You wouldn't ask a neurologist to prepare a demuerrer. So, why do insurance companies ask claims adjusters and attorneys to interpret medical records and opine on the standard of care? Since, experts are hired for all other elements of cases, maybe we shouldn't hastily dismiss the value of an expert review of the medical records. After all, medical records are the heart of all medical malpractice cases.

Legal staff and adjusters lack the expertise to assess the value of key medical data. Medical practitioners aren't trained in preparing reports for litigation, resulting in poor quality work and exorbitant fees for their time. Not only do these practices neglect the need for expertise, they can compromise the strength of each case. Rectify this by strategically placing a medical record review expert on your case management team to evaluate and so you can choose to defend on breach of standard of care or causation. Legal nurse consultants are the perfect experts to steer your cases in the most advantageously effective and cost efficient direction.

I began my career as a medical surgical nurse, and in my 18-year career in surgery assisted in over 10,000 operations. In 1987, I co-founded a multi-specialty surgery center where I began working with insurance companies and attorneys in medical litigation. It was clear then and still is today, that the wrong people are often charged with the important task of reviewing medical records, consuming a company's time and resources ineffectively. This is why I started Med Legal Consulting Source almost ten years ago.

Expertise in any area only comes with years of experience. Malcom Gladwell explores the concept of 10,000 hours in his book Outliers by considering how much time must be invested in order to become an expert in anything. When it comes down to it, lawyers are experts in the law, so we should rely on their expertise when it comes to the law. When expertise is needed regarding medicine or medical records rely on doctors and nurses. Record reviews require that same level of expertise, experience, and training; but also need a bridge between the legal and medical elements involved. Legal nurse consultants can provide both the expertise and the bridge.

In my experience plaintiff attorneys are becoming more savvy and sophisticated. They have to choose their med mal cases more carefully. It is becoming more common in their practice to have records reviewed prior to filing law suits. And despite legislative measures devised to reduce frivolous claims, medical malpractice claims are a growing reality. In order to match their methods and handle the growing volume, you should seriously consider implementing this expert level of review in the management of all of your medical malpractice claims. Do not give plaintiffs a head start or an advantage by not having a parallel record review process in place.

In this economic climate, it is vital to use your assets efficiently. Don't pay a lawyer to do a nurse's job. Let attorneys be free to do what they are trained to do and litigate claims. Medical records contain some of the most important, case-informing data of any resource. Their review cannot be limited to a cursory aspect of case management. With proper analysis, medical record reviews can account for massive savings of time and money while adding precious strategic value. Legal nurse consultants have experience and expertise needed to review records and provide insurance companies and law firms with the information to defend claims appropriately. It is essential, now more than ever, to embrace nurse record reviews in your litigation management to control outrageous costs associated with defending claims.

People under value the role a good medical record review plays in the foundation of a case. 70% of the evidence in a medical malpractice claim is the medical records. Lay your foundation from the beginning to support the defense you will build by starting with a proper review of the medical records.

Having an attorney or licensed physician review records to determine if there was a breach in the standard of care is both complicated and expensive. Legal nurse consultants are experienced and capable of making standard of care analysis for nursing and medical deviations. Although not all are the right expert to opine in court, their skills sets can be utilized to leverage your defense dollar early in the claims process to understand where your exposure lies, determine the extent of the injury, choose which experts to engage, and arm you with the medically relevant data to outline your strategy moving forward.

An early evaluation in the claims process ensures adjusters are not bogged down with the review of records. A brief abstraction and analysis provides a clear determination of merit to understand standard of care deviations and areas of exposure prior to forwarding a file to an attorney and providing the opportunity to settle before incurring unnecessary attorneys' fees. By outsourcing the initial review of medical records to experts for an analysis, it enables claims management to handle more cases, settle sooner, and set aside reserves appropriately.

