Maximum medical improvement
The point where your condition has stabilised and further recovery is not expected.
Settling before you reach it is the most expensive mistake available in an injury claim. This is general information, not legal advice.
What it means
Maximum medical improvement, usually shortened to MMI, is a clinical judgment rather than a legal one. It means treatment has taken you as far as it reasonably will, and what remains is permanent.
It matters because until you reach it, nobody can say what the injury cost you. Future care, permanent restriction and lost earning capacity all depend on knowing where you ended up.
Insurers sometimes press hardest for settlement well before this point, and the offer is often genuinely attractive to someone out of work and behind on bills. That is the pressure the timing creates.
Where this is dealt with properly
This entry is the short answer. These pages own the subject.
Common questions
- How long does it take to reach MMI?
- It depends entirely on the injury, and no honest answer is available in the abstract. Your treating doctors decide it, not the insurer and not a lawyer.
Start a case review call
On a case review call, I go through the facts with you: what happened, when, whether you were hurt, whether anyone represents you, and how to reach you. It is not legal advice, and I will not put a value on your claim.
Sources: none. Maximum medical improvement is practice vocabulary rather than a legal term of art — no California statute, rule or case defines it, so this page cites none. Attaching an authority that nearly fits would be worse than saying that plainly.