How Can You Retrieve Medical Records for your Medical Litigation?
Medical record retrieval and review is an important part of discovery. This article highlights some things to keep in mind when requesting medical records.
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Medical record retrieval and review is an important part of the discovery process when a claim involves personal injury. Take the example of medical malpractice cases. Any attorney or law firm would endorse the fact that it is really challenging to get hold of a complete and accurate copy of the client’s medical record. If you think that this challenge has been addressed by the passing of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2014 (that mandated all private / public healthcare providers to adopt and prove meaningful use of EMR), you are mistaken. Attorneys and the medical record retrieval companies assisting them are still struggling. Common roadblocks on the way to successful medical record retrieval are medical record retention issues, compromised servers, missing records, and incomplete records, to name a few. Each healthcare provider in the patient care continuum will have separate records on the services they provided to the patient. The medical records department of the hospital keeps all records from a patient’s hospitalization. To obtain a copy of the medical chart, a written request must be made through the medical records department. Attorneys representing medical malpractice plaintiffs must have knowledge and experience regarding the correct sources to approach for the required medical records. Though problems exist, electronic medical record mandates have made the record recovery process easier. •
A good majority of hospitals and providers have started using EHR databases that can be audited.
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Hospitals increasingly use the service of third-party providers to retrieve and produce medical records.
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Increasing reliance on internet databases and the trend of electronic record keeping contribute to the ease and efficiency of collecting medical records now.
Here are some effective things attorneys can keep in mind when requesting a complete copy of the required medical charts. •
Obtain records from all care providers including hospitals, physicians, pharmacies, clinics. Get the correct provider names and addresses.
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Defense attorneys must get the HIPAA “authorization for disclosure of PHI” form from plaintiff’s counsel
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Prepare additional documents such as the following in connection with the medical record request.
www.mosmedicalrecordreview.com
(800) 670 2809
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Medical record request letter that includes the plaintiff’s name, social security number, and date of birth. You can request a complete medical chart, or indicate a particular type of record, or a specific time frame.
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Certification of records: The documents providing for certification of the records by an appropriate facility representative must be included with the request.
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Billing and radiology records: Some healthcare facilities may require a separate request for billing or radiology records.
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Other documents that may be needed: Healthcare facilities may require additional documents such as a copy of the claimant’s death certificate (if the malpractice led to unfortunate death), POA, or the driver’s license of the signee.
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Call the HIM (Health Information Management) department: Before sending the medical record request it is important to check the facility website for any instructions. Call the HIM department to understand the right way to send the request. Typically, requests are sent by fax but some facilities may require hard copy requests by mail. Only very few facilities allow request transmission via secure email.
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Understand state-specific rules regarding medical record requests.
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Identify additional providers if any. A review of the initial medical chart may give you an idea of any key additional providers/facilities.
HIPAA allows providers 30 days to process and send the medical records, but very few send it within that time frame. Once the request is processed, attorneys are sent an invoice before the records are released. Some facilities may not charge for a small set of records. Medical record retrieval is a key aspect of discovery, and it has to be handled with great diligence. Attorneys can speed up this process, and reduce the time and costs involved with the support of medical record retrieval companies specializing in record retrieval and review services.
www.mosmedicalrecordreview.com
(800) 670 2809