As the name suggests a medical record review (MMR), is having another person check your written history of health related information. A medical record review can be ordered by the patient's side (attorney, insurance company, employer) or by the doctor who wrote the reviews. The review is usually made by a third party authority specialized in providing these kind of services.
Why would a physician need his medical records reviewed?
For a physician, it is very important to keep clean and up-to-date medical records for every single patient that walks in his cabinet. Having the records in order is important when it comes to treatment and not only. Keeping a written transcription of the patients' encounters is a must, as when it comes to lawsuits or insurance company's complaints, all the medical files and records will be analyzed. It is therefore in the doctors' interest to keep all his medical records in order. But even for the most accurate physician, there is always a chance of error, this is why, more and more doctors turn to medical record review services.
Who else would ask for a review?
The insurance company that is responsible for ones treatment can ask for a medical record review (MMR). There are many cases, when a particular treatment wasn't effective enough, or too many unnecessary and expensive analyses were made to determine someone's condition. An MMR service will analyze all the documents and determine weather the treatment and analyses were necessary or not. This way, insurance companies can avoid throwing away their money and the patient can benefit from better treatment.
How does a MMR service work?
Companies that specialize in offering medical record review services, hire specialists with previous practice in the medical field. These experts are skilled in reviewing written documents and catching the smallest details. They evaluate all the records including but not limited to: admission summary, consulting reports, operating room reports and doctor's notes. After the evaluation process, all the records are usually organized based on a chronological order. Then in case needed, specialists look for any missing records. An analysis of the factors that caused a patient's condition and its further treatment is made. When the analysis process is done, a final report is written.
What are the alternatives?
In case a physician needs his recorded records reviewed, just to make sure that they are in order, an alternative is to use a nurse or an assistant to help with the reviews. It is a well know practice for many doctors and it has its benefits. Usually nurses and assistants know a particular patient better; they are familiar with its background and medical history. This allows them to check whether the patient's medical profile is up-to-date and accurately written.
Obviously, this type of reviews have no value in court and there are cases when an outside MMR service is the only option. When choosing an independent review company, it is advised to check with a local specialized attorney before taking any action.
This news article is brought to you by GAMBLING TIPS, STRATEGIES - where latest news are our top priority.
No comments:
Post a Comment