Law firms with injuries and, in particular, mass tort departments are increasingly finding that they work with virtual companies and / or add a virtual component to their practice. This allows staff to focus on other aspects of their workload and other operational functions. Medical records are necessary for personal injury cases, and a timely and smooth process is important to ensure proper detection. Thus, the outsourcing of medical records management adds a professional process to law firms involving injuries.
Outsourcing medical records management. How can a virtual team help?
Customer profiles. In most cases, the detection process begins with the fact that customers fill out a customer profile. Tasks to contact customers and fill out a questionnaire using the phone can be transferred to third-party specialists in a virtual team. This includes calling on the client to unlock key medical elements, such as doctor information, including dates of visits, dates of operations, and / or appropriate drug use. This will allow legal assistants within the law firm to focus on other tasks and save time and money in the early stages of the case.
Getting medical records. After the customer and provider information has been collected, and the HIPAA authorization form has been obtained by the customer, the medical record registration process can be seen. This process includes a requestor sending requests with a HIPAA form to healthcare organizations, including the release of information, the management of health information, and the medical record offices. The refund method will depend on the department or organizations. processes and policies. In some cases, the request may be sent by fax, and in other cases, requests must be sent with the original signature. Outsourcing the repatriation process can be an advantage for most law firms, because the process can take a lot of time and is an important part of winning deals.
Follow up calls to ease backlog - Most health information retrieval and management is an outgoing call process. You need to make several subsequent calls. This is another key area in which outsourcing will help ease the gap between the legal and administrative staff of a law firm. This process is twofold:
1. Follow up requests to applicants to ensure that they receive the request first and stay on top of the workflow and the estimated time of arrival of the records. In some cases, this can mean 2-10 calls per month.
2. Secondly, a subsequent call provides or discovers missing information or the need to re-transmit records. In many cases, health organizations and record departments sign the recording process on the copy service and / or the online health portal and calls should also go to these companies. This difficult task can be easily outsourced to help the firm.
Elimination of Overwhelm - Working with a virtual support person or team can change morale for the better in law firms. If your legal assistant is overloaded, outsourcing some of their tasks can help ease their workload and reduce employee work. This includes the process of finding medical records both in whole and in part. In the end, it will help with the turnover and create a sustainable company.
Adding a virtual component to your law firm's strategy is a great way to position your company for growth and an additional competitive advantage. The conversation should start with your team. Talk to your supervisors and lawyers. Discuss the benefits of outsourcing the medical record process with them.
