| MediConnect Global
Newsletter for the Legal Community |
March 2008 |
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Welcome to
Connections
In this issue of Connections we are
covering the Vioxx Lawsuit.
This is an effort to help our customers
and plaintiff firms prepare the necessary materials for
a successful settlement. We have outlined important
information on preparing the right type of Claims
Package before the all-important deadlines that are fast
approaching.
Also, don't forget our "Talkback" feature
for sending us feedback - we really do want to hear from
you! We also have started a MediConnect Blog that
can be found at MediConnect.net or by
clicking here).
William Donahoo
MediConnect
Chief Marketing Officer
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| Vioxx Medical Records
Due |
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Vioxx Medical
Records Due by July 1st.
 In what has become one of
the largest mass tort cases of all time, Merck &
Co., the makers of the withdrawn Vioxx, recently
announced that more than 44,000 people have signed up
for shares of a $4.85 billion settlement. These
figures provide a very strong preliminary indication
that well over 85 percent of eligible claimants have
joined in the settlement, a condition required by Merck
to make the settlement go forward. The next pending
deadline is July 1st when the Claims Packages are
required to be completed and turned in. The Claims
Packages must include all Pharmacy, Medical and Event
(PME) records. With less than four months left to
retrieve records from providers and have them
certified and submitted, legal professionals should act
now.
Andy Birchfield, a lead
plaintiffs' lawyer from Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin,
Portis & Miles, P.C. and a MediConnect customer,
said the enrollment figures gathered to date "reflect
near universal acceptance of the program."
Anticipating the 85 percent enrollment condition will be
met, lead attorneys, such as Andy Birchfield, Chris
Seeger and others, are instructing their firms to
retrieve all PME medical records and accompanying
certifications required for complete Claims Packages
now.
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| Use MediConnect for PME
Retrieval
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 There are now nearly 800
plaintiff law firms involved in representing Vioxx
related cases. With more than 44,000 claimants now
signed up for a share of the $4.58 billion
settlement, don't allow missed deadlines to cause
you not to take part in the settlement.
MediConnect Global is here to help ensure your
clients get what they deserve by retrieving the required
PME records for your Claims Packages. Retrieving
medical records is what we do and we are the best
in the business.
Since a significant portion of the
required Claims Package medical records have not been
obtained for the 44,000 claimants, it is important firms
submit their medical record requests sooner rather than
later.
MediConnect is acutely aware of the
medical records needs for Vioxx Claims Packages. We have
proven experience with Vioxx claims, and our staff
is prepared to respond to your needs in a timely
fashion.
The volume of Vioxx orders at
MediConnect has steadily been climbing in wake of the
recent enrollment news. Since priority for record
retrieval is on a first come, first serve basis, don't
be left wishing you would have started sooner. Get
your orders submitted in time to ensure the record is
retrieved, the certification is signed by the medical
provider, and all additional services that are required
have time to be performed.
Keep in mind that as
providers become burdened with the sharp
increase in the volume of Vioxx related record requests,
there will be less time to resolve issues that may
arise, and there could be special authorizations
required that could also potentially delay record
retrieval.
MediConnect's patented process includes
24x7 real-time notes, complete digital delivery, OCR
treatment as well as the additional services mentioned
below. MediConnect's suite of services is designed with
needs like the Vioxx settlement in
mind.
Talk
Back
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| Upcoming EVENTS
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Please
visit us at an event near you to learn in person how
medical record retrieval can benefit your firm. If you
are already a client, please stop by so we can meet and
thank you in person!
Click
here for a
complete list of upcoming events.
March 13 - 14
Chicago, IL BOOTH
116
Utah Assoc. for Justice Brain
Injury Conference
March 20-21
Salt Lake City, UT
Mass Torts Made
Perfect
April 10 - 11
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MediConnect Blog
 MediConnect's blog
discusses the most relevant issues and topics in
the legal industry today. You can visit the
blog now here or click on the links
below to
read individual entries.
We encourage
you to add comments
of your own to enrich the information covered for
all readers.
