Choose Premex. A safe pair of hands. From 6th April 2015 changes to the CPR and the Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value PI Claims in RTA (RTA Protocol) are being made. These changes include the introduction of the MedCo Portal which must be used for sourcing all initial medical reports in soft tissue injury claims brought under the RTA Protocol where the CNF is submitted on or after 6th April 2015. By now you should have registered for MedCo. Once you are in a position to procure a medico-legal report, you must login to MedCo and either choose a Medical Reporting Organisation (MRO) or a Medical Expert from a randomly generated list. If you select an MRO, MedCo will generate a random list which will include one high volume national MRO and six regional MROs. Both Premex and its sister company, UK Independent Medical (UKIM), are registered as high volume national MROs.
BE SAFE AND SECURE WITH PREMEX Choosing a national agency will ensure you receive: > Expertise: national panel of experienced and fully vetted experts, covering all disciplines and locations > Data protection and information security: secure processing of personal data, including data exchange with medical experts through secure portal / links and report upload facilities > Predictable high quality service levels: fast turnaround times > Sector leading IT: ability to instruct online or integrate case management systems > Convenience: provides a full range of complementary services including Rehabilitation, Pagination and Premex+, for more complex cases. INSTRUCTING PREMEX To make the process easy for you, we just request that you always provide the MedCo case ID when instructing Premex on a MedCo case. This ensures that we can identify the case correctly and allows us to upload certain key data from the report on an anonymised basis once the report is completed and the unique MedCo Case ID ties to the search result. Please note that not providing a MedCo Case ID on a MedCo case will result in non-compliance with the new rules. You will be able to instruct and communicate with Premex in the same way as you do now. CONTACT If you have any specific queries regarding MedCo please email MedCo@premex.com or call 01204 478300 Our sister company UKIM may also be returned in your search results, if so, please take advantage of the same great service provided by a trusted tier one MRO.
1. WHEN SHOULD I USE THE MEDCO PORTAL? As you will be aware, from the 6th April 2015 there will be changes to the CPR and the Pre Action Protocol (PAP) for Low Value PI Claims in RTA (RTA Protocol). These changes include the introduction of the MedCo Portal, which must be used for sourcing initial medical reports related to soft tissue injury claims. The MedCo portal will randomly generate a list of MROs or direct medical experts for the solicitor to choose from. Once the solicitor has selected an MRO the portal will create a unique MedCo Case ID which must be provided to the MRO by the solicitor and displayed on the Medical Report. Soft Tissue Injury Claim means a claim brought by an occupant of a motor vehicle where the significant physical injury caused is a soft tissue injury and includes claims where there is a minor psychological injury secondary in significance to the physical injury. The claimant must have been the occupant of a motor vehicle so pedestrians, cyclists and motor cyclists are excluded. Therefore, you can continue to instruct Premex as normal for these cases. 2. HOW DOES MEDCO RELATE TO FIXED FEE MEDICALS? In October 2014 the MoJ introduced new fixed fees for medical reports related to soft tissue injuries. Fixed fees were introduced to Part 45 of the CPR and relates to a solicitor being able to receive a fixed recoverable cost of 180+VAT on an initial medical report for a soft tissue injury claim. The MedCo portal will be introduced in April 2015 and relates to how a medical report should be procured. The solicitor can no longer choose a preferred MRO and instead must use the MedCo system which will return a list of randomly generated MROs or individual medical experts to select from. 3. WHAT HAPPENS IF I HAVE ALREADY INSTRUCTED A MEDICAL REPORT BUT HAVE NOT SUBMITTED MY CNF PRIOR TO THE 6TH APRIL? If you have already instructed Premex for a medical report but do not submit the CNF to the Claims Portal before 6th April 2015, we believe you will have to process a new instruction - selecting either an MRO or medical expert via the MedCo portal to ensure you are complying with CPR and the RTA Protocol. This might mean you may not be able to instruct your preferred provider. Please therefore ensure, wherever possible, that you submit the CNF through the portal prior to 6th April on all cases where you have already instructed a Medical Report as failure to do this may result in unrecoverable fees with Premex. 4. DO WE STILL NEED TO SOURCE THE REPORT THROUGH MEDCO IN CASES WHICH FALL OUT OF THE MOJ PORTAL (PRIOR TO THE MEDICAL REPORT BEING INSTRUCTED)? The MoJ believe that this is clearly explained in the CPR amendments to part 16 and 38 and the PAP. Their view is that medical reports must always be obtained from an MRO or medical expert generated by MedCo in respect of claims which start under the RTA PAP even where they fall out of the MoJ Portal for any reason.
