If requested, an employee must submit to an impairment rating evaluation after 104 weeks of compensation

An employee shall be required to submit to a medical examination known as an Impairment Rating Evaluation (IRE) to determine the percentage of impairment, if any, at the expiration of an employee’s receipt of 104 weeks of total disability compensation. The impairment rating evaluation is a mechanism for adjusting the status of workers’ compensation between total and partial. An impairment rating of less than fifty (50%) percent, unless successfully contested, will result in a finding that the employee is entitled to no more than an additional 500 weeks of compensation.

The degree of impairment is to be determined pursuant to the most recent edition of the American Medical Association’s “Guidelines to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment.” At any time during the receipt of the 500 weeks an employee may appeal the adjustment of disability status with a Workers’ Compensation Judge by filing a Petition to Review.