After receiving your free information packet in the mail, I enrolled in the CLNC® Home-Study Certification Program. Within three months I took the CLNC® Certification Exam and passed.
I followed your marketing plan to the letter and got results. I sent off six packets to attorneys. Out of the six contacts, I made three appointments and came home with two cases.
My new career is now off to a running start. One of my first attorney-clients wanted to negotiate my hourly fee to handle his cases on an ongoing basis. We agreed on a fee that is acceptable for both of us. I am now working on three cases for him with more to follow. My fee is higher than I could EVER hope to earn as a nurse working in the hospital.
Recently a paralegal in this attorney's office asked me to speak to a class for paralegals on how to review a medical record. I did and enjoyed the experience immensely. This was a great way to sell my services. Now they all know me by name and call me because they appreciate the fact that only a RN can review a medical record at the level necessary to catch all of the relevant medical-related issues.
If any nurse is seriously considering becoming an LNC, she needs to consider Vickie's programs. After seeing my success, two of my friends at the hospital are enrolled in the program. If these nurses follow your advice and teachings, they too will have their own successes.
Wanda Yarbrough, RN, CLNC, owns First Coast Legal Nurse Consulting in Florida and specializes in nursing home abuse cases.
BEST PRACTICES FOR SUBCONTRACTING
Your Relationship with Your Client – The Foundation for
Successful Subcontracting
by Rose Clifford, RN, CLNC
Subcontracting, can turn your traditional linear income into leveraged income. Linear income is money paid in exchange for time. It is based on your individual effort and is limited by the number of hours you can work. Linear income is what we all earn in the clinical job market. Leveraging is the principle of using other people's time, energy, talents, money, knowledge and effort to achieve your desired goals faster than you could on your own. Billionaire oil tycoon J. Paul Getty once said, "I would rather earn one percent of 100 people's efforts than 100 percent of my own." That's leveraging in a nutshell. Subcontracting is a way of leveraging your time, knowledge and efforts.
Here are 5 subcontracting principles to help you effectively leverage your legal nurse consulting income:
Develop an ongoing professional relationship with your attorney-client. The foundation of effective subcontracting is your strong relationship with your attorney-client. Your goal is to have a solid, collaborative relationship before you bring subcontractors into the picture. Learn your attorney's style, personality and preferences and how to meet his expectations. Likewise, make sure he understands how you do business – are you a solo practitioner or the CEO of your own legal nurse consulting firm?
Win your attorney-client's confidence. Clearly communicate your interest in his case, your positive "can-do" attitude and your cheerful professional approach. Take the initiative and make suggestions. Above all, always provide value-added service. These suggestions will help your attorney-client develop confidence in you and your services. Then he will be more receptive to your use of subcontractors.
Use subcontractors not only on those cases outside your area of expertise but on other cases, too. Be sure your attorney-client is aware of your use of subcontractors. Using subcontractors is essential to leveraging your time. The key to successfully using subcontractors is using quality people and having your attorney-client's overall confidence.
Does your contract with your attorney-client cover the use of subcontractors?
What is your role (consultant vs. testifying expert) in this case?
How does your attorney see you professionally?
Ultimately, as with any other aspect of your LNC practice, it is prudent and professional to have the attorney-client's confidence in both you and your subcontractors. Remember, you are the one responsible for the work.
Choose the right subcontractor for the assignment. My first rule is to subcontract only with RNs who have successfully completed a credible LNC training program. Other qualities you should look for are:
Top-flight nursing and legal nurse consulting skills
Intelligence, common sense and a positive, "can-do" attitude
Respect for you and your legal nurse consulting business
Ability to produce quality work product on time and with minimal supervision
Legal nurse consultants have different levels of skill and availability. Be sure to appropriately match each LNC subcontractor and her abilities to each case.
Communicate clearly with your subcontractors. Your subcontractors must understand their assignments and your established procedures for interacting with and reporting to the attorney. Above all, be sure every subcontractor you work with is absolutely committed to meeting your deadlines.
