by Jack Hurley
Vice President of Sales 

“It seems like 10% - 20% of our health plan members are driving the vast majority of plan costs.” You’re probably right! Chronic disease affects one in ten Americans and accounts for 70% of the dollars spent on healthcare each year. Compounding the problem is the fact that nearly half the people with chronic disease are not receiving the care required to keep them in optimal health.

by Scott MacStravic, Ph.D.

There is a virtually universal quest among employers, insurers, governments, consumers, and healthcare reform gurus for major reductions in healthcare expenditures. At a minimum, almost everyone that is not a healthcare provider hopes to cut the annual rate of inflation in such expenditures to a few percentage points. The more ambitious look to reduce total expenditures, despite the aging of the population and increasing costs of caring for them.

[for use in conjunction with the AMA Guide to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, 5th Edition ]

Background

The AMA Guide have been published by the AMA starting in 1971. The Guide content is developed through the use of medical and scientific consultants and representatives of medical specialty organizations. The AMA Guide is periodically reprinted and new editions are issued as scientific and medical advances dictate. The AMA Guide is a proprietary AMA property and is copyrighted as such.

The purpose of the AMA Guide is to provide a means to quantitatively evaluate the level of impairment resulting from disease or injury. The resulting "Impairment Rating" is utilized as the basis of determining Worker Compensation benefit awards. The Guide is mandated by 46 states in the US and by several foreign countries including Canada and Australia. The latest state to mandate the use of the Guide is California with implementation occurring January 1, 2005.