Chiropractic Online Continuing Education: Mastering Personal Injury Documentation Posted on Sep 18, 2023

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Personal Injury Documents when Dealing with Patients, Coding, and Various Documentation

image of doctor documenting a case on our chiropractic online ce blog pageCCEDseminars | Your Premiere Destination For Chiropractic Online CE!Navigating the intricate landscape of personal injury (PI) documentation can be daunting. Through the lens of chiropractic online continuing education, we explore the nuances of working with PI documents, ensuring best practices for doctors when handling personal injury documents, patients, and billing processes. Here, we delineate what to embrace and what to avoid to safeguard both your practice and your patients’ well-being.

Do: Tie Together Notes, Treatment, and Diagnostic Codes

A compelling narrative, succinctly articulated through your notes, can greatly enhance an attorney's argument, potentially leading to higher settlement results. Your documentation should vividly portray the life transformations your patients experience post-PI incidents.

While painting this narrative, remember to incorporate details such as changes in the patient’s emotional health, shifts in daily activities, and alterations in family dynamics. Through this lens, your notes should bring out the deep-seated impacts of the incident on the patient’s life, going beyond mere physical symptoms. Moreover, ensure that the treatment and corresponding codes resonate with the details presented in your notes.

However, while aiming to provide a vivid account, one must avoid up-coding and adhere to a fair representation of the patient's condition to prevent jeopardizing the case and risking the licensure.

Do: Have a Strong Lien or Letter of Protection Among Your Personal Injury Documents

In building a solid PI practice, establishing a robust lien agreement or Letter of Protection (LOP) stands paramount. This agreement must incorporate the signatures of all involved attorneys, a clause highlighting the non-contingent nature of your fees, and a mention of your primary claim to any MedPay or PIP issued based on your bill. Transparency regarding potential reductions should also be ensured through this agreement.

Do: Send GFEs and Interim Bills Throughout Treatment

Adhering to the No Surprises Act, consistently provide your patients with good-faith estimates (GFEs) and interim bills. This ensures an open channel of communication, preventing post-settlement disputes over billing.

Don’t: Diagram Accidents

Avoid engaging in accident reconstruction through diagrams as it creates liability issues and risks portraying a biased picture, diminishing your role as a neutral observer.

Don’t: Allow Patients to List Pain Scales and Circle Pain Areas Without Your Presence

To prevent inflated or diminished representation of pain scales and affected areas, always instruct patients to fill forms in your presence, ensuring accurate and fair documentation.

Don’t: Fail to Support Your Fees as Reasonable

To counteract potential disputes over your billing, initiate a proactive approach by validating the reasonableness of your fees right from the outset. Utilize resources like industry databases and billing services for this purpose. Also, maintain transparency with both the patients and the attorneys regarding fee comparisons, facilitating a smoother negotiation process with the insurance adjusters. Click HERE for a valuable fee resource!

By following these protocols, nurtured through CCEDseminars, ensure the best practices in personal injury documentation. As you traverse through the realms of chiropractic online continuing education, the goal remains to integrate the good practices while steering clear of the bad and the ugly, thereby fostering a practice rooted in transparency, accuracy, and ethical conduct. Remember, a well-narrated, accurate documentation not only facilitates legal processes but also stands testament to the trust and reliability vested in your practice. For Documentation pearls, click HERE!

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