rassp)
Something for Everyone: The AMA Guides and the Central Nervous System  (Robert G. Rassp)
The Ogilvie DCA Decision: Is Algebra Out and LeBoeuf In?  (Robert G. Rassp)
Ogilvie Reversed - Confusion Reigns (Richard Jacobsmeyer)
Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Permanent Total Disability Under Labor Code Section 4662  (Robert G. Rassp)
2010 Year in Review: The Top 10 Workers’ Compensation Events in California (Robert G. Rassp)
The Blackledge Case - The Division of Labor  Between the Doctor, the Judge, the DEU Rater and You (Robert G. Rassp)
Guzman: New Decision, Old Medical Business (Howard Stevens)
Guzman III: "Sifting The Wheat From The Chaff" (Raymond F. Correio)
California: Almaraz/Guzman 2 Upheld (Nigel Scott Baker)
California Sixth Appellate District Affirms WCAB Decision in Guzman v. Milpitas School District (Goldman, Magdalin & Krikes, LLP)
First Salvo: 6th District Upholds California W.C.A.B. in Guzman Case (Richard Jacobsmeyer)
Guzman (Julius Young)
Guzman III, The DCA Speaks (Robert G. Rassp)
California DEU Begins Issuing Almaraz Ratings (Goldman, Magdalin & Krikes, LLP)
Rebutting the AMA Guides in California: Almaraz/Guzman II (Alex Wong)
Inextricably Intertwined - Benson Revisited in California (Robert G. Rassp)
New 2010 Edition of The Lawyer's Guide to the AMA Guides and California Workers' Compensation (Robert G. Rassp)
Almaraz-Guzman II WCAB En Banc Decision: Providing a WPI That Is the Most Accurate Reflection of the Impairment (Steven D. Feinberg, M.D.)
The 2005 PDRS Debate in California (Robert G. Rassp)
A Close Encounter With A Table Saw: Alternative WPI Ratings Post-Almaraz-Guzman II (Robert G. Rassp)
WCAB Decisions in Almaraz/Guzman II, Ogilvie II (Corey Ingber)
Almaraz/Guzman II & Ogilvie II Decisions Issued (Richard Jacobsmeyer)
Almaraz/Guzman II & Ogilvie II (Goldman, Magdalin & Krikes)
Almaraz/Guzman II and Ogilvie II (Mark Webb) (Podcast Transcript)
Almaraz/Guzman II and Ogilvie II (Robert Rassp) (Podcast Transcript)
Almaraz and Ogilvie II New Limits on Creative PD Determinations (Howard J. Stevens)
Almaraz-Guzman II WCAB En Banc Decision: Providing a WPI That Is the Most Accurate Reflection of the Impairment (Steven D. Feinberg, M.D.)
Further Reflections on the Almaraz-Guzman Calif. WCAB En Banc Decision
Almaraz-Guzman and Ogilvie En Banc Decisions - Are They Currently in Force Pending Reconsideration by the Calif. WCAB?
California's Permanent Disability Rating Schedule in Light of Almaraz/Guzman: How the Appeals Board Didn’t Get It Right
California's Proposed 2009 Permanent Disability Rating Schedule - Is Your Head Spinning Yet?
Another “Weird-Assed” Medical Condition in the AMA Guides and How to Rate It for Permanent Impairment
New 2010 Edition of The Lawyer's Guide to the AMA Guides and Calif. Workers' Compensation
Delaware
The Christmas Post-and an Empty Stocking on a Claim for Psychiatric Impairment (Cassandra Roberts)
The Shalkshank Redemption: AMA Guide 6th Edition Reigns Supreme in the First State (Cassandra Roberts)
The Whitman Sampler-a Little Permanency Ruling Round-Up in Delaware (Cassandra Roberts)
A Lesson in Pugilism: The  Battle of the AMA Guides in DE  (Cassandra Roberts)
Permanency in Delaware: Rodgers is from Venus, Gelman from Mars (Cassandra Roberts)
Latency, Latency, Thou art Everything:  DE Asbestos Award and Guess What? Permanency Award Based on AMA 6th (Cassandra Roberts)
No Headache for This Claimant When DE IAB Allows Permanent Impairment Benefits to Both the Brain and the Head (Cassandra Roberts)
Battle of the Guides in Delaware: IAB Rules on the 5th versus the 6th Edition for Permanency and Skirts the Issue
AMA Guide Round-Up: IAB Reviews the AMA Guide Application Issue with Surprising Scrutiny
Iowa
Member Report - Iowa Task Force Regarding AMA Guides Sixth Edition
Iowa Rejects 6th Edition of AMA Impairment Guides for Work Injuries
Kentucky
Is There a Doctor in the House? Oh, an ALJ Will Do
AMA Guides Sixth Edition Down But Not Out in Kentucky
Sixth Edition Six Feet Under in Kentucky? At Least for Now
Kentucky Workers' Compensation Commissioner Proposes New Practice Changes
The Sixth Edition Has Left the Building
Missouri
Got Rating?
Nevada
Nevada: Terrible New Decision for Injured Workers on PPD Ratings (Virginia Hunt)
Nevada Adopts a Worksheet to Rate Permanent Psychological Impairment (Virginia Hunt)
Nevada's Use of the AMA Guides in Rating Injured Workers' Permanent Impairment 
Physicians May Consider Spinal Injury's Impact on Daily Living Activities in Rating Permanent Disability
Oklahoma
The Role of Medical Evidence and the AMA Guides in Oklahoma Workers' Compensation Cases
Oregon
Oregon Workers' Comp Division Provides Details on AMA 6th Edition Project
South Carolina
South Carolina Workers' Compensation Reform: Governator-Style
Texas
Avoiding the Ninety-Day Rule: Filing Proper Disputes & Challenging Validity of Impairment Ratings in Texas
Virginia
Virginia Court of Appeals Cites Rassp's "The Lawyer's Guide" as Authority on AMA Guides
Longshore Act
The Application of the 6th Edition of the AMA Guides to Rating Impairment Under the Longshore Act  
Application of the AMA Guidelines in Determining Disability Under the Longshore Act
The AMA Guides Measure What?     

