There aren’t too many people in this world that find record review captivating. Hours upon hours are spent performing a task that many times goes unappreciated. The fact is, record review is a key component in discovery and an important step in the litigation cycle. Many clients complain that they spend more time sifting through documents that are unnecessary than analyzing the important ones. One issue that frequently comes up is the importance of being thorough versus the amount of time needed to review each document. After more than 35 years of providing record retrieval service, ABI created a software to help with this tedious task and bring efficiency to record review.
eSummary by ABI™
ABI has provided record retrieval services for the legal and insurance industries for over 35 years. We developed eSummary, a web-based tool specific to the review, organization and summarization of records.
Hours upon hours of brainstorming went into the tools and features available with eSummary to give the user the experience of efficient review. The idea behind the software was a result of direct communication with clients asking for an easier way to streamline the review of the records ABI retrieved. Instead of providing a very basic summary performed by a third party, ABI thought to put the review and summarization tools in the hands of the client for a “personalized review.” Clients were still in control of how the review was performed, what information was analyzed, and how the information was collected — just with a more efficient and streamlined approach.
Case Study: 250 Pages in 14 Minutes
Before releasing eSummary to the marketplace, ABI put it to the test. A sample group of attorneys and paralegals were asked to take part in a case study in which they would compare their traditional review methods against performing the same review using eSummary.
The results were staggering. In a basic review of 250 pages of medical records to locate specific information, it took the sample group 14 minutes to locate the desired information. Using eSummary’s organization and search tools, the group was able to pinpoint all significant pages quickly and efficiently.
The group was then asked to give an estimate as to how long it would take them to find this particular information using their current review method. Every member of the group responded that it would have taken hours and not minutes in order to get the same results.
Following the testing, an open forum was held to ask the study group what they thought of eSummary and some of the benefits they thought of when using the software. The consensus of the group was that the software was easy to use and that the allotted half an hour of training held at the beginning of the session was plenty. Many responded that eSummary allowed them to perform multiple review tasks at once, such as organize, analyze and create notes all with a few clicks of the mouse. They commented that organizing the records to review, analyzing the data and then making note of the information using their current method would require three separate steps and tasks. With billable hours being a concern, the extra steps taken during traditional review methods are non-billable and ultimately a waste of their time.
Every member of the study agreed that the use of eSummary would benefit them in all other aspects of their workload, because they would not spend so much time on non-billable tasks and would be able to focus more time on billable events.
ABI Makes Record Review Easy and Hassle-Free
There is no getting around the necessity of record review. With the introduction of record review software such as eSummary by ABI™, the legal and insurance industries have options in how they want to streamline the record review process. These tools have created a more efficient and less burdensome way of locating vital information. Testing has proven that clients can save a tremendous amount of time using tools such as eSummary, which ultimately leads to more time to focus on deadlines and time sensitive tasks.