The demands of this growing market mean that we subcontract more often. As long as we use subcontracting to build and maintain a solid professional relationship with the attorney-client while providing quality, value-added service, our practices — and our profits — should grow. You can become more productive by effectively delegating and managing the work of others and as a result achieve the greatest personal, professional and financial success.
For 14 years Rose Clifford, RN, CLNC has been an expert independent LNC specializing is investigating Medicare billing fraud and PIP auto fraud. She owns Medical Analysis Resources, Inc. in Kentucky.
5 Steps for Improving Your Bottom Line with Subcontractors
by Pamela A. Hollsten, RN, BSN, DABFN, CLNC
The goal for hiring subcontractors is to enhance your bottom line, make your business more efficient and improve the quality of your work product. Here's how you can meet these goals:
Identify potential subcontractors before you need them. I made the mistake of waiting until I had a case needing immediate attention, and then tried to locate, interview and establish a working relationship with a subcontractor. This was a difficult situation for both of us. By identifying quality subcontractors in advance, you can distinguish those who can function more independently from those who need more guidance. You can also develop your working relationship without deadline pressures that might hamper your communication and work product quality.
Use both a contract and a detailed cover letter. In addition to the usual subcontracting contract, I verbally go over the subcontractor's assignment and send a detailed cover letter describing it. Communication is the key to a productive subcontracting experience. It is critical to establish expectations for both parties before starting a project. For example, I assumed one subcontractor understood my verbal instructions. But when we discussed her progress, I found she had gone off on a tangent and spent significant time and energy on unrelated tasks for which I ultimately had to pay. My own inattention to detail cost me money.
Use nurses who have LNC education or experience. I expect my LNC subcontractors to have some level of LNC education, to understand case review principles and the legal elements, and to adhere to the same quality standards I do. Be sure to ask for references, sample work product, writing samples and question them about their case review experience. Early in my business, I agreed to start subcontracting with a RN while mentoring her and providing on-the-job training. This approach may work if you do not have a demanding case load, but I found that I spent way too much time managing and training the subcontractor, offering feedback and suggestions. I was paying her to learn what I expected her to already know. Now, I only hire nurses who have completed a LNC program.
Set regular deadlines for status reports well before the project due date and before committing anything to writing. This policy serves several purposes:
If your subcontractor cannot complete the project due to unforeseen circumstances, and the statute of limitations or project deadline looms, you'll still have time to make other arrangements to complete the assignment.
When working with a plaintiff attorney if your subcontractor concludes that the case is weak, the attorney-client may not want to invest in researching the medical literature or producing an extensive report.
If the attorney's position is strong and you feel additional time is needed to complete the project, an early status report from your subcontractor allows you to get approval from the attorney-client for additional hours so your subcontractor can add medical literature research, chronology and other items to strengthen the report.
Expect your subcontractors to stay current in their field. I strongly prefer to use subcontractors who maintain their own professional liability insurance and who have an active nursing license, even if they are no longer clinically active. I take my business and the services I provide seriously, and I budget for the expenses of continuing education to stay current. I expect my subcontractors to maintain similar professional standards.
Remember, when you hire a subcontractor, you do not relinquish ultimate responsibility for meeting deadlines and providing a quality work product. The above criteria for subcontracting will help you maintain your high standards while enhancing your efficiency and your bottom line.
Pam Hollsten, RN, BSN, DABFN, CLNC, an independent LNC in Georgia, owns Hollsten & Associates, specializing in medical malpractice.
Our CLNC® pros came up with these additional tips for enhancing the efficiency and profitability of your practice with subcontractors.
The 5 Cs of Effective Subcontracting
by Lisa Ellison, RNC, CLNC
Communication – Make sure the lines of communication are always open. Keep a database of your subcontractors and the LNCs for whom you subcontract, including physical addresses, email addresses and contact numbers. Let your subcontractors know you are available to answer questions and talk about the case.
Clarity – Communicate all your needs and expectations clearly and concisely. If using a subcontractor who is not a CLNC®, have reference material ready to help her understand the work product you expect. Put everything in writing if at all possible. Be especially careful to make deadlines clear, and remember that you are ultimately responsible for meeting those deadlines with your client.
