Organizing Your Medical Records

It is quite crucial when dealing with a medical lawsuit that any records you are using are organized and complete. Structured and comprehensive medical records will save you time - no wasting time searching for what you need; and money – you won’t have to pay a medical expert a high hourly fee to organize the records.  

What Can You Do to Improve the Organization of Medical Records?

Start organizing the records as soon as you receive them. Records can be arranged in chronological order or by the types of records they are.  For instance, place all lab results in one section and all primary care documents in another. Hospital records should be separated and placed in chronological order. You'll can further separate them into additional types or categories, like subsections. Be sure all pages are numbered, especially if stored electronically. Numbering is vital to make it easier for you and your medical expert to refer to the pages during litigation or review.

Hardcopies of medical records should be arranged in a three ring binder. Once you have them organized, it is useful to make tabs identifying distinct sections in order to quickly locate that which you are seeking.

If you know the records will be evaluated by a medical expert, ask the expert how he/she would like the records prepared. Organizing the files yourself can save plenty of money rather than having the expert invest his/her time organizing or trying to find information.

Effectively organizing all medical files when working with a medical malpractice, personal injury or worker’s compensation case, may be hard. Nonetheless finding the time to do this can make or break your case. Medical records are filled with crucial information that can be critical to a case, therefore, knowing what you have and being able to find it quickly and effectively is essential.

To make sure your documents are organized in a professional way, consider having them analyzed by a medical record review expert. Contact us for more information about the importance of organizing the medical documents, and how you can get organizational support.

Do You Need A Medical Record Review For A Nursing Home Resident?

One of the first steps to take if you suspect that abuse or negligence has taken place at a nursing home, is to obtain the medical records and request a medical expert do a medical record review.

A medical record review can help determine if the standard of care has not been met by the physicians working at the nursing home and, if mistakes were made, what the mistakes were.

Obtaining medical records is not always easy due to HIPAA regulations.  In addition, there is confusion regarding laws that are applied to obtaining medical records from a nursing home facility.   There are laws that state a patient or a patient’s authorized representative is entitled to the medical records.  A patient or patient’s representative has a right to view the medical records and any other records that are used during the care, recuperation, or treatment of the patient. An authorized representative for the nursing home resident must be specified on the resident’s contract when admitted to the facility.  A nursing home resident also has the right to state that the medical records are to remain private.

Tips for Seeking A Medical Record Review:

• You do not have to give the facility the reason that you want the medical records
• Keep records of any requests for a medical record review from a medical expert
• Ask for the medical record immediately if you have any reason to think you might need a medical record review

Contact us for additional information or for a consultation.