Maximum Medical Improvement in Virginia Workers’ Comp Claims

After a work accident, the road to recovery may be long and difficult. You may be concerned about the costs of your losses and the costs of paying your bills while you’re unable to work. Because of this, you need to know what your Workers’ Comp claim may be worth and what maximum medical improvement means in Virginia Workers’ Comp claims.

Here’s what maximum medical improvement means for your Virginia workers’ comp benefits.

What Does Maximum Medical Improvement Mean?

When you’re hurt in a work accident, you and your doctor will start on the path to your physical recovery as soon as possible. But that can be a long road, and you may not get back to what was normal for you. For example, a brain injury can do permanent cognitive damage. You may have permanent memory loss or a loss of one or more senses, or some fine motor skills may be impacted.

Because your health may never fully recover, maximum medical improvement means you’ve reached the best health you can after the injuries you suffered. You may still need treatment to maintain your health, but you may not be able to improve your health further. In other words, you have reached a plateau.

How Maximum Medical Improvement Can Impact Your Workers’ Comp Claim

Your Workers’ Comp benefits can be impacted if your doctor determines you’ve reached maximum medical improvement. When a doctor determines you have recovered from your injury as much as possible, you may be sent for a battery of physical tests to assess a permanent impairment rating for the affected body parts. If this rating comes back at greater than zero percent and pertains to a body part that is eligible for permanent partial disability benefits, you may be entitled to workers’ comp benefits for the permanent damage you have suffered in that body part. There is a complex statutory formula that determines how much you will be paid for damage to a body part.

That means you may see some changes to your benefits, and you may feel that you’ve not yet reached maximum medical improvement. If you don’t think you’re done improving, tell your doctor what still limits you so it’s in the records. Which body part the rating is assigned to can change what you’re paid. Here’s how impairment ratings work.