ARTICLES (Journal, Magazines, etc.)

Feinberg SD, Brigham CR, Guide to the Guides: Evaluator's Resource Algorithm to the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, Fifth Ed., 2006
Brigham CR, Misuse and Abuse - AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Imparment, For the Defense, March 2006, 22-36

IAIABC Journal, Vol. 46 No. 1 (Spring 2009) Workers' Comp Law Center registered users get 20% off the Spring 2009 issue or an annual subscription. Use Coupon Code WCLC2009. Click here to order   

• AMA 6th Extended Comments, by J. Mark Melhorn  
• The AMA Guides and Permanent Partial Disability Benefits, by John F. Burton, Jr.
• The 6th Edition of the AMA Guide to Permanent Impairment: Its Foundation, Implications for Jurisdictional Use, and Possible Future Directions, by Kathryn L. Mueller
• The AMA 6th: Accelerating the Demise of Permanent Disability in Workers' Compensation, by Jay Causey, Todd McFarren, John E. Nimlos
• AMA Guides Sixth Edition: Perceptions, Myths, and Insights, by Christopher E. Brigham, W. Frederick Uehlein, Craig Uejo, Leslie Dilbeck
• The New AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, Sixth Edition, and Its Use in Tennessee, by James B. Talmage
• AMA Guides – Challenges in Application, by Robert E. Bonner
• A Personal Perspective on the Sixth Edition of the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment for the Musculoskeletal Chapters – Executive Summary, by J. Mark Melhorn 
• AMA Guides Sixth Edition: A Quick Guide to Regulatory Issues for Regulators, by Robert Aurbach
• AMA Guides Sixth Edition: New Concepts, Challenges, and Opportunities, by Christopher Brigham, Elizabeth Genovese, Craig Uejo

IAIABC Journal, Vol. 45 No. 1 (Spring 2008) Workers' Comp Law Center registered users get 20% off the Spring 2008 issue or an annual subscription. Use Coupon Code WCLC2009. Click here to order

IAIABC Journal, Vol. 45 No. 2 (Fall 2008) Workers' Comp Law Center registered users get 20% off the Fall 2008 issue or an annual subscription. Use Coupon Code WCLC2009. Click here to order 

AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION BOOKSTORE

Sixth Edition, Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (2008) – click here to order
Fifth Edition, Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (2000) – click here to order
Fourth Edition, Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (1993) – click here to order
Third Edition (Revised), Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (1990) – click here to order 

LEXISNEXIS BOOKSTORE

 The Lawyer’s Guide to the AMA Guides and Workers’ Compensation, 2011 Edition, by Robert G. Rassp, Esq. 

