In clinical negligence and personal injury claims, delays are expensive. As medical records become more digital, they are also becoming harder to manage, spread across systems, formats and providers. For insurers and hospital risk teams, this creates a familiar problem: how do you understand the strength of a claim early, before costs escalate?
Early Case Assessment (ECA) addresses this challenge by bringing clinical insight to the very start of the claims process. By doing so, insurers can make faster more informed decisions and significantly improve the return on their claims spend.
Identifying Key Issues Early with Medical Chronologies
Typically claims are progressed before the medical evidence has been properly reviewed. Large volumes of unstructured records slow decision-making and increase legal costs.
A clear professionally prepared medical chronology changes this. By organising records into a structured, indexed timeline, insurers can quickly understand what matters in a case. This allows claims handlers to:
- Identify pre-existing conditions and establish whether an alleged injury was present before the incident.
- Spot gaps or inconsistencies between the claimant’s account and the clinical evidence.
- Make earlier decisions on whether to defend, settle or discontinue a claim, often months sooner than traditional approaches allow.
Early clarity reduces uncertainty and prevents unnecessary spend on claims that lack merit.
Reducing Costs Through Outsourcing and Recoverable Fees
Administrative handling of medical records is a hidden cost in claims management. When internal teams are tied up requesting, chasing and sorting records, valuable time is lost on low value tasks.
MedBrief helps reduce this strain in two key ways:
- Faster processing: Using tools such as AlphaSort, large volumes of records can be organised in minutes rather than days. This speed helps prevent delays that can inflate claim costs.
- Cost recovery: In many cases, the cost of professional medical record collation and clinical summaries is recoverable as a disbursement. Outsourcing this work to MedBrief can shift costs away from internal budgets and into the case itself.
The result is a more efficient process with better control over operational spend.
Reducing Risk Through Secure Data Management
Medical records are highly sensitive, and the way they are shared creates risk. Emails, physical media and duplicated datasets increase the chance of data breaches and non-compliance with GDPR.
MedBrief’s Secure Site provides a single, secure location for all medical evidence. Instead of multiple versions circulating between insurers, solicitors and experts, everyone accesses the same indexed bundle in a controlled, audited environment.
This approach not only strengthens data protection but also helps collaboration. When all parties are working from the same organised records, time spent resolving queries or clarifying information is reduced – cutting down further on avoidable costs.
The Bottom Line
Early Case Assessment is no longer optional for insurers looking to control indemnity spend. By organising, summarising and securing medical evidence at the earliest stage, MedBrief helps insurers reduce wasted costs, manage risk more effectively and focus resources where they matter most.
Is your claims process working as efficiently as it could?
Contact MedBrief today to find out how our Early Case Assessment solutions can help you take control of your indemnity spend.