LNCs in Risk Management

I just wanted to post about an opportunity available for LNCs that I haven't seen mentioned a lot.

I work in risk management as a claims investigator for the organization that administers the professional liability insurance for a group of hospitals and practitioners. When a suit is filed, or when an incident occurs in which the risk management office thinks there is a possibility of malpractive being alleged, I pull the chart, review it, and do whatever research I need to do on the specifics of the case to become conversant in it. Then I interview the involved insured parties (attending MDs, residents, other hospital employees including nurses) to find out what happened. I then write up a report including the interview and my assessment of any breaches in appropriate standards of care as well as what I think the problems are with documentation, with the witnesses, etc.

The nice part about it is that I am a part of the defense, so the people I interview are usually appreciative of my efforts to understand the case. They know that the plaintiff is likely to bring up the same issues I am bringing up because their experts have reviewed the record, too, and the insured know they need to help the lawyers prepare a defense.

I am a nine to five employee, so I don't have the flexibility that some LNCs enjoy, however once I get more experience I will be able to work from home at least one day a week, and I do get all of the weekends and holidays off. I do need to say that the rate of pay is not as high as it was when I was in the clinical setting, but for me the tradeoff is worth it, especially because I don't need to do all of the billing and record keeping.

I would imagine that any insurance company that writes medical malpractice has claims examiners. They would be the people, I would think, who would be in a position to steer you towards a potential employer. Additionally, most facilities have some form of risk management, and a big facility will probably have it's own occurrence investigators, possibly as part of the quality improvement department.

Something to think about, perhaps, for you LNCs that have had a tough time getting a practice going. You could do this for a while to get your experience and then go independent if you wanted to, although in my company there is a reasonable career path; many of the people at the top started as investigators.