Medical Reports

Historically there were problems with experts who were regarded as "guns for hire".  A party bringing a claim would instruct a medical expert to report who was known to favour injured parties.  Insurance companies would use medical experts who were favourable to them.  All that happened is that costs would inflate and trial would be a lottery.

Concern was raised about this practice.  Medical reporting organisations (also known as medico-legal agencies) were the response to the problem.  They maintain a database of suitable experts and can be used to nominate and instruct those experts upon behalf of either party.  As the selection of an expert is at arm's length it satisfied the need for impartiality.

The Ministry of Justice (and it's predecessor) then introduced fixed costs for road traffic accidents.  As part of the process discussions took place to try and agree suitable rates for medical reports.  The result was the Medical Reporting Organisations Agreement, originally entered into in 2007 and renewed in 2009.

The Agreement applies to road traffic accidents and claims brought under employer's liability or public liability insurance.  It is also only intended to apply to cases where compensation for injuries is expected to be less than £15,000.  The amount charged depends on the level of expert and whether they were asked to review medical records also (GP experts are not always expected to).  When the expert provides a report the bill is sent directly to the other side for payment and the amount of the fee depends on how long they take to pay it.

The Agreement is only binding on insurers and Medical Reporting Organisations who have signed up to it.  However, over time it has gradually become the benchmark that report fees can be compared to.  The rates allowed under the Agreement are as follows:

	Paid within 90 days of receipt of invoice and required information	Paid after 90 days from receipt of invoice and required information
GP, no records	£195	£220
Additional fee for GP reviewing records	£50	£55
Orthopaedic consultant, with records	£425	£465
Accident & Emergency expert, with records	£375	£410
Addendum reports	Cost + £25	Cost + £30
Cost of agency obtaining records (per set)	Cost charged by data provider + £25	Cost charged by data provider + £30