International Use of the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment

Abstract

Abstract In the United States, the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (AMA Guides) is used in state and federal workers’ compensation systems and in automobile casualty and personal injury arenas. The AMA Guides is used in similar ways internationally. Most workers’ compensation jurisdictions in Canada use the AMA Guides formally by statute or regulation or accept its use informally as a standard tool to rate impairment. In Australia, the AMA Guides is used in both federal (Australian Commonwealth) and individual states’ (or territories’) compensation schemes; two tables show how almost all states in Australia have legislated various editions of the AMA Guides for use in workers’ compensation and motor traffic accident compensation schemes. New Zealand's Accident Compensation Commission (ACC) previously used the AMA Guides, Fourth Edition; beginning in July 2011 ACC uses the sixth edition. Hong Kong uses the AMA Guides as a reference in evaluating workers’ compensation and motor vehicle claims; Malaysia uses the AMA Guides officially in adjudication; and impairment rating in Asian countries such as Taiwan, Korea, and Singapore are influenced by the philosophy and principles of the AMA Guides. South Africa uses the AMA Guides, Sixth Edition, to determine serious injury, and other editions are used in South Africa's workers’ compensation schemes. Many countries in Europe and the Middle East use the AMA Guides as a reference for determining impairment and in workers’ compensation and social welfare schemes.