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Evaluating Permanent Partial Disability (PPD)

When an injured employee has reached a healing plateau the doctor should evaluate whether any permanent disability has resulted from the work injury and if so, assign a rating to the affected body part. The rating should consider the pre-injury status, any loss in range of motion, loss of endurance, pain or other elements of the injury that the injured will have to endure on a permanent basis and how it will affect the employee. In cases where an employee's impairment involves a less-than-total loss of use of a particular body part, that person will receive a percentage of benefits, known as permanent partial disability (PPD), corresponding to the extent of his or her injury.