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Maximizing Case Value With Life Care Plans on a Lien and Medical Records Offshoring

1h 4m

Created on April 12, 2018

Beginner

Overview

An essential part of law practice management for a personal injury firm is understanding various ways to contain case costs and overhead. In this program, Elliot Stone, a former medical malpractice attorney who now assists law firms with obtaining medical experts and case management tools, will cover the basics of Life Care Plans on a lien, outsourcing medical record services, and how to use these records to obtain the best outcome for the client.

A Life Care Plan (LCP) is an organized, concise plan for current and future lifetime needs with associated costs for individuals who have experienced serious injury or have chronic health care needs. It can be a powerful weapon in the attorney's arsenal to maximize settlements in personal injury cases. Historically, LCPs have been utilized solely on catastrophic seven and eight figure personal injury cases (i.e. Traumatic Brain Injury, amputees, and brain damaged infants) due to cost - fees for LCP preparation necessitate a significant cash outlay for contingency lawyers. Therefore, LCPs have been used sparingly and generally later in the litigation so as to preserve working capital. The much more numerous midrange cases worth $100k+ haven't warranted LCPs until now. With interest-free Life Care Plans available on a lien, which are payable at settlement, LCPs have become much more accessible for these cases and have the potential to increase the value of a case to the client and for the firm.

Ordering, sorting and organizing large medical charts in-house can require hundreds and hundreds of hours of non-billable staff time. A recent trend, however, is for firms to offshore medical records related work to physicians in other countries for a fraction of the cost, which can also be expensed to the file. These work products can then be utilized on direct and cross examination at deposition and trial and are admissible into evidence. Once medical reviews are obtained and organized the attorney analyses the chart to unearth information both supportive and harmful to their case. Medical malpractice is not always obvious and physicians may attempt to conceal their negligence. This course will aid attorneys in uncovering critical information to their case, including practical tips in finding and assessing "hidden jewels" in these records.


Learning Objectives:

  1. Utilize Life Care Plans effectively so as to maximize settlements on more cases
  2. Grasp the benefits of medical record offshoring to the practice, including using these records at deposition and trial
  3. Discover how outsourcing medical record retrieval and offshoring services increase firm efficiency and maximize settlement value
  4. Uncover critical information in medical records

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