The ugly reality of medical treatment coordination

Here’s the situation: a plaintiff in a personal injury case has been hurt in a car accident, and turns to their law firm to get medical treatment. Then what? Well, the law firm helps schedule a medical consultation, and then, based on the doctor’s recommendation, will help get their plaintiff what they need – whether that’s pain management, physical therapy, surgery, etc. On the surface, this appears straightforward, but if you have ever been involved in this process, you probably know that appearance is very far from reality.

The first issue is finding the right doctor, and this means a doctor who is willing and able to see patients on a lien, so we are not talking just any doctor from a casual search. This also means a doctor who can see the patient quickly. The plaintiff may be in a lot of pain and is certainly dealing with a ticking clock; that is, any delay in seeking treatment can give a bad impression in court, and could leave the law firm with a lot of explaining to do, and may even leave the plaintiff and their lawyer with a bad case outcome.

Aside from the very fundamental problem of finding the right doctor, there are further difficulties when getting into the weeds of medical scheduling. So you’ve got the doctor and you secure a date – but then that date doesn’t work for the plaintiff and there’s a lot of back and forth. The consultation finally gets done, and then it’s following up to get the reports, the treatment recommendations, and the estimates for costs. Then it’s getting all of that approved (quickly), and guess what? You are back to square one, to find the right doctor who can do that recommended treatment, get it scheduled, and follow up for the reports that will be needed come case time – it is an administrative nightmare, one that can bog down a lot of a law firm’s resources. While all of this is important and must get done, it is arguably not always the best use of your staff’s time.

Despite best efforts, many law firms can find it difficult to keep up with the back and forth of medical scheduling and can end up with those dreaded consequences of treatment gaps on top of a frustrated and overworked staff. If this is the case, a good solution that often gets overlooked is finding ways to expand your support network.

Working with Rockpoint Legal Funding can give needed support when it comes to finding doctors, scheduling, and following up on all the needed reports and recommendations. Rockpoint maintains a large network of skilled doctors who work on medical liens. They can help with reminding plaintiffs of scheduled appointments, following up on reports, and anything else that may be needed to keep the process moving more smoothly. For beleaguered law firms dealing with the unexpected difficulties of medical treatment, bringing in some reinforcements may be just what the doctor ordered!