The things attorneys ask before the first engagement, answered directly.
Seventy-two hours from the moment both records and payment are in hand, and forty-eight with the rush surcharge. If I do not think I can hit the deadline on a particular file, I will tell you before I accept it rather than after. A late merit screen is worse than no merit screen, because you planned around the date.
Party names and the facility, for the conflict check. Nothing else, and no case facts, until the check comes back clear. After that: the ED or urgent care records for the encounter, and whatever outcome records you have. If you are not sure what to send, send the index chart and ask, and I will tell you what else would change the analysis.
You get a memo that says so, and explains why, with the same detail as a favorable one. That is the product working, not failing. A screen that always finds a case would be worth nothing to you, and would not survive contact with a defense expert anyway. The fixed fee exists precisely so I have no financial stake in the answer.
Because it protects both of us and it takes twenty minutes. I need to know I have no relationship to the parties, the facility, or the clinicians involved before I hear anything about the case. Charging for that would create an incentive to be casual about it.
The practice centers on written work: merit screens, record reviews, standard-of-care analyses, rebuttal memos. Testimony is considered case by case. If your matter is likely to need a testifying expert, say so early and we can talk about whether that is me or whether the screen is better used to decide who you retain.
That is a separate question from the screen, and the answer depends on your state's rules about who is qualified to sign. In many jurisdictions a physician associate can speak to the PA standard of care but not to a physician's. The screen is designed to run before that decision, so you know whether the file is worth the cost of a signer at all. You know your jurisdiction's requirements better than I do; tell me what they are and I will tell you plainly whether I fit them.
Non-testifying record review does not require licensure in the attorney's state, so I take files from counsel anywhere in the country. State-specific qualification rules become relevant only if a matter later moves toward affidavit-signing or testimony.
That depends on your jurisdiction and how you engage me, and you are far better positioned to answer it than I am. What I can tell you is that the memo is written as consulting work product for counsel, and I do not send it to anyone but you.
Through an encrypted upload link I send once the engagement is in place. Please do not mail paper records or send them as ordinary email attachments. Records come to me directly and are not handled by anyone else.
Tell me the page count up front and I will quote it before starting rather than surprise you afterward. A second encounter for the same patient is $375, which covers the common bounce-back scenario where the return visit is the decisive chart.
Fixed-fee work is prepaid against a one-page engagement letter and an invoice. No retainer, no open meter, no surprise. The $2,500 retainer applies only to hourly engagements.
Emergency department and urgent care encounters, particularly failure to diagnose, premature discharge, inadequate reassessment, and abnormal results that never made it into the reasoning. Cases where the treating clinician was a PA or NP are a particular fit. Cases far outside emergency and urgent care are not, and I will tell you that rather than take the file.
Send the party names and the facility. I run the conflict check the same day at no charge, before any case facts change hands.