Appendix 1. Key definitions
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
AMA5 | The 5th edition of the American Medical Association’s (AMA) Guides to the evaluation of permanent impairment and any published errata. |
AMA4 | The 4th edition of the American Medical Association’s (AMA) Guides to the evaluation of permanent impairment. |
Medical Assessor | For the purposes of the Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Act 1998, medical assessors are decision-makers appointed by the President of the Personal Injury Commission under the PIC Act1. |
Assessor | An assessor will be a registered medical practitioner recognised as a medical specialist.
The assessor will have qualifications, training and experience relevant to the body system being assessed. The assessor will have successfully completed requisite training in using the Guidelines for each body system they intend on assessing. They will be listed as a trained assessor of permanent impairment for each relevant body system(s) on the State Insurance Regulatory Authority website. |
Degree of impairment | The degree of permanent impairment as assessed according to section 65 of the Workers Compensation Act 1987. |
Injury | A personal injury arising out of or in the course of employment and includes a disease injury. |
Maximum medical improvement (MMI) | This is considered to occur when the worker’s condition is well stabilised and is unlikely to change substantially in the next year, with or without medical treatment. |
The Guidelines | The NSW workers compensation guidelines for the evaluation of permanent impairment. |
Secondary injury | Means an injury to the extent that it arises as a consequence of, or secondary to, another injury. |
The Legislation | The Workers Compensation Act 1987 The Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Act 1998 and the regulations made under those Acts. |
1. Consequent to the enactment of the PIC Act the WIMWC Act is amended to omit references to ‘approved medical specialist’ and instead insert ‘medical assessor’.