Your doctor said four words at the end of a short visit: you are at MMI. Nobody wrote anything down for you. Two weeks later your check is smaller, or it did not come at all, and your shoulder hurts as much as it did the week before. So what changed? Why is the money different when nothing about your body is different? And what are you supposed to do this week?
I am Mark Hirsch. I handle Florida workers' compensation claims, plus Longshore Act claims for dock and shipyard workers around the country. The week after MMI is when most people call me, because MMI is the one day the money changes and almost nobody gets told first.
Here is the short answer. Maximum medical improvement, or MMI, is the day your doctor decides that more treatment is not going to make your injury much better. It is not the day you are healed, and it is not the day your claim ends.
- Your temporary check stops. Florida pays that one at two thirds of your average weekly wage.
- A smaller check starts the next day, at 75 percent of the temporary one.
- How many weeks of that smaller check you get comes from your impairment rating.
How I know: the money rules are in Florida Statute 440.15, and the medical rules are in Florida Statute 440.13.
By the end you will know who picks the MMI date, how to work out your own new check on paper, what a doctor visit costs you now, and the steps to take if the rating is too low.
Key Takeaways
- Your treating doctor decides when you reach MMI. You can also just get there at two years, whether or not any doctor says so.
- Your medical care does not stop. The same authorized doctors stay in place.
- Check the MMI date against your own appointment history before you accept it.
- Ask for a different doctor in writing. The insurance company then has five days to give you one.
- For an injury in 2026, no weekly workers' compensation check in Florida can go above $1,358.
What does MMI mean in workers' comp?
MMI is a prediction about your future, not a description of how you feel today. Here is the part people get wrong, and it costs them. You can be at MMI and still hurt every day, with a permanent limp or a shoulder that will not go above your head. None of that stops a doctor from writing MMI. The question is not whether you hurt. It is whether more treatment would change anything.
That is also why the date matters so much. Under Florida law everything before it counts as temporary and everything after it counts as permanent. Different rules, different money. The rest of this post follows that date in order: who picks it, what changes for your money and your doctor visits, and how to push back.
Who decides you are at MMI, and when?
Your authorized treating doctor decides, and the law gives that doctor a deadline. Here is how it happens, in order. Either your recovery flattens out, or your temporary checks are about to run out. Whichever comes first, the doctor examines you again, writes down that you are at maximum medical improvement, and puts a number on what you permanently lost. That number is your impairment rating, and the deadline for both is 6 weeks before your temporary benefits expire.
The rating is not a number the doctor makes up. Every doctor in Florida works off one state schedule, built on the American Medical Association's impairment guides, and only a licensed doctor of the right kind is allowed to rate you at all.
Hitting 104 weeks is the part almost nobody gets warned about, and 104 weeks is two years of temporary checks. Nobody has to tell you it is coming. So if you are getting close to two years since your accident, mark the date yourself and start asking about your rating before you get there.
One more thing to watch for. If a doctor who is not your treating doctor does the exam, that report has to reach you within 10 days, and your treating doctor then has to say in writing whether they agree. Read that exchange when it lands, because two doctors who disagree give you an opening. More on that below.
How to work out your own check after MMI
Two things happen at once. The temporary check ends, and impairment income benefits begin the day after. Here is how to put your own numbers to that, with a pen and your last check stub.
- Start with what you earned each week before you got hurt. Say it was $900.
- Take two thirds of it. That is $600, and that is the temporary check you have been living on.
- Now take 75 percent of that. That is $450, and that is your new weekly check after MMI. It comes every two weeks rather than every week.
- Read your rating to see how many weeks of $450 you get. The table below turns a rating into weeks.
Step four is where people undercount what they are owed, because the points are not all worth the same.
| Your rating | What each of those points is worth | What the whole rating adds up to |
|---|---|---|
| The first 10 points | You get 2 weeks for each one | A 10 percent rating pays 20 weeks |
| Points 11 through 15 | You get 3 weeks for each one | A 15 percent rating pays 35 weeks |
| Points 16 through 20 | You get 4 weeks for each one | A 20 percent rating pays 55 weeks |
| Point 21 and higher | You get 6 weeks for each one | A 25 percent rating pays 85 weeks |
Two limits sit on top of your answer. If you were hurt in 2026, no weekly check can go above $1,358, a ceiling the state resets every January 1 and set for this year in its December 2, 2025 rate bulletin. And for any week you go back to work earning your old wage, that week's check is cut in half.
