Medical Record Reviews

Case Works Medical Record Review Team Is Ready To Work On Your Docket.

A typical mass tort or personal injury case involves reviewing medical records for many plaintiffs who have suffered injuries or illnesses. Plaintiffs’ lawyers evaluate these records to confirm the validity of each individual’s claim and provide the evidentiary support needed to only pursue those cases that have merit. It’s a potentially cumbersome, expensive, and time-consuming process for attorneys and paralegals to undertake, particularly when the review requires specific medical knowledge and training to thoroughly understand the content of the records and whether each piece of information is relevant.

Law firms can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their medical record review process by outsourcing this task to Case Works. In litigation matters involving copious documents, we can provide the support you need to take on a large client base. We hire and train experienced nurses to review medical records pertinent to each clients’ claim and implement our own successfully vetted protocols to give you optimal outcomes. Our assistance with your medical records review process can reduce error rates for your firm, saving you time, money, and exhausted efforts while strengthening your clients’ cases.

Challenges of Medical Record Reviews

Attorneys handling cases that require extensive medical record reviews commonly encounter a host of challenges threatening to impede their legal team’s success. By working with Case Works to fulfill this overarching task, you can overcome the following obstacles posed by medical records review processes:

Irrelevant or Disorganized Records

The process of gathering medical records often relies on individual providers to select, organize, and send the information requested. It might take several back-and-forth communications to ensure you have all the needed records and that all information is thorough and accurate. Receiving the documents and relevant data you need from medical facilities can consume hours that you and your team could spend on more productive tasks.

Difficulty Understanding Terminology or Relevance

From basics like anatomical labels to subtle distinctions in related medical diagnoses, medical terminology can be confusing and challenging to interpret for those who lack experience in the field. In addition, medical abbreviations can vary from one medical professional to the next, further complicating the task of comprehending the meaning and relevance of written shorthand language in a given medical record. Legal professionals are adept at legalese, but even small errors in misinterpreting a medical term or notation can make the difference between proving a claim or having it dismissed.

Missing or Defective Records

With the advent of electronic medical records (EMR), medical professionals expected the beginning of a new era in medical recordkeeping in which patient forms stayed organized and consistent across platforms and providers. But achieving this desired outcome is still a work in progress. Incompatible EMR applications, data entry mistakes, and a grab-bag of technological challenges have created new complications. Missing and corrupted client medical records can hinder a consumer injury case. Without a skilled team to decipher and remedy the problem, attorneys can hit a roadblock or miss important details that could change the trajectory of the case results.

Time-Consuming

Medical record review takes time, and many legal teams lack the necessary staff to plow through thousands of pages of dense medical documents. Time constraints from statutes of limitations to court-imposed deadlines for completing discovery or motion practice can further exacerbate the problem, making it difficult for law firms to handle multiple injury clients’ case development and management needs.

In-House vs. Outsourcing Medical Record Reviews

Even law firms with sizeable in-house staff may not benefit from tying up their resources on medical record reviews. In-house reviews can work for singular injury cases, but outsourcing can free up time for attorneys and staff to focus on client and strategy meetings, trial preparation, and client advocacy when it comes to litigation. Case Works gives legal teams access to subject-matter experts and a verified process your firm can rely on. With our help, attorneys and paralegals can have more time to focus on other valuable legal tasks to maximize efficiency, client satisfaction, and quality outcomes.

Can outsourcing medical record reviews increase the value of a settlement?

It’s certainly possible. Organized, efficient medical record reviews give plaintiffs’ counsel the best opportunity to uncover vital evidence supporting proof of use and injury to combat defenses made by the opposing side. As any lawyer knows, solid evidence makes for a strong case, creating leverage in negotiations increasing the odds of achieving favorable results.

