1. For the purposes of NRS 616B.557, 616B.578, 616B.587, 616C.490 and 617.459, not later than August 1, 2003, the Division shall adopt regulations incorporating the American Medical Association’s Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, Fifth Edition, by reference. The regulations:

(a) Must provide that the American Medical Association’s Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, Fifth Edition, must be applied to all examinations; and

(b) Must be applied to all examinations for a permanent partial disability that are conducted on or after the effective date of the regulations, regardless of the date of injury.

2. After adopting the regulations required pursuant to subsection 1, the Division may amend those regulations as it deems necessary, except that the amendments to those regulations:

(a) Must be consistent with the Fifth Edition of the American Medical Association’s Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment;

(b) Must not incorporate any contradictory matter from any other edition of the American Medical Association’s Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment; and

(c) Must not consider any factors other than the degree of physical impairment of the whole person in calculating the entitlement to compensation.

3. If the Fifth Edition of the American Medical Association’s Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment contains more than one method of determining the rating of an impairment, the Administrator shall designate by regulation the method from that edition which must be used to rate an impairment pursuant to NRS 616C.490.

(Added to NRS by 1995, 2128; A 1999, 1777; 2003, 1671; 2009, 3032)