Low Permanent Partial Impairments (PPI’s)

A Permanent Partial Impairment (PPI) rating is the number that helps determine how much money you could receive at the end of an Indiana workers' compensation claim. If you were hurt on the job anywhere in Indiana, this single percentage can be worth tens of thousands of dollars. Getting it right often means talking to an Indianapolis workers' compensation lawyer before you sign anything.

The problem is that the doctor who assigns your PPI rating usually works within the care your employer's insurance company has set up. That doctor could decide your healed back is worth a 0% rating, which tells the insurer it owes you nothing in PPI benefits. A rating that lands even a few points low could quietly erase thousands of dollars from your claim.

Klezmer Maudlin PC has spent more than 25 years challenging low ratings and pushing insurers to pay Indiana workers what their injuries are actually worth. Call (317) 569-9644 or use our online contact form for a free consultation.

Why Choose Klezmer Maudlin PC for Your PPI Rating Dispute

Klezmer Maudlin PC handles Indiana workers' compensation exclusively, and our attorneys authored the Indiana Workers' Compensation Practice Manual, the resource lawyers across Indiana reach for when a hard question comes up.

When a rating doctor leans on the AMA Guides to shortchange your impairment, we already know the counterargument. That depth is difficult to match anywhere in Indianapolis.

Experience Against the Insurers

Our team brings experience handling workers' compensation claims throughout Indiana. We know how the carriers behave because we have faced them time and again. That history shapes how we build your case from the first phone call.

We Know the Rating Doctors

We know which Indiana physicians tend to assign unusually low PPI ratings to keep the insurers that refer them happy. If your rating came from one of them, that is a red flag we can act on right away. Knowing the players lets us move quickly to line up a fair second opinion.

Rooted in Indianapolis

Our main office sits on Center Run Drive in Indianapolis, minutes from I-465, and we appear regularly before the Indiana Workers' Compensation Board downtown. Being local means we handle your hearing in person, not from an office in another state.

A low rating doesn’t have to be the final word on your claim. Call Klezmer Maudlin PC today at (317) 569-9644 or reach out through our online form.

What Is a PPI Rating in Indiana Workers' Compensation?

A PPI rating is a doctor's measurement of the permanent damage left by your work injury, written as a percentage of lost function in a body part or in your body as a whole. In Indiana, PPI is the figure that turns your injury into a dollar amount.

Think of it this way: If a doctor says your knee lost 20% of its function for good, that 20% becomes the starting point for your settlement. A higher percentage means a more valuable claim.

Doctors assign a PPI rating only after you reach Maximum Medical Improvement, or MMI. Reaching MMI means your body has healed as much as it is going to heal, even if you still live with pain or new limits.

How Does Indiana Turn a PPI Rating Into a Payment?

Indiana doctors assign a PPI percentage based on the extent of your permanent impairment. They use the American Medical Association’s Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment when making that rating.

Indiana then converts the percentage into “degrees” based on the body part involved. The whole body is worth 100 degrees, while individual body parts have their own values. For example, a thumb is worth 12 degrees, and a hand below the elbow is worth 40.

If a doctor gives you a 10% impairment rating for a body part worth 40 degrees, that works out to 4 degrees of impairment. Indiana then uses those degrees in the formula that determines the value of your PPI benefit.

Which Work Injuries Qualify for a PPI Rating in Indiana?

Any work injury that leaves lasting damage after you reach MMI can qualify for a PPI rating, whether that means a wrecked knee, a damaged back, or permanent hearing loss. The key word here is "permanent" because workers' compensation pays a PPI settlement once a doctor finds that an impairment will not fully go away.

You don’t have to be totally disabled to qualify. A warehouse worker in Indianapolis who returns to the job with permanent shoulder limits and a construction worker whose back never fully recovers can each be owed a PPI settlement. Partial plus permanent is the combination that unlocks these benefits.

Qualifying injuries across Indiana job sites range from crushed fingers and torn knee ligaments to herniated discs and repetitive-motion damage that builds up over the years. If your body never returns to normal and a doctor agrees the change is permanent, a PPI rating should be part of your Indiana workers' compensation claim.

How Is a PPI Rating Assigned in Indiana, and Who Decides It?

The authorized treating doctor — usually chosen by your employer or its insurance carrier — decides your PPI rating once you reach MMI. In most Indiana claims, your employer directs your medical care, which means it also selects the physician who examines you and puts a number on your impairment.

Here’s a detail that trips up a lot of workers: In Indiana, the carrier's authorized doctor who declares you at MMI and hands down your rating is not the "independent medical examiner." That authorized doctor works inside the treatment your employer arranged.

Before assigning the rating, the doctor may send you for a Functional Capacity Evaluation, an hours-long test of what your body can still do. Those results measure your physical abilities, while the doctor assigns the final impairment number. Since that number comes from a doctor the insurer's system selected, it deserves a hard look.

How Much Is Each Degree of Impairment Worth in Indiana?

Each degree of impairment carries a set dollar amount under Indiana law, and the amount climbs as your total number of degrees rises. The values live in Indiana Code § 22-3-3-10, and the exact figures depend on the date you were injured.

For injuries on or after July 1, 2026, the schedule pays:

These rates increased each year from 2023 through 2026, so a worker hurt in 2026 is paid more per degree than a worker hurt in 2023. If your injury happened before July 1, 2026, an earlier and lower schedule applies to your claim — the date of your accident controls, not the date you settle.

The math is layered rather than flat. Your first 10 degrees pay at the lowest rate, the next band pays a little more, and the value keeps rising as you move up the ladder.

