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What Is a Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI) Finding in Ohio Workers’ Compensation?

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If the Ohio BWC or Your Employer SaysYou’ve Hit a Treatment Plateau for a Job Injury, You Don’t Have to Accept It

It’s a critical moment in the unfortunate process you’ve been going through since you were injured on the job in Ohio and began receiving Temporary Total Disability Compensation (TTDC). A doctor says you have reached Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI).

What does MMI mean?

This is what the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) says: “MMI occurs when a condition has stabilized and further functional improvement is unlikely, despite continued medical treatment or physical rehabilitation.”

The problem with a finding of MMI is that it has a major impact on your Ohio workers’ compensation claim. It means your TTDC will stop.

Further, an MMI finding can impact your future medical treatment. So if the Ohio BWC or your self-insured employer is arguing you have reached MMI, contact the work injury attorneys at Horenstein, Nicholson & Blumenthal (HNB). We can push back.

The attorneys at HNB have handled thousands of Ohio Industrial Commission hearings on the issue of MMI and succeeded inprotecting people’sworkers’ compensation benefits.

Even if you’ve been found to have reached MMI and your TTDC has ended, your BWC claim is still open.

You likely still live with lasting effects from your work injury, and you need more from the Ohio workers’ compensation system. Make sure you get it.

Work with a knowledgeable Ohio workers’ compensation lawyer from HNB. We don’t just help you get workers’ compensation benefits at the beginning of the process, we fight for you to get all the medical treatment and financial awards and settlements available to you, even after an MMI finding.

The first step is going to a hearing to fight the MMI finding. If the Industrial Commission finds MMI anyway, talk to us to make the best next moves in your Ohio workers’ compensation claim.

We’ve helped Ohio workers in all occupations across the entire state for over 40 years.

We’re the workers’ compensation law firm that has Ohioans saying, “Helping me, that’s HNB.”

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    What Happens When You Are Confronted with the MMI Question?

    This is how you get to a decision that you’ve reached maximum medical improvement:

    • Your treating physician says you’ve reached MMI.
    • The Ohio BWC or your employer has a doctor do a supposedly independent medical examination (IME), and that doctor says you’ve reached MMI.
    • If your doctor disagrees with the MMI opinion of the BWC or employer doctor, the question goes to the Ohio Industrial Commission to decide.
    • The Industrial Commission will hold multiple, legally binding hearings to settle the disagreement on whether you’re at MMI.
    • The Industrial Commission could decide you’re not at MMI, or that you are. There will likely be at least two hearings before different hearing officers, so it’s important to have representation.

    You’re not required to go to hearings on MMI, but the attorneys at Horenstein, Nicholson and Blumenthal recommend that you attend and go with your HNB attorney. The stakes are high, since an MMI finding terminates your Temporary Total Disability Compensation (TTDC).

    In the MMI hearing, you’ll need to bring medical evidence and make arguments in support of continuing your TTDC.

    It’s important to remember that an MMI finding after an Ohio Industrial Commission hearing only has the immediate impact of ending your TTDC. It does not directly result in the end of all medical treatment in your Ohio BWC claim.

    However, an MMI finding can make it more likely in the future that medical treatment will be stopped or significantly limited under your workers’ compensation claim.

    You don’t want to go in alone. Bring an HNB workers’ compensation attorney with you to your hearings to make sure your needs are given top priority—not your employer’s desires, or the BWC’s interests.

    HNB represents people in all occupations from our locations in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and Dayton.

    You can always start by getting our work injury lawyers to look at your situation and advise you on your options—for free.

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    At Maximum Medical Improvement, Where Do You Go from Here?

    Once the Ohio workers’ compensation system has decided you’ve reached MMI from your work injury, it’s important to remember that your Ohio BWC claim is still open for other workers’ compensation benefits.

    You could have ongoing limitations from your work injury or need more help getting back to normal.

    This is what you could be doing next:

    • Undergoing vocational rehabilitation to reconnect you with the workforce
    • Seeking out and continuing medical treatment in your claim since your BWC claim is still open after an MMI finding
    • Adding additional conditions to your claim so you can get evaluated for ongoing medical needs
    • Getting wage loss compensation if you can’t find a job you can do now, or your new work pays less than before your injury
    • Getting permanent total disability benefits, which last forever, because you suffered a severe work injury that leaves you unable to work again

    We recommend every injured worker do the following at a minimum:

    • Get a permanent partial disability award paid to you, which neither settles, closes nor stops treatment in your BWC claim, but rather compensates you via a financial award for ongoing symptoms.
    • Get a significant full and final lump sum financial settlement payment in exchange for you ending your workers’ compensation claim

    Make sure you get someone capable and experienced standing up for your rights in this process.

    It’s not unusual for the Ohio BWC or the employer to try to low-ball people on awards, a settlement, or benefits they should be getting, or try to cut off benefits prematurely.

    Even far into your workers’ compensation claim, your HNB Ohio workers’ compensation lawyer can make sure you get the full benefits available for the fullest life going forward.

    Call HNB Now!