5. WHAT HAPPENS IF PREMEX DOES NOT RECEIVE A MEDCO CASE ID ON A SOFT TISSUE INJURY CLAIM? If Premex does not receive a MedCo Case ID we will continue to process the case as a Fixed Fee Medical and invoice it out at 180+VAT. However, as we haven t received a MedCo case ID we will not upload any management information to the MedCo portal. It is the responsibility of the instructing party to provide Premex with the relevant information and to ensure it remains compliant with the RTA Protocol, CPR and adheres to the MedCo requirements. If you fail to recover Premex s fees either because Premex did not appear as a named MRO on the MedCo search or because you did not undertake a search of MedCo then you will remain liable to Premex in respect of such fees. 6. WHAT DO I NEED TO INCLUDE IN MY INSTRUCTION? When instructing Premex it is crucial that you provide the MedCo Case ID together with all the relevant case information that you provide in a typical instruction to an MRO. 7. WHAT HAPPENS IF AFTER EXAMINATION THE MEDICAL EXPERT STATES IT IS NOT A SOFT TISSUE INJURY CASE? The management information still has to be uploaded to the MedCo portal to tie in with the MedCo ID but Premex will invoice out at the MROA or standard rate. 8. WHAT HAPPENS IF I HAVE ANY QUESTIONS FOR THE MEDICAL EXPERT WHO PRODUCED THE REPORT? If, following receipt of your report you have questions for the medical expert, simply contact Premex directly as currently. 9. HOW WILL THE PREMEX PROCESS DIFFER FROM THE STANDARD PROCESS? There will be slight modifications to the instruction process. When instructing Premex it is crucial that you provide the MedCo Case ID to ensure we identify the case as a MedCo Portal instruction. There will be an additional field on our online systems to accommodate the MedCo Case ID; this ensures the information can easily be captured. We will then upload certain key data from the report on an anonymised basis once the report is completed and the unique MedCo Case ID ties to the search result. 10. WHAT TYPE OF MEDICAL EXPERT CAN BE INSTRUCTED ON MEDCO CASES? Although a number of different expert types are able to prepare MedCo reports under the Rules, Premex will continue to utilise its panel of General Practitioner experts for all MedCo instructions. 11. WHAT HAPPENS IF I NEED TO ARRANGE A SERIES OF JOINT APPOINTMENTS? We understand the intention is that you will be able to use the same MRO if the claimants are connected through the same accident or are in the same family.
12. WHAT IF I NEED A SECONDARY REPORT? If a secondary report is justified then you do not need to use MedCo. You can instruct Premex through the usual methods, but please state that this is a secondary report and include a copy of the initial report where appropriate. In all circumstances where an additional report is required you can obtain that report from Premex, even if you didn t obtain the initial MedCo report from Premex. 13. WHAT HAPPENS IF I AM NOT SURE OF THE NATURE OF THE CLAIMANT S INJURIES AT THE POINT OF INSTRUCTING? We would advise that you use the MedCo portal and obtain an initial report. If the medical expert recommends further reports then you can instruct Premex directly. This prevents the risk of you not being able to recover the costs of the medical report if it transpires the injury is a soft tissue injury. 14. WHAT HAPPENS IF I INSTRUCT PREMEX WHEN IT HAS NOT BEEN SELECTED THROUGH MEDCO? This is likely to result in unrecoverable fees. If you fail to recover Premex s fees either because Premex did not appear as a named MRO on the MedCo search or because you did not undertake a search of MedCo, then you will remain liable to Premex in respect of such fees. 15. HOW WILL I PAY PREMEX FOR THE MEDCO REPORT? Premex will continue to invoice you directly for the medical report under existing or newly agreed contractual terms. The financial agreement will continue to be between Premex and the solicitor and not with MedCo. 16. DO I NEED A NEW CONTRACT? Yes there will be some slight variations to your contract; your Account Manager will make contact to discuss your requirements in more detail. 17. CAN I INSTRUCT UKIM? UKIM and Premex are separate companies within the ExamWorks family. Both UKIM and Premex are registered as high volume MROs within the MedCo Portal. You will receive the same fantastic service from both MROs, please select either Premex or UKIM when they appear. 18. CAN I STILL USE 3D REHAB? The procurement of rehabilitation and diagnostic services remains unaffected by the implementation of MedCo. A solicitor can continue to instruct their preferred supplier and there will be no significant changes to the standard process. You can continue to instruct 3d Rehab on MedCo and non-medco cases, even when a recommendation has been made from another MRO.