Consistency – Keep all your forms consistent and uniform. Have contracts and other forms as templates ready to be filled out.
Confidentiality – Make sure the subcontractor is aware of the serious implications of breach of confidentiality. Have her sign a confidentiality agreement.
Camaraderie – A subcontractor is a valuable part of your team. Show your appreciation for her time and effort and the unique background that enables her to help you with a particular project. Even if a subcontractor doesn't have your LNC experience, let her know you value her nursing expertise. Make every contact with the subcontractor a learning experience for you both. This develops a sense of camaraderie that enhances communication.
Lisa Ellison, RNC, CLNC is the owner of Premier Nursing Consultants in Texas. She assists attorneys in preparation of medical malpractice and personal injury cases, and provides in-depth research, chronologies and reports.
Put It in Writing to Save Time, Money and Headaches
by Carla R. Kitten, RN, BSN, CLNC
Develop an application form specific to your business needs for all subcontractors. Include space for their personal and professional references, and CHECK THE REFERENCES.
Develop a form for subcontractors to use while reviewing the record. Give examples of specific things to look for regarding breach of duty, causation and damages. This will help a new LNC subcontractor minimize the importance of small errors unrelated to the actual merits of the case. Many new nurses get hung up on issues that may be pertinent later but not during the initial review for merit.
Develop an outline for the subcontractor to use in preparing her report. Then use the subcontractor's report to generate your own report. This allows you to become familiar with the case and makes it easier to check the subcontractor's work. NEVER give an attorney a report written by a subcontractor unless you have reviewed the report yourself.
Have every subcontractor sign a non-compete agreement, and DO NOT give the subcontractor the name of the attorney-client. Once and only once, one of my subcontractors contacted the attorney to try to obtain his business. Fortunately, he was a long-standing client, and he told me what had happened. The subcontractor denied she had done this, and I never used her services again. Six months later I found she was starting her own business.
Carla R. Kitten, RN, BSN, CLNC has been a practicing legal nurse consultant since 1993, specializing in medical malpractice and criminal defense. In addition to owning her own business, she is employed as a full-time in-house legal nurse consultant for the Gray Hart Law Firm in Texas.
Get the Best from Your Subcontractors – 5 Ways to Protect Yourself and Your Bottom Line
by Gloria Blackmon, RNC, BSN, LHNA
Use a subcontractor agreement. Regardless of your relationship with the subcontractor, you both should discuss and sign the agreement before any work begins. This helps keep you both aware of each other's expectations, which can be listed in an addendum.
Always be on the lookout for potential subcontractors. Don't wait until you are desperate for help and make a choice you may later regret.
Interview potential subcontractors to identify their strengths and weaknesses. You may consider mentoring someone if she's willing to learn while earning a lower hourly fee. Once she becomes competent, revise your agreement to provide the rate your experienced subcontractors earn.
Use your subcontractors on assignments about which they feel passionate. For example, I have a nurse who loves to research and retrieve articles and one who enjoys doing chronologies. I get the best work from each of them by giving them tasks they love.
No matter how confident you are of a subcontractor, ALWAYS confer with her and review her work product before you send it to the attorney-client. Be sure to give your subcontractor enough time to allow you to complete this review before the client's deadline.
Gloria A. Blackmon, RNC, BSN, LNHA is the CEO of Blackmon & Associates Medical-Legal Consulting in Kansas specializing in long term care issues.
NEWS FLASH
Top Sales Expert and Vickie's Favorite Speaker Honored by NSA
One of my favorite marketing coaches, Zig Ziglar, just received a lifetime achievement award from the National Speakers Association (NSA). Evie, Tom and I were privileged to meet Zig at the NSA annual convention in Dallas. I think you'll find his audiotape programs are just as rich and powerful as his personal appearances. I own many of Zig's tapes, and now you can, too. In his honor we're featuring two of my favorite Zig Ziglar programs.
The highlight of the National Speakers Association Convention: Evie and I with my favorite mentor, Zig Ziglar. Left to right: Vickie, Zig and Evie.
