Medical Record Review — To Outsource or Not to Outsource?
In any legal proceeding involving healthcare, patient medical records are going to be pivotal. However, acquiring, organizing, and analyzing all the records can be extremely time-consuming.
This is why outsourcing medical record retrieval and reviews as a lawyer can be a beneficial and cost-efficient strategy. American businesses of all kinds are increasingly turning to specialist third-party contractors to increase the efficiency of a wide range of functions, and record review is one of them.
With an independent medical record review service, you’ll get all the medical information you need in one accessible, easy-to-navigate document. Handing this function over to a specialized provider will free up time for your in-house team to focus on building a winning case, rather than devoting dozens of hours to menial research.
Let’s take a closer look at what’s involved…
Record Services + Litigation Support
There are a number of situations in which lawyers need access to a comprehensive rundown of a patient’s medical history. If, for example, you’re representing the plaintiff in a medical negligence action, you’ll need to know about every significant health issue they’ve had.
Historically, attorneys or paralegals had to compile these documents themselves, liaising with healthcare providers, sifting through huge quantities of data, and picking out the most relevant details for inclusion in reports. Nowadays, more and more firms are opting to contract their record services to transform their records into the insightful and easy-to-understand information they need.
Nurse Review for Medical Records
A Nurse Review gives you a chronological breakdown of your client’s healthcare history with a focus on litigation support. Compiled by nurses with valid licenses and LNC credentials, the reports provide a summary of the medical records and highlight their most important details. They even provide an overall interpretation of the person’s combined medical history.
Magna works with nurses from a broad range of medical specialties. Whatever type of medical records you need reviewed, one of our experts will know exactly how to approach the job.
HyperNav Records Navigator
HyperNav Records Navigator is a useful tool that takes the pain out of accessing and referring to medical records. HyperNav organizes all patient records chronologically in a single PDF file, using hyperlinks and bookmarks to make the most important data easily accessible. The Summary Table and Index Table also allow you to scan the document quickly to locate the information you need.
Record Retrieval
Before you compile the perfect report, you’ll first need to actually obtain the documents, which can be more tedious than expected. In some cases, such as where a patient has received care from multiple facilities in different areas, this can be its own challenge.
Magna’s medical record retrieval service allows you to request documents from every zip code in the United States, as well as internationally. We have established relationships with over a million healthcare facilities across the country, allowing for the fastest turnaround time in the industry. Besides medical records, Magna’s experience also covers retrieval of social security records, pharmacy history, police records, and other types of documents.
Benefits of Outsourcing Medical Record Review
There are a number of factors that make record retrieval and review great candidates for outsourcing.
Specialization
Outsourcing medical record reviews doesn’t just make life easier for you. It also puts the task into the hands of someone better equipped to do it.
Magna’s Nurse Review service is carried out by medical professionals with years of training. They have experience when it comes to identifying health issues and perceiving their relevance in a broader context. They understand medical jargon, can easily navigate record documents, and know exactly where to look if there’s a crucial piece of information missing.
Time Efficiency
Dealing with medical records isn’t just grunt work – it’s a skill. You could develop it yourself or train members of your team to do so, but that takes time. Since time is something attorneys rarely have in abundance, it makes sense to hand the job over to someone who has existing expertise in it.
Having a dedicated expert carry out your medical record reviews will allow for you to build your case quicker and more efficiently, especially in cases with extensive or complex medical history.
Cost Savings
You might be tempted to “save money” on record retrieval and review by having your in-house staff do it, even if it takes time and compromises on quality. However, you’re still paying your team for their work, which they could be directing toward other goals.
By outsourcing, you’ll recoup more than what you spend in the long run. This isn’t a modern concept; it’s based on the economic theory of specialization, which has been around for over two centuries!
Cost transparency is also a factor here. If you contract a service, you’ll see exactly what it costs up-front and can plan around that expense. It is far less straightforward to work out what medical record reviews will cost you if you train your in-house team to provide them.
Record Retrieval & Discovery Support with Magna
We take care of our clients, and you’ll feel the difference! We’re here for you 24/7, 365 days a year.
To request a record with Magna, click below or contact Magna directly at 866.624.6221 or [email protected]
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