Medical record documentation errors are more common than you think. It is reported that about 70% of patient records have misinformation. John Hopkinson’s study revealed that more than 250,000 patients die yearly due to medical errors in the US alone. Most errors are caused by the wrong diagnosis from previous treatment, an inaccurate record of prescription, misinterpretation of allergies, and more. A patient’s records are rarely available from one source and are often scattered among different hospitals and specialist offices. Poor medical record documentation frequently results in poor patient care and the recourse for malpractice becomes compromised; the records are just not there for litigation. Hence, the need for accurate medical records summaries.
Medical Summaries—a practical solution
Attorneys dealing with multiple cases often find it hard to keep track of their client’s medical information. Everything from simple coding to prescription needs to be transformed as corroborating evidence for the personal injury case. A sloppy medical records management can turn even the most straightforward case into a complex one.
A medical summary is imperative to determine case-related information and flag missing records before the trial. It can be either brief or detailed according to the Attorney’s requirements. Ideally, most of them often opt for detailed medical records review since it covers acute details of the case between two to 10 pages. Medical records that are well-maintained and accurately summarized can prevent potential risks involved in patient care and facilitate legal preparation.
Benefits of Medical Records Summarization
Legal professionals are typically not trained to understand medical vocabulary and treatments. Yet, attorneys are required to go through medical documents to proceed with a case. An outsourcing medical records summary service can sort through multiple medical records with a scalable workforce and cutting-edge technology. A few notable advantages are listed below:
- Reduces the time spent sorting the medical records by medical staff or law firm professionals.
- Speeds up the case settlement.
- Provides an overview of a patient’s standard of care
- Saves time trying to understanding the doctor’s narratives and observations.
What makes outsourcing the best way to achieve success?
Doctors and attorneys often rely on medical records to arrive at a timely decision for different purposes. For the physician, records from various sources provide a picture of the patient’s prior treatments or prescriptions. For example, if the attorney is looking for a pattern of sub-par care that may uncover clues that could support a lawsuit. However, it is a cumbersome task to read-through the medical documents and it is easy to overlook or lose critical information. A medical records review can save time as the legal team prepares for a medical-related case. Here is what you need to know about medical records review and how medical and legal professionals can reduce disorder and confusion and improve their success rate.
An individual’s medical records include the details of the therapy provided during his or her visit to a care provider. The tricky part of deciphering a medical history is the doctor’s observations and narratives. Difficulty in interpreting the medical records can lead to faulty diagnosis and delayed treatment. A favorable way of lowering the chance of losing crucial information is to use an external service—specifically trained for the task to summarize medical records. Clean record summaries could speed a patient’s treatment or be crucial to a lawsuit.
Attorneys managing medical litigation are often presented with a plethora of unstructured medical records that are difficult to interpret or fit into a timeline. Naturally this is a stumbling block to establishing a set of facts to prove the impact of an injury, improper care, or a bungled procedure. A medical records summary can save attorneys the burden of reading through tedious medical records. In addition, the simplified medical records summary gives an attorney a quick basis of information from which to frame a legal argument for his or her client.
A poorly managed patient record makes it difficult for attorney to skim for injury-related medical events. Even the simplest information such as the date of a doctor’s visit or a physical therapist’s visit could change the course of the litigation, further leading to unfavorable settlement claims.
Inaccurate medical records can adversely affect patient care – sometimes with severe consequences.
There are even cases where misdiagnosis and incorrect prescription has impacted life-threatening side effects.
Having a medical records summary gives the insight to change the course of treatment/prescription for improvement, rather than going in circles with multiple rounds of tests and scans.
Significance of Summarizing Medical Records
Attorneys handling medical litigations are typically burdened with a mountain of medical records from which to identify relevant medical evidence. Medical records summaries can take the guess work out of the process, but it calls for sophisticated, experienced services to make it happen. The intricacy of the medical records summary calls for medical-legal consultants with domain knowledge for accurate summarization. The good news is that detailed, organized, and simplified health records help attorneys, legal nurse consultants, insurance carriers, healthcare providers and medico legal consultants.
PreludeSys for better business
If you are dealing with patient medical records that are overflowing with multiple test results, lengthy observational notes, physician narratives, prescriptions, and discharge summaries then you are a good candidate for a company that can quickly provide the tools and the experience to deliver medical records summaries. PreludeSys has the background, systems, and talent to help you get out from under the deluge of inaccurate, spotty, and inconsistent patient data.
PreludeSys follows systematic techniques to deliver reliable and accurate medical record summaries that allow you to conduct medical litigations quickly and smoothly. Our team of qualified medical professionals prepares chronologically arranged medical reports summary that is easy to understand and easy to use.
FAQ
What is a medical records summary?
The process of reviewing and summarizing patient medical records in a more readable format.
How useful is medical records summary for healthcare providers?
Medical records summary is a structured document that lets healthcare providers scrutinize a patient’s health as quickly as possible.
