Tutorial ID | T-01 |
Section | Foundation |
Title | Organizing Your Documents Before Uploading |
Subtitle | Prepare and sort your case documents to improve accuracy from the start. |
Before You Begin
You have gathered all available case documents in one place before starting.
You know the case type and have a general understanding of what categories of records are expected.
You have access to the original source files, not only scanned or converted copies, where possible.
You have the claimant's name and date of birth available to verify document attribution.
What You Will Accomplish
By the end of this tutorial, your documents will be organized into clearly named, logically grouped batches that are ready to upload to Case Chronology®. You will know how to sort records, confirm the set is complete, and resolve common preparation issues before uploading begins.
Why Does This Tutorial Matter
Every AI-assisted step in Case Chronology® — extracting dates, identifying providers, building the timeline — starts from the documents you provide. A batch that is grouped, labeled, and complete gives the reviewer, and everyone who reads the report afterward, the same accurate foundation to work from.
A document set uploaded without preparation carries its problems forward. A misfiled record can be attributed to the wrong provider, a duplicated page can pad the case with the same facts twice, and a missing translation can leave part of the record outside the analysis entirely. Fixing these issues after upload takes longer than preventing them, and the person reviewing the case downstream may never realize something was missed.
What to Do if Something Goes Wrong
The list below covers the most common problems in document preparation. Each entry follows the same pattern: what you'll notice, why it likely happened, a real example, and how to fix it.
Problem — Documents are uploaded without being sorted into logical groups.
Likely cause: Files arrive from several sources and get uploaded as received, without being grouped by document type, provider, or time period.
Example: A reviewer uploads records from three providers as they arrive by email, without separating them first. Hospital notes, billing statements, and diagnostic reports end up in one batch, and finding a specific record later means searching page by page instead of opening the right folder.
Fix:
Gather all available case documents in one place.
Confirm the full set has been collected before you begin sorting.
Sort documents into logical groups — for example, hospital records, diagnostic reports, or billing records.
Within each group, arrange documents in chronological order, earliest first.
Name each group using a consistent format — for example, "Hospital Records — 2023."
Review the groups as a set and confirm every document sits in the correct group.
Upload each group as a separate batch.
Problem — Documents from different providers are uploaded together in the same batch.
Likely cause: Provider names are not checked page by page before grouping.
Example: A hospital record and an unrelated imaging center report arrive in the same delivery and get uploaded as one batch labeled "Records." Afterward, no one can tell which pages belong to which provider without opening every file.
Fix:
In your document folder, group documents by provider — for example, emergency medical services, hospital, or diagnostic facility.
Assign each provider its own separate batch.
Check the provider name on every document in each batch.
Confirm no document has been placed in the wrong batch.
Name each batch with the provider name and date range — for example, "St. Mary's Hospital — Jan 2022 to Mar 2023."
Upload each batch separately and confirm it is labeled correctly before uploading the next one.
Problem — Documents are not converted to a supported file format before preparation.
Likely cause: Files arrive as compressed archives or in other formats the platform does not accept.
Example:
Fix:
Open each file in your document folder and confirm it displays clearly in its current format.
Identify any file in an unsupported format, such as a .zip archive or a non-standard image type.
Convert each unsupported file to an accepted format, such as .pdf.
Open the converted file and confirm the content is fully legible.
Once all files are correctly formatted, continue preparing the set.
Problem — Documents are scanned in the wrong order before being saved as a single file.
Likely cause: Pages are not sorted into the correct sequence, or duplicates are not removed, before scanning.
Example: Twenty loose pages from one provider are scanned out of order, and two pages are scanned twice by mistake. The resulting file jumps between dates and repeats the same page twice, making the record hard to follow.
Fix:
Before scanning, sort the physical pages into the correct order, earliest first.
Check for duplicate pages and remove any page that appears more than once.
Scan the document in the sorted order, in one uninterrupted session.
Open the resulting file and scroll through every page.
Confirm the pages appear in the correct order and none are duplicated or skipped.
If any page is out of order, rescan from the correctly sorted physical pages rather than reordering the file.
Once the scan is confirmed correct, include it in the preparation set.
Note Handle protected health information according to your organization's privacy policy and applicable law at every stage of preparation — not only after something goes wrong. |
Problem — Documents containing protected health information are not handled according to privacy requirements.
Likely cause: Documents are stored in an unsecured location or shared through an unencrypted channel.
Example: A batch of medical records is emailed to a personal, non-secure email account so it can be reviewed at home. The account isn't covered by the organization's access controls, and the records are now stored outside any secure system.
Fix:
Stop the preparation process immediately if a privacy incident has occurred.
Determine which documents were affected and what information they contained.
Identify how the documents were mishandled and who may have accessed them.
Secure the affected documents — move physical files to secure storage and digital files to an access-controlled location.
Report the incident to your organization's compliance lead.
Do not resume preparation until you receive explicit confirmation it is safe to proceed.
Once resolved, review what led to the issue and update your process to prevent it happening again.
Problem — Records from different cases or different claimants are mixed together during preparation.
Likely cause: Multiple cases are prepared in the same working space.
Example: A single provider delivery contains records for two different patients with similar names. Both sets get filed into the same case folder, and one file later turns out to belong to a different claimant entirely.
Fix:
Keep documents for different cases stored separately in your document folder.
Check the claimant's name and date of birth in each document where it is stated.
Review each document individually when a provider delivery covers more than one case.
If a document belongs to a different case or claimant, remove it from the document set immediately.
Once preparation is complete, do a final check confirming every document belongs to the correct case and claimant.
Problem — Documents in a language other than English are included in the preparation set without being translated.
Likely cause: No qualified translation is obtained before the document is added, or an automated tool is used instead of a professional translator.
Example: A set of physician notes arrives in Spanish with no accompanying translation. The notes are added to the case as they are, and the reviewer has no way to confirm what they say without a translation.
Fix:
Identify any record in your document folder written in a language other than English.
Check whether an accurate English translation already exists for each one.
If a translation exists, confirm it covers the full content of the original.
If no translation exists, arrange for a qualified medical translator to produce one.
Do not use automated translation tools.
Compare the finished translation against the original and confirm nothing was omitted.
Upload the translated version alongside the original, with both files clearly labeled.
Problem — [object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Likely cause: The conversion process failed because of an unsupported element, such as embedded video, a proprietary font, or a corrupted page.
Example:
Fix:
Open the original file and identify the problematic element.
Remove or replace that element in the original file.
Upload the file to the platform again and confirm it uploads successfully.
If it still fails, contact the provider and request a replacement copy in a supported format.
Problem — Case size is inflated by duplicate pages or duplicate files.
Likely cause: The same pages were scanned or saved more than once inside a single file, or the same document was uploaded again as a separate file — often because copies arrived from more than one source.
Example: The same twelve-page hospital record is received from both the hospital's records department and the claimant's attorney. Both copies are uploaded as separate files, and the case now contains the same twelve pages twice.
Fix:
Open any file that is noticeably larger than expected for its record type and scan through it for repeated pages.
Remove the duplicate pages within the file.
Check whether the same document exists as more than one separate file in the case, especially where records arrived from more than one source.
Remove the duplicate file, keeping only one verified copy in the case.
Summary
Your documents are now organized into clearly named, correctly formatted, logically grouped batches, and free of the preparation errors covered above. You're ready to begin uploading to Case Chronology®.