Personal Injury Lawyer
The very first thing that you should do after you are involved in a car accident is seek medical treatment if you are injured. Do not wait if you can avoid it. Waiting can cause real problems for you down the road. Once you are seen by a healthcare provider, they create a record of your injuries, treatment, and plans to help you get better. They also keep track of the costs associated with your medical treatment. These things are called your medical and billing records and they are very important to making sure that you get appropriately compensated for the injuries that were caused to you by the bad driver who hit you.
Why are medical and billing records important?
After you have finished your medical treatment for the injuries you sustained in your car accident, your lawyer, like a car accident lawyer in Alamo Heights, TX from the Law Office of John W. Shaw, PLLC, is going to present the medical and billing records to the insurance company for the bad actor. That will either happen prior to the filing of a lawsuit or those records and bills will be put into evidence in a trial in front of a jury. It is imperative that these records and bills be complete and thorough. That means that you must tell your doctors how you feel and what is wrong with you when you see them. If that information does not appear in your records the insurance company for the bad actor will not believe that you had those problems. Regarding your medical bills, your bills will be a component of determining how much your damages are.
How do you get your medical and billing records?
Your medical and billing records are obtained by sending a request for medical and billing records to your healthcare provider. Oftentimes, however, your healthcare provider may use a vendor to handle their medical and/or billing records. Therefore, you may have to send a separate request to a billing company and separate request to the medical records company. The easiest way to determine this is to contact the healthcare provider in advance and find out who to send the medical and billing requests to. If you have hired a lawyer to represent you in the car crash the lawyer will more than likely make these requests for you. For them to do that, though, you have to fill out a form that complies with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and gives your lawyer permission to request these records on your behalf.
What happens once I receive my medical and billing records?
Once you receive your medical and billing records you should give them directly to your attorney if your attorney did not order them for you. Once your medical and billing records are in the hands of your attorney, they will make sure that the information is appropriately given to either the insurance company or the defense lawyer for the person who caused your injuries. Those records will be used for the purpose of reaching a resolution that is fair and reasonable either without the need for a lawsuit or during the lawsuit itself.
If you have recently been involved in a car accident, contact a car accident attorney today.