The Case for Case Management!
DO YOU KNOW THE VALUE OF HAVING YOUR OWN HEALTH INFORMATION?
To whom it may concern:
- I just retired as an attorney effective January 1, 2020. I’ve been a practicing attorney since 1978, most of those years doing personal injury work, and in my latter years assisting other attorneys handling large personal injury and medical malpractice cases in resolving reimbursement liens by health insurance companies against personal injury and medical malpractice seminars. For some years, I was the featured speaker at the Arizona Association for Justice/Arizona Trial Lawyers Association by far most heavily attended seminar, the annual liens seminar. I regularly dealt with healthcare providers both as treating physicians and in terms of any liens they had for reimbursement of their medical bills, as well as health insurance carriers and companies representing them to collect their lien claims.
In my law practice:
Miriam Sterk has been most helpful. A number of times in assisting other attorneys on large cases I referred them to Miriam and they utilized her services as Case Manager to assist their client. As an example, I was handling liens on a large case involving a 39 year old school teacher who was seriously injured and was a near complete paraplegic as a result of a motor vehicle accident. Her health insurer, through Arizona public schools, continued to put her off and not approve essential medical care and equipment. One instance of this is they continued to refuse to pay for wheelchair with a tube that she could blow into so she could get around. My understanding from the school teacher’s personal injury law firm was that Miriam’s advise and assistance was instrumental to obtaining approval of this wheelchair and other home medical equipment, referrals, etc. The law firm told me they continued to utilize Miriam’s services on other large cases as appropriate as well.
I recall another attorney on our trial lawyer email listserve inquiring whether anyone could help a dire situation, his good family friend was in a terrible motor vehicle accident in California and suffered massive head injury, I referred the trial lawyer to Miriam, and Miriam worked with the health insurer to quickly get the person transferred to Barrow’s Neurological in Phoenix for prompt rehabilitation thereapy. There a number of other instances like this but I cannot recall them all.
Miriam has frequently assisted me and my family members as well. In 2014, I had a right hip replacement. Miriam warned me that the facility would probably discharge me without referring for nursing care or physical therapy, as as my wife had passed away I had no one to care and assist me when I got home. Miriam assisted me in getting the referral and placement to a skilled nursing facility for a week. Although I was advised prior to hospital discharge that they ordered physical therapy at the nursing facility, when I arrived I found out that they had not received a physical therapy referral or order, and when they tried to get this from my health insurer it was denied. Miriam quickly appealed, made a phone call, and suddenly therapy was approved. Also, when I was discharged home, Miriam set up a home health care aid to help me for some hours for a week until I was ready on my own. When one of my daughters had her appendix removed in 2011 and the biopsy showed a small 3cm carcinoid, Miriam made a few calls and the very next day my daughter was seen by one of the Valley’s premier oncologists – fortunately, extensive tests revealed she was cancer free. And a few years later, when biopsy of a neck growth revealed that my daughter had Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, Miriam made a few calls and my daughter was again seen by one of the Valley’s premier oncologists the very next day.
When I turned 65 the other years, Miriam discussed with me the pros and cons and benefits of Medicare v Medicare Advantage healthplans, and the various Medicare Supplement plans, thus greatly assisting me in signing up for the best plans in relation to my needs.
In all my years of law practice as well as my life, Miriam is by far the very best Case Manager I have ever met. She is quite amazing and other attorneys to whom I have referred her, and friends, have all agreed.
Steven J Bruzonsky
Law Office of Steven J Bruzonsky
917 E. San Angelo Ave.
Gilbert, Az 85234
(602-618-3088 cell)
(stevebruzonsky@cox.net)
