Administrative Expert Witness
I offer administrative expertise in consultation and expert witness capacities for case validity determination (often resulting in settlement), comprehensive quality of care assessment, administrative review, and full preparation for legal action.
With thorough knowledge of state and federal regulations, I can handle everything from compliance reviews to comprehensive preparation for deposition. Because I know the responsibilities of all levels of staff, I can help formulate relevant questions to ask at deposition.
Case Validity
I conduct an initial review and determine the strengths and weaknesses of the case.
Chart Reviews
I analyze quality of care documentation, noting inaccuracies, irregularities, or evidence of tampering.
Compliance Assessment
I determine whether the facility adhered to or breached their standard of care.
Quality of Care Assessment
I review all monitoring systems, and the facility’s response in implementing corrective action.
Administrative Overview
I assess whether management was properly monitoring all aspects of care delivery and staff performance, providing training and supervision and following their own policies and procedures.
Records Acquisition & Review
I streamline discovery with a thorough review of all records, honing in on primary issues.
Deposition Preparation
I organize all relevant information, opinions and exhibits, delivering my opinion and all supporting evidence in exhibit form.
If you’ve never handled a case involving elder abuse or neglect, it’s important to have someone by your side who knows nursing homes inside and out. While administrators read the same information as a nursing expert, we see different information within the same records.
More About Records Review
Knowing what records to ask for and how to interpret them is key. If you are thinking of dedicating significant time and resources to a case, it makes sense to have me review it up front. I’ll give you a straightforward assessment of how strong your case is, and why.
All nursing homes operate under detailed state and federal (OBRA) regulations. Assisted Living and Board and Care facilities also operate under detailed regulations, however they are not as strict and are more open to interpretation than those of Skilled Nursing facilities. All are subject to regular state inspections which analyze the quality of their care and how well they are adhering to their particular rules.
Records on individual care facilities, their performance documentation, and their quality are public information and can be requested by counsel in discovery. However, the volume of these records can be massive and highly technical, using terminology and documenting procedures which are often unfamiliar to someone outside of the field. I provide counsel with a detailed checklist of resident and facility records which should be requested in the discovery process. With those documents in hand, I can analyze such critical questions as:
What is the facility’s admission policy?
What is their criteria for admission?
Who in the facility makes the final decision on who is admitted?
Is the facility maintaining the proper ratio of staff to residents needed to assure proper levels and quality of care?
What are the facility’s policies for specific care solutions? Are they followed?
What is the facility’s past record of regulatory deficiencies?
What in-service training sessions have been documented to assure staff are properly trained in critical areas of care and documentation?
Over the years I’ve developed a list of discovery documents which can be especially helpful to attorneys as they prepare a case. See the following PDF, knowing that I tailor my work to state-specific requirements.