Practice Specific

Legal Med Ware 3.0 includes an enhanced medical database built into the program that includes a complete list of the ICD-9-CM diagnostic and procedure codes; a dictionary of medical terms, symbols, abbreviations and acronyms; a listing of symptoms, diseases and differential diagnoses; laboratory values; alcohol and drug toxicology; and a medication database that includes indications, contraindications and side effects.

All of this information can be accessed easily during the data entry process, and pertinent information immediately can be copied and pasted into the summaries of records being prepared using the program’s medical chronology word processor.

There is a Web link to “The Merck Manuals” for more detailed information on general medical issues. Trial lawyers will appreciate the link to “The Doe Report,” published by Medical Legal Art, which offers a full range of medical illustrations and related medical demonstrative evidence that is cross-referenced with searchable medical research databases. These exhibits can be purchased and acquired online, and many can be downloaded for immediate use in trial presentation programs. There is also a link to MD Consult, a fee-based service that provides full-text access to almost 40 leading medical texts, Medline, articles from medical journals and more. There are also links to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, which offers some free medical information, and a nationwide list of legal nurse consultants.

When opening a new case, the program prompts you to fill in general information about the case. The program then prompts you to enter the date of treatment, the provider and Bates number of the source document. Next, it provides a series of templates formatted based on generally accepted principles for medical record keeping that guide the record reviewer during data entry.

The detailed information for a given record can be entered through conventional typing or voice activated dictation. Another option is to cut and paste text from OCR’d (Optical Character Recognition) documents into the summary. The program contains a built-in spell-checker that includes an extensive library of medical terminology that can be a big help in quickly cleaning up initial drafts. During the data entry process, medical terms can be highlighted, and the program will zoom to the appropriate resource database for definitions or other information. This information can be copied and pasted into the body of the summary for further reference with a click of a button.

Another feature of the program is the Significant Information Section. Again, the program comes with a predefined list of categories into which highlighted sections of the medical record summary can be copied and pasted during the data entry process. Later, when all the records are in, individual reports can be run on a particular category to focus in on the related medical records that are particularly significant.

The program also allows the user to create reports of the medical record chronology based on date and time, or by medical provider. Thus, it’s easy to generate a report that will let you review everything that occurred on one day, or everything that was done over time by a particular physician. The reports can be printed, or saved in a variety of formats. They can be viewed in full, or in an abbreviated grid format that gives the date, provider and heading for each document for a quick snapshot view of the medical history.

Minor improvements could be made such as enhancing the word processor to permit color changes in the text for highlighting purposes or adding links to expert witness databases to find physicians who are willing to serve as forensic witnesses. Another useful feature would be the addition of some type of image link that would allow the user to jump from the summary of the record to a scanned image of the actual record itself. This would be particularly helpful when dealing with graphic-based reports such as anesthesia records, or where there is a dispute over what a handwritten note actually said. Regardless, Legal Med Ware 3.0 is a great program with significant enhancements that make an upgrade definitely worthwhile.

Price: $695, includes annual maintenance fee

Windows 95/98/Me/2000/NT 4.0

Reviewed by Bruce A. Olson, a trial lawyer and shareholder in the Wisconsin-based law firm of Davis & Kuelthau.

Dec/Jan '02 Issue

PROS
Web links and enhanced databases significantly augment the basic functionality of the program in organizing and analyzing medical records.

CONS
No ability to link to scanned images of the documents.

VERDICT
Legal Med Ware 3.0 offers a comprehensive system for the organization, summarization and analysis of medical records.

  | Home  | 

|  Issue Archive  |  Resources  |  About Us  |  Contact Us  |  Subscribe  |

|  Subscribers  |  Advertisers  |

Updated 11/29/01
© Law Office Computing Magazine
www.lawofficecomputing.com
(800) 394-2626