Medical records request tracking for personal injury firms

Put these columns in a spreadsheet or in custom fields if your case management software allows them.

The third row is the one your weekly review should catch first. It can't go out until the authorization comes back, so the next step is to chase the client for the signed form.

A duplicate request can mean paying a provider's fee twice and confusing its records team about which request to answer. Run this check before every new request.

1. Search the tracker for the provider by name. Check other names it might be under too, such as a hospital system or the retrieval company that handles its records.
2. Look at every row for that provider on this case, whatever its status.
3. Compare the dates of service and the record type.
4. Decide using the table below.

Anything unclear goes to the paralegal or attorney on the case, who decides with the tracker in front of them.

When records arrive, someone compares them with the request before the row is marked Complete. This is an admin check of what arrived against what was asked for. Reading what the records say stays with the legal team.

Check these against the row:

• Do the records cover the full date range you asked for?
• Did every record type come back? Notes, bills and imaging reports often arrive separately.
• If you asked for a certification or an itemized bill, is it there?
• Does the page count look right for the number of visits? Note the count so the next person can see it.

If anything is missing, set the status to Partial, write exactly what's missing in plain words (for example, "no visit notes after 2 May") and set a new follow-up date. Then put the row in front of the person named in Reviewed by.

If your firm uses Clio's Personal Injury Add-On, its medical provider cards already have statuses for Requested, Received and Incomplete, plus a follow-up date that can create a task (Clio help article). Clio says the add-on isn't on every plan. Use its built-in request dates, status and follow-up fields, and keep any additional checks in your firm’s existing process.

A tracker only works if someone looks at it on a schedule. Once a week, filter the tracker four ways:

1. Next follow-up date is today or earlier.
2. Status is Partial.
3. Authorization on file is No.
4. Status is Sent and nothing has come back after the gap your firm considers too long.

Each filter gives one person a short list to work through. For what to say when you follow up, see our medical records follow-up letter templates.

You keep the same columns and automate some of the checking around them. These steps are the easiest to start with:

• A reminder to the row owner on the follow-up date, with the request details attached.
• A prompt to run the duplicate check whenever someone starts a new request for a provider already on the case.
• A draft follow-up letter, filled in from the row, waiting for a person to approve it.
• A status change and a note to the reviewer when records land in the case folder.

None of this needs new case management software. Runnrr scopes automations like these around the software and inbox a firm already uses. A person on your team still approves anything that goes out. The About page describes the founder’s background.

If you'd like help setting up one workflow like this, you can read about Runnrr’s workflow setup.