Case Works Can Provide Plaintiffs' Law Firms with Superior Medical Record Reviews

Case Works can help law firms tackle many challenges by implementing, staffing, and managing medical record reviews. We have extensive experience in mass tort cases and personal injury development and management, and we routinely work with leading lawyers and law firms to streamline and optimize medical record reviews by leveraging the following core capabilities:

Case Works' Process for Medical Records Reviews

Case Works has developed a battle-tested process for medical record reviews that effectively builds strong cases. Our Case Ready™️ process includes:

Researching the science behind the tort in a particular case and reviewing bellwether cases to create specific reviewer criteria and protocols for each mass tort (including any specific measures that our clients request)

Hiring experienced nurses and training them to evaluate, code, and flag relevant records to ensure an efficiency-maximizing, value-enhancing medical records review process
Maintaining strict quality control processes to ensure our team adheres to our protocols and makes improvements that promote efficiency and reliability for your firm
Using advanced technology like sophisticated online document review tools and artificial intelligence engines to ensure we obtain the highest quality results for our clients

In addition, we have strong relationships with medical retrieval vendors and work alongside them to meet the highest standards and most in-depth or complicated requests from initial ask to delivery.

Case Works' Chronology Method for Proof of Use and Injury

Case Works approaches medical record reviews with a lawyer’s needs in mind. We understand the importance of building a solid chronology to prove a plaintiff’s use and injury. We also appreciate that medical records supply the essential evidence lawyers need to develop that chronology. We aim to help lawyers identify the key medical records that solidly illustrate the evolution of a plaintiff’s claim, from the initial use of a defective product or exposure to an environmental hazard through the appearance of telltale symptoms and ailments to the diagnosis and treatment of the plaintiff’s medical conditions. Everything can be organized and tagged or indexed per your specifications for easy access to enhance representation and client trust and satisfaction.

Case Works Performs Quality Checks

At Case Works, we adhere to specific guidelines we’ve developed over our years of experience to ensure scalable, accurate, and high-quality medical records reviews. We are firm believers that a robust process amplified by a commitment to quality control drives effective results in medical record reviews. We train each member of our team to double- and triple-check their work at every stage. Our clients benefit from our extensive experience in implementing and constantly honing our quality control methods. We can zero in on details that law firm staff might overlook due to busy schedules that pull them in different directions. We will use appropriate inspection and analysis tactics to find any errors, discrepancies, or information gaps that can harm a case and ensure swift and proper resolutions. Our goal is to provide your legal practice with relevant and valuable evidentiary support for your clients’ litigation claims to deliver optimal outcomes.

Case Works Partners with Experienced Health Care Professionals

The Case Works process for medical record reviews includes specific training for our partnering health care providers. By training our medical records review teams on our best practices, we ensure the consistency and quality of our services. Medical providers who work on our records review teams know precisely what to look for in the documents they study, how to flag issues for follow-up, and how to handle unexpected developments. Additionally, your law firm receives the insight and advantage of professionals who are trained in medical terminology and who have experience with specific illnesses and injuries. These professionals are able to better recognize and understand various diagnoses, causes, and prognoses.

Case Works Customizes Criteria for the Records Review Process

Every service we provide at Case Works is customizable. We aim to ensure that you get exactly what you need and only what you need to build the strongest possible case for your clients. You shouldn’t ever have to pay for services that don’t benefit your firm and, thereby, your bottom line.

Our willingness and ability to customize our services are especially critical in medical record reviews. Case Works understands that the science behind a particular mass tort case, whether it involves a defective drug or toxic exposure, can dictate the review criteria you need to develop your caseload. We work with plaintiffs’ counsel and subject-matter experts to ensure we grasp the core issues so that we can craft our methods based on the unique circumstances of a particular case.

Case Works Offers Medical Record Review Summaries

At Case Works, we also strive to give lawyers clear, accurate summaries of the work we do so that you know what you’re paying for and what we’re delivering, and you can quickly and conveniently locate the information you need to succeed for your clients. We understand the importance of concise, easy-to-absorb summaries of key findings and specific facts related to medical encounters. We work with our clients to ensure we tailor each summary to fit their particular needs.

To learn more about our medical record review services, contact Case Works today for a free consultation to determine how we can best help you.