When it comes to your personal injury case, there’s one term you’ll want to be familiar with. That term is maximum medical improvement or MMI. But what does that mean and why does it matter to you? Here’s what you need to know about maximum medical improvement and your injury case.
Maximum Medical Improvement: Why It Matters
What is MMI?
Maximum Medical Improvement is the day your recovery is over. But it’s important to understand what that means because it can sound deceiving. In short, you may never fully heal from your injury. Depending on the type of injury and the circumstances around it, you may suffer from lasting effects. However, at some point, those effects should not get any worse. And that is when you reach MMI. That means you’ve recovered as much as you are going to and now the job is to maintain your medical state.
As you may can guess, your doctor provides your MMI date. Once he or she feels that you can not get any better or worse, they will determine that date.
How does it impact my case?
Your medical date is important for several reasons. First, if you rush it and determine that date too soon, you may not be able to receive coverage for additional problems. For instance, imagine that you suffered an injury and needed surgery. You go through surgery then do physical therapy and determine your MMI date . But after several months, you are still having mild symptoms and the doctor decides you need additional therapy. But if you’ve already settled because you reached your maximum medical improvement, they won’t cover those additional medical fees.
In addition, reaching your maximum medical improvement will most likely mean an end to your temporary disability. By then, your employer will know if you’ll be able to return to work and what load you can handle. You can expect pressure from them to settle as quickly as possible.
In short, your maximum medical improvement has a big impact on your injury case. So it’s very important not to fall into the trap of rushing your MMI.