Can I still see a doctor after MMI?
Yes. Losing your doctor is the fear I hear most here, and that is not what MMI does. The work injury stays covered, the same authorized doctors stay in place, and care that just keeps you where you are counts too.
One thing does change, and it surprises people at the front desk. Once you are at overall MMI, you owe $10 at every visit for the work injury. If the office tries to bill you for the whole visit, say this: it is a workers' compensation injury, you are past MMI, and the copay is $10. Emergency care is the exception, and you owe nothing on that.
4 things to do the week your doctor says MMI
The weeks right after MMI are when the record is easiest to fix. These four are what I ask for on a first call, and you can do all of them yourself.
- Call the doctor's office and ask for the written MMI report. The doctor has to issue one to you and to the insurance company, giving your rating. Ask for it this week, and do not settle for a number read to you over the phone. You cannot argue with a rating nobody has shown you.
- Put the MMI date next to your own appointment history. A date backdated a month or two quietly erases weeks of temporary checks you were owed. Open your calendar, find your last real treatment visit, and compare. If the two do not match, say so in writing to the adjuster.
- Write down what you still cannot do, in your own words. Not "limited range of motion". Write that you cannot lift a case of water to a top shelf, or stand a full shift without sitting down. Keep the list, because that is the kind of detail that matters later and nobody remembers it six months on.
- Mark 14 days on the calendar from the day the rating went in. That is the deadline for your first impairment check. If nothing has landed by then, call the adjuster and ask why the impairment benefits have not started.
What if the MMI date or the rating is wrong?
You have two tools. Work through them in this order.
First, ask for a different doctor. You get one change of doctor for each accident, and the request has to be in writing. Write to the adjuster and say you are requesting your one change of physician under Florida law. Send it by something that date stamps it, email or certified mail, and keep the proof. The insurance company then has 5 days to give you a different doctor, and that doctor cannot be a colleague of the first one. If those 5 days pass with no answer, you pick the doctor yourself, and your pick counts as authorized as long as the care is reasonable and connected to the work injury.
Second, if two doctors end up disagreeing, a judge can bring in a third. A judge of compensation claims can order an exam by an expert medical advisor, a neutral specialist off a state list. Know what that opinion is worth before you ask for it. It is presumed correct, and the only way around it is clear and convincing evidence. That is a hard standard, and it cuts both ways, so reach for this one when your own medical record is already strong.
A low rating is a different fight from a claim turned down at the start. If yours was denied outright, you fight that one by filing a Petition for Benefits.
MMI works differently if you were hurt on a dock or overseas
Dock and shipyard work runs under a federal law, and so does civilian contract work overseas. If that is you, do not carry the Florida numbers across. Federal temporary benefits have no 104 week cap, and the federal law pays a set number of weeks for a listed body part under 33 U.S.C. section 908. Lose an arm and you are paid 312 weeks.
A back or a neck is not on that list, and that is the difference that matters. There the federal law pays two thirds of the drop in what you can earn, for as long as the drop lasts. So after MMI the federal question is what you can still earn, while the Florida question is what percentage a doctor wrote down.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: My injury got worse after MMI. Is it too late to do anything?
A: No. Book back in with your authorized doctor, describe exactly what your body is doing now that it was not doing at the MMI visit, and ask for the MMI status to be looked at again. Get it into the medical record that same visit, because a change nobody wrote down did not happen as far as the file is concerned.
Q: The doctor gave me a zero percent rating. Is my case over?
A: Not necessarily. A zero rating means no impairment benefits, which is worth a second look rather than a shrug, especially where a specialist never examined the part that hurts. Your medical care carries on either way.
Q: Does reaching MMI mean I have to settle?
A: No. Nothing in Florida law makes MMI a settlement deadline. The first offer often does arrive around then, because the insurance company can finally see what the claim costs. Getting an offer is not the same as having to take it, and signing one can give up a separate claim against somebody other than your employer.
Got an MMI Date Nobody Explained? Let Us Read the Report.
An MMI report is only two pages long, and most people read theirs for the first time after the checks already changed. By then you are arguing about a number somebody else picked. Our team at Templer & Hirsch, Injury Lawyers handles Florida workers' compensation claims plus federal Longshore and Defense Base Act claims, with no fee unless we recover. Call 305-937-2700 or request a free case evaluation.
This is general information, not legal advice; consult an attorney about your situation.