Introduction
In the provision of legal services, especially in the examination of medical records, the application of a comprehensive safety approach is crucial. This article emphasizes the practice of holistic safety, especially for attorneys in America, and how companies providing medical records examination services can improve their practices through greater safety measures.
Understanding Holistic Safety
Definition of Holistic Safety
• Holistic Safety: An approach to safety that encompasses physical, emotional, and procedural components all contributing towards achieving a safe system.
Importance in the Legal Field
• Risk Mitigation: Decreases the chances of omissions being made in medical records which may be detrimental legally.
• Client Trust: Trust is built amongst attorneys and their clients.
Key Components of Holistic Safety in Medical Records Review
Physical Safety
• Safe Circulation of Information: The construction of appropriate systems for the management of sensitive medical data.
• Restriction of Information Dissemination: Information is only shared with people who have authorization.
Emotional Safety
• Supporting People: Fostering an atmosphere of support that allows employees to freely communicate and assist each other.
• Stress and Emotion Training: Training on stress and related emotional issues on a routine basis.
Procedural Safety
• Standard Operating Procedures: SOP Development – Create SOPs on Medical Record Retrieval Processes to eliminate any chances of errors.
• Quality Assurance – The process involves routine audits and review of the processes to ensure accuracy and compliance.
Current Trends and Statistics in 2024
The Growing Need for Holistic Safety
• Increased Legal Scrutiny: There is a legal scrutiny due to the increase in litigations which has heightened the requirement for accurate medical records.
• Statistics: 70% of the attorneys in a recent survey claimed that the lack of attention to detail in the maintenance of medical records has caused some legal issues.
Case Studies
Case Proposal 1: Medical Malpractice Claim
Overview of the Case: A lawyer assisted a client in a medical malpractice case where they claimed they were not treated appropriately.
Challenges: There was bare minimum information in the medical files making it hard to develop a logical chronology of the happenings.
Solutions: The medical files examination business has developed a policy to make sure that all pertinent documents are retrieved and thus incorporated in the final record.
Case Proposal 2: Worker’s Compensation Claim
Overview of the Case: A case was assigned to a lawyer to represent a person who had been injured at work and was filing for compensation.
Challenges: The polyclinic files with the post-accident medical report and the other medical documents did not correlate to the level of the injuries claimed.
Solutions: The review company employed the use of advanced records management systems with powerful data base facilities for cross reference and record logic analysis.
Conclusion
A holistic approach to safety when reviewing medical records is not only compliance; it is also an important element of legal practice. Medical records review firms can improve the quality of their services to the attorneys and their clients if they take an integrated approach to safety.
