Almaraz/Guzman II Promotes Rating By Analogy, Attorneys Believe

The Workers' Compensation Appeals Board's statement that physicians should not leave the "four corners of the American Medical Association Guides" in Almaraz/Guzman II appears to have the largest cost-related implications in last week's en banc opinions. Both applicants' and defense attorneys said that the commissioners' decision to limit physicians to using the American Medical Association Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (AMA Guides) to arrive at an impairment rating encouraged what the applicants' bar has called "rating by analogy." Defense attorneys ...