Occupational Injuries and Illnesses: AMA Guides Handbook, 2011 Edition, Brian J. Caveney, MD, JD, MPH, Editor-in-Chief      

PODCASTS

Mark Webb and Robert Rassp on Almaraz/Guzman II and Ogilvie II ( Calif. WCAB En Bancs)
Dr. Brian Caveney, Duke Medical Center, Durham, NC, on Recent Trends in Occupational Injuries and Illnesses
Robert G. Rassp, Esq. on California's Proposed 2009 Permanent Disability Rating Schedule 
Workers Comp Matters on Workers Comp & the AMA Guides 6^th Edition. Attorney Alan S. Pierce's special guests are Dr. Christopher Brigham, President of Brigham and Associates and Senior Contributing Editor to the AMA Guides, and attorney Todd McFarren, Partner at Rucka, O'Boyle, Lombardo and McKenna and past president of the Work Injury Law and Advocacy Group (WILG) 

 ASK THE EXPERT

        

FREE DOWNLOADS

State-by-State Use of the AMA Guides (revised 6/26/2010)
Traumatic Brain Injuries (excerpt from Attorney's Textbook of Medicine)
Conceptualizing Brain Injury as a Chronic Disease (Brain Injury Association of America Position Paper)
Glossary of Legal Terms for People With Brain Injury (Brain Injury Association of America)
Hand-Arm Vibration Injuries (excerpt from Occupational Injuries and Illnesses treatise) 
AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, Sixth Edition (Robert Rondinelli, MD, PhD, Medical Editor) (introduction and background on Sixth Edition; survey of criticisms of Sixth Edition) (revised 7/1/2009) 

*     *     LEXIS.COM USERS     *     * 

All materials are from The Lawyer's Guide to the AMA Guides and California Workers' Compensation and have general application to all states, not just California, unless otherwise noted.

Chapter 1: Philosophy, Purpose, and Appropriate Use of the Guides (4 pages)
Chapter 2: Practical Application of the Guides (5 pages)
Chapter 3: The Cardiovascular System: Heart and Aorta (2 pages)
Chapter 4: The Cardiovascular System: Systemic and Pulmonary Arteries (2 pages)
Chapter 5: The Respiratory System (7 pages)
Chapter 6: The Digestive System (3 pages)
Chapter 7: The Urinary and Reproductive System (2 pages)
Chapter 8: The Skin (1 page)
Chapter 9: The Hematopoietic System (2 pages)
Chapter 10: The Endocrine System (6 pages)
Chapter 11: Ear, Nose, Throat, and Related Structures (3 pages)
Chapter 12: The Visual System (6.5 pages)
Chapter 13: The Central and Peripheral Nervous System (7 pages)
Chapter 14: Mental and Behavioral Disorders (5 pages)
Chapter 15: The Spine (17 pages)
Chapter 16: The Upper Extremities (21 pages)
Chapter 17: The Lower Extremities (13 pages)
Chapter 18: Pain (4.5 pages)

EMERGING ISSUES ANALYSIS ARTICLES 

Jesse N. Rosen on AMA Guides, Spinal Impairment, and First Reported Calif. Workers' Compensation Cases - read excerpt
 Steven D. Feinberg, MD, on Almaraz-Guzman II WCAB Decision: Providing a WPI that is the Most Accurate Reflection of the Impairment – read excerpt
Steven D. Feinberg, MD, on Complex Regional Pain Syndrome: Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy & Causalgia - read excerpt
Robert G. Rassp on Five of the Most Controversial Issues in AMA Guides and California Workers' Compensation Cases - read excerpt
Robert G. Rassp on Ogilvie Formula for California Workers Compensation Cases - read excerpt 

MEDICAL INFORMATION WITH AMA GUIDES PRACTICE TIPS 

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (4 pages)
Chronic Pain Syndromes (1 page)
Pain Add-Ons (2.5 pages)

Diabetes Mellitus (1.5 pages – Attorney's Textbook of Medicine)
Diabetes Insipidus (1.5 pages – Attorney's Textbook of Medicine)

Fibromyalgia (6.5 pages)

Multiple System Impairments (2.5 pages)

Muscle Strength Deficits (4.5 pages)

Sleep Disorders (4.5 pages)
Sleep Apnea (1 page)

Spinal Injury Cases: DRE vs. ROM Methods in California (5 pages)
Failed Lumbar Syndrome (3 pages)

AMA GUIDES CASE SUMMARIES: STATE BY STATE 

Arizona Noteworthy Cases Intepreting the AMA Guides (6th Edition) - Read excerpt here before purchasing

California Noteworthy Cases Interpreting the AMA Guides (5th Edition) - Read excerpt here before purchasing

Arkansas Noteworthy Cases Intepreting the AMA Guides (4th Edition) - Read excerpt here before purchasing

Colorado Noteworthy Cases Intepreting the AMA Guides (3rd Edition) - Read excerpt here before purchasing

Iowa Noteworthy Cases Intepreting the AMA Guides (5th Edition) - Read excerpt here before purchasing

Kentucky Noteworthy Cases Intepreting the AMA Guides (5th Edition) - Read excerpt here before purchasing