International Use of the Guides

The past 2 decades have also seen the increased use of the Guides in jurisdictions outside the United States. For example, several Canadian provinces use the Guides to adjudicate workers' compensation claims; the province of Ontario uses it to adjudicate motor vehicle accident personal injury claims. In the mid-1990s, Ontario denied patients involved in motor vehicle accidents access to common-law court unless the case involved catastrophic impairment. Catastrophic impairment was statutorily defined as at least 55% whole person impairment according to the Guides.

This statutorily mandated use of the Guides to adjudicate personal injury claims outside the workers' compensation arena spread across the globe. New Zealand has used the Guides for the past decade to adjudicate all personal injury claims. Likewise, almost all jurisdictions in Australia currently use the Guides to adjudicate workers' compensation claims pursuant to various statutory schemes. Nearly half the jurisdictions in Australia have also adopted various motor vehicle acts requiring that compensatory awards be based on the Guides.