A medical case chronology is a well-organized, concise record of all medical facts involved in an injury claim, such as for workers’ compensation. To ensure that attorneys who handle such cases understand the complex medical details, the chronology is to be prepared in a user-friendly format for easy review. A good medical case chronology need contain only the most pertinent information from a patient’s medical chart. In a workers’ compensation case, a complete and comprehensive medical chronology is vital to understand the nature of injury or illness, what treatment was provided, and whether it was appropriate. Here is a look at some facts that contribute to the importance of the medical case chronology.
- A good medical chronology will help strengthen your workers’ compensation case: The timeline and summary prepared by a professional medical review company will clarify all confusing aspects of the case and let you understand what exactly happened, what treatment was provided and by which provider,and so on. The date of service and the healthcare facility where the care was provided will all be clearly documented. This is important to get a clear picture of various events and liability. In this way, the medical chronology will bolster your case.
- Enables you to give more focus to your case: When you have a good chronology ready, whatever information is needed is available at your fingertips and easily accessible. A single mouse click will give you access from the chronology to the relevant medical records. This is enabled by Bates numbering. With accurate information and no ambiguities, you can easily go on to win your case.
- Will support you at every phase of the case: Once a medical chronology is prepared, you can use it at every stage of your workers’ compensation case. It will help improve efficiency because you don’t have to go back to consult the medical record for some information or other. You can use the chronology at settlement conferences and readily show the opposite party the solid facts that support your case. Another important use of the chronology is to provide vital information to the jury during the opening statement and for supporting your arguments when closing.
- Gets your case moving smoothly: A chronology correctly prepared and updated provides a clear summary of events. It is the best way to manage information and prevent duplicate information gathering in the course of the case. Thus, a reliable chronology enables smooth movement of your workers’ compensation case.
- Helps avoid possible mistakes: To analyze a case correctly, you need to know the accurate, organized facts. With the chronology providing this, you have better chances of a positive outcome. You also get to understand gaps in information if any, and work to get those medical records which may be important for your success. The chronology will guide you throughout the lifetime of the case, enabling you to avoid potential mistakes.
Given the importance of the medical chronology, it is best to have it prepared by a professional medical review company. If needed, they can provide you with topic chronologies, record type-based chronology, or care provider-based chronology. Topic chronologies are a subcategory of the complete report and are prepared when you need to focus on certain identified areas of risk as for example, patient/provider behavior, any infection, safety, staff compliance and so on. Chronologies based on the type of record enable you to view a summary of all entries made in the medical chronology associated with a single document type such as physical therapy record, nursing documentation, and so on. Provider-based chronologies will give comprehensive details for all entries from a care provider. This becomes useful if a claim or case identifies particular individuals because access to the entries they made is vital.
A medical case chronology helps clarify the thinking process and provides a precise record of medical events and outcomes. It helps understand the disputed facts, and also identify any records that are additionally required to present as acceptable evidence in court.