Indiana's PPI rating chart also fixes how many degrees a total loss of certain body parts is worth:

Say a doctor rates a 2026 back injury at 20% of the whole body. That works out to 20 degrees. The first 10 degrees pay $1,970 each, or $19,700, and the next 10 pay $2,197 each, or $21,970 — a hypothetical total of $41,670.

Now, picture a worker who loses a big toe by amputation. A big toe is 12 degrees, but Indiana doubles the dollar value when a listed body part is lost by separation. That doubling rule turns a figure of roughly $24,000 into roughly $48,000, and it’s exactly the kind of provision an insurer sometimes forgets to apply.

You may have found an Indiana PPI calculator or a PPI settlement calculator online and typed in your numbers. Those tools can hand you a rough estimate, but they skip the details that actually move the figure, and they assume the rating itself is correct.

A calculator can’t tell you whether your rating was set too low in the first place, which is the part that matters most.

Several factors decide what your PPI rating is truly worth:

• The Date of Your Injury: The per-degree dollar values are locked to the year you were hurt, so an older injury pays at a lower rate than a 2026 one.
• Scheduled Part Versus Whole Body: A rating tied to a specific limb converts into degrees differently than a whole-body rating. The wrong classification can cost you money.
• Amputation Doubling: A loss by separation doubles the per-degree value, but only when someone remembers to apply the rule.
• The AMA Guides Edition: Whether the doctor used the 5th or 6th edition can shift your percentage, and one edition may treat your injury more fairly than the other.

What Is the PPI vs. PTD Election in Indiana?

If your work injury leaves you permanently and totally disabled, Indiana does not limit you to a fixed impairment award — you receive the greater of your PPI amount or 500 weeks of compensation.

The difference between the two can be enormous. A worker who can never return to any job stands in a very different position than a worker with a partial impairment, and the 500-week measure usually pays far more than a scheduled PPI figure.

This is where some insurers go quiet. A carrier may hand a badly injured worker a modest PPI offer and never mention that a permanent total disability claim could be worth much more.

You may have already collected Temporary Disability benefits before your rating even arrives. Understanding how those benefits connect to your final award is part of protecting the full value of your claim.

What Should You Do About a Low or Zero PPI Rating?

If you believe your PPI rating is too low, or a doctor handed you a 0% rating, you have the right to challenge it and seek another medical opinion. Indiana law lets you obtain your own impairment rating from a doctor you choose.

Indiana requires 0% PPI ratings to be reported to the Indiana Workers' Compensation Board. A 0% rating tells the insurer it owes no PPI payment based on that rating, even when you still need injections or physical therapy months later.

A rating from the authorized doctor is not necessarily the last word. You can seek another medical opinion if you disagree with it.

Adjusters rarely announce that they are underpaying you, and a low rating almost never arrives with a warning label. Instead, the clues hide in the details of how your examination and rating were handled.

Signs that a PPI rating deserves a closer look include:

• 0 Rating Despite Ongoing Treatment: You’re still in therapy or on medication, yet the paperwork insists you have no permanent impairment.
• A Rushed Examination: The rating doctor spent only a few minutes with you before assigning a number that follows you for life.
• A Rating You Question: You may seek another medical opinion if you believe the doctor did not accurately measure your permanent impairment.
• A Low Rating: A rating that seems too low for your lasting impairment may be worth challenging.

How Do You Get a Second Opinion or IME on Your PPI Rating?

You can challenge your rating either by obtaining your own impairment evaluation or by asking the Indiana Workers' Compensation Board to order an independent medical examination with a neutral, board-appointed doctor. Indiana's system is more balanced than most states here, because the Board — not the insurance company — appoints the IME physician.

That distinction is a genuine advantage. In many states, the insurer picks the "independent" examiner, which is hardly independent at all. In Indiana, an independent medical examination ordered through the Board comes from a doctor with no stake in the outcome of your claim.

You can also hire your own physician to complete a rating before the dispute ever reaches the Board, though that evaluation carries an out-of-pocket cost that often runs several hundred dollars or more.

For an unrepresented worker, choosing the right route, lining up a credible doctor, and covering that cost can feel overwhelming. This is the moment our firm steps in.

Klezmer Maudlin PC gathers your medical records, connects you with credible physicians, and presents the evidence that supports a higher rating. When the insurer refuses to budge, we carry your dispute to a hearing before the Indiana Workers' Compensation Board in Indianapolis. You focus on healing while we handle the fight over your PPI rating.

Does a 0% PPI Rating End Your Right to Future Medical Care?

A 0% PPI rating doesn’t automatically cut off coverage for future medical care or medications you still need because of your work injury. The rating measures permanent impairment; it does not, on its own, decide who pays for treatment that limits or reduces your impairment.

Many workers' comp doctors tell patients to follow up with their primary care physician for ongoing refills after a 0% rating. What those doctors sometimes miss is that workers' compensation may still owe for medication and care that reduce or limit your injury. Being sent back to your regular doctor doesn’t automatically shift the bill onto you.

A 0% number on a form doesn’t have to mean you are on your own for future treatment, and it is worth having your case reviewed before you start paying out of pocket.

FAQ for PPI Rating

Get the PPI Rating You Actually Earned

A single percentage shouldn’t decide your future while the insurance company holds all the cards. Klezmer Maudlin PC has spent decades helping Indiana workers receive full compensation for their permanent injuries, and we’re ready to review your rating for free.

Call Klezmer Maudlin PC today at (317) 569-9644 or reach us through our online form to start your free consultation.