If
you have suggestions for blog posts, or any other
feedback, please Talk
Back. |
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Advanced Record Services for Vioxx
 In addition to timely retrieval
of PME records, MediConnect offers many other services that
can be of great value to your firm. Services such as
line-item-billing that allows PME costs to become billable
expenses. Additionally, the following services are available:
Certifications. All records retrieved
after the November settlement announcement need to be
certified by the record custodian.
OCR. It will be important to
highlight certain elements in the medical records to ensure
the claims administrators do not miss anything. OCR
functionality allows you to search and highlight key words,
such as heart attack, stroke, Vioxx, etc.
Indexing. Organizing records
into categories allows you to jump to the sections within the
records where key information will be contained. For
example, it will be important to review the discharge summary
first to identify and highlight where it indicates a heart
attack or stroke event was suffered.
Provider Search. If your
client can only recall a few locations of PME records, it will
be important to have trained coders and clinicians review
records to identify references to other providers for which
records have not been obtained. Once we identify
additional providers, we can retrieve those "missing" records
to ensure a complete claims package is prepared.
Bates Stamping. For easier
review and reference to medical records, it is critical to
have Bates numbering in all retrieved records.
Special Auth Handling. To
expedite the record retrieval process, we will ensure that any
special authorizations are identified, filled out with
appropriate data, and returned to you for client
signature.
Chronological Sorting. With
chronological sorting, records can be chronologically sorted
in ascending or descending order.
Medical Record Review.
Medical records can be reviewed by physicians,
nurses, or legal nurse consultants who can provide customized
summaries of Vioxx related treatment.
Multiple Requests. If you
have many clients you are representing, you can upload a large
number of requests all at once with a spreadsheet.
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Beasley
Allen Case Study
 Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis &
Miles, P.C., one of the country's premier law firms, focuses on
business litigation, environmental, product liability, personal
injury, consumer fraud, toxic tort and mass tort pharmaceutical
cases.
The firm averages over
1,000 medical record requests/month as part of their Vioxx
litigation and settlement deadlines as well as standard statute of
limitations deadlines requires fast turnaround. The firm generally
obtains a limited set of records at the initiation of a case to
determine merit and fit. Cases that go forward require large
volumes of detailed records from numerous sources to complete trial
preparation.
"After studying many of the problems we were
facing, and after researching the options we had available to us,
our solution was to outsource the medical record retrieval process
to MediConnect," said Linda Reynolds, Section Head Administrator at
Beasley Allen. "Our firm has realized significant time and
cost savings with the outsourced MediConnect
Solution."
Increased Scale. The firm
increased the number of records pulled each month and the volume of
records requested handled by each staff
member.
Reduced Staff. Several employees
were moved to more productive work and job openings were
eliminated.
Faster retrieval. Turnaround times
improved dramatically.
Better tracking. Retrieval status
is now immediately available to attorneys. Separate calls to each
records provider are no longer
necessary.
Simplified accounting. The
single-source relationship with MediConnect eliminates the burden of
cutting checks for individual invoices to each provider.
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TrialWorks Spotlight
 MediConnect Global,
Inc. has a long-standing strategic partnership with Lawex
Corporation, to provide automated medical records request
and retrieval within TrialWorks™ Case Management
Software.
The
partnership integrates MediConnect's RapidRetrieve online
system for rapid retrieval of digitized medical records with
all versions of TrialWorks Case Management Software in order
to increase efficiency and save time for legal clients across
the country.
"TrialWorks is all about expediting and improving
efficiency in handling the tasks of litigation," said Patrice
Gimenez, Chief Operating Officer, of Lawex. "We put the legal
file cabinet on the computer. The integration of RapidRetrieve
automates the ordering, tracking, retrieving, and viewing of
digitized medical records within
TrialWorks."
Visit the TrialWorks
home page here.
Sign up for MediConnect
through TrialWorks here.
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| Vioxx-Related Links
To get additional
information regarding the settlement, click on some of the links
below.
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MediConnect Global Newsletter for the Legal
Community, March 2008
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