Given the financial implications of improperly reviewed records, our clients have come to expect the advantage our record reviews provide them. The Med Legal difference starts with an understanding that medical records often contain pivotal data. That data alone can build your case, defend your position or even help settle the case before costly litigation fees are incurred. Our patented multi-tier record review system, our highly-trained teams and the technology we use to facilitate the process, are three key workflow features which underscore our exclusive value. Each of these three components is designed to ensure efficiency and quality, not only impacting cost savings but bolstering our clients' strategic position as well. The result: better decisions, made faster, without costly legal counsel.

Should the claim require an attorney, reduce associated expenses by providing them with a chronology and expert analysis as tools through the litigation process, allowing them to focus on building a defense by understanding the case's strengths and weaknesses from the onset. If no breach in the standard of care occurred, this will also be revealed through a thoughtful review of the medical records, giving you and your team the information necessary to get the claim dismissed.

If a claim is substantiated, mitigating damages can be difficult, but is possible through a thorough analysis by a nurse consultant company that specializes in reviewing medical records. I have found that record review reports need to include, in addition to a chronology of events and deviations in care, the identification of case strengths, weakness, and potential deponents; these are invaluable in discovery and the defense of the claim. Then the initial evaluation reports can be used as communication tools and references throughout the life of litigation. All this can be done prior to obtaining expensive testifying experts.

Should the claim require retaining experts, a legal nurse review will not only identify which experts to obtain, but what records they need to review. This allows you to save on record review costs by reducing the time it takes for experts to read irrelevant and/or redundant records. In addition, providing experts with a chronology reduces their time in figuring out what occurred and what elements of care to investigate and opine on. The role of a legal nurse consultant and their work product has a cost saving impact throughout litigation.

However, not all legal nurse consultants are the same. Selecting the right team to review your records is as critical as selecting any of your other experts. Assessing clinical experience and specialties, considering education, training and certification, and evaluating consulting exposure and abilities, are all important components in selecting legal nurse consultants. As with most experts, there are varying degrees of competence, ability to execute, and speed at which they produce. My intention with Med Legal Consulting Source was to not only build a business designed exclusively to review and analyze medical records, but to define the industry by assembling the most talented expert legal nurse consultants. To do so, our company has the highest standard for quality and thus, consists of highly qualified nurses. All of our legal nurse consultants that undergo the industry's most aggressive vetting process; only 3% of nurse applicants have ever made our cut. And once hired, they receive extensive ongoing training to meet our continued expectations.

In my experience, no matter how well a single reviewer analyzes the records, even a seasoned nurse consultant, a single review does not compete with a multi-level review. This is why Med Legal Consulting Source has a patented process for reviewing medical records. This proprietary system was developed to minimize the weakness of a single reviewer. There are too many details and moving parts to patient care. At Med Legal every record we touch is reviewed by not one, but two specialized legal nurse consultants. Through this collaborative effort, each nurse expert adds their own distinct analysis, building reports that account for every interpretation and strategic consideration extractable from medical record data. Following careful analysis, the reports are then handed off to one of our trained editors who translate the reports into easy-to-read documents; constructed with careful consideration for language choice, grammar and clarity. This unique editorial supplement ensures that every ounce of content is easy to find, comprehensible, and most importantly, useable by legal, medical and operational staff alike. A layered quality assurance process should be in place to ensure that no stone goes unturned and that you get all of the advantages up front.

Your claims need nurse consultant reviews and a process that enable you to outsource the review of medical records with comfort and confidence. The result will be: stronger data, sooner. And strategic insight that can single-handedly change your position in a case.

Partnering with a legal nurse consulting firm like Med Legal Consulting Source, gives you a competitive edge. With upfront, tailored budgets, Med Legal's approach to record review and claim management provides the flexibility to work with your schedule and budget while discovering the vital information you need. The work is delivered in timely, thorough, customizable reports that make even the most complicated case comprehensible for all levels of client staff. Our team, patented medical review process, and our system for meeting individual client needs have established Med Legal Consulting Source as innovators in the medical legal field. Your medical malpractice cases deserve expert medical record reviews.