Looking for additional clarification on LNCC exam eligibility requirements? Take a look at some of the following frequently submitted questions to help address your inquiry:
Q: I have a question about the required 2000 hours of legal nurse consulting. My past experience over the last six years was as a manager at a 99-bed non-profit hospital. In this role, I was responsible for all medical/nursing case reviews. We had a scheduled two-hour time slot each week where we formally reviewed cases or allowed root cause analysis teams to meet. In addition to this allocated time was the time spent preparing for the review which included the preparation of time lines, review of the medical record, interviewing of involved healthcare staff, patients, and families. I would estimate that my work included an average of 4 hours per week in this capacity. In addition to this work, I presented at a patient safety conference that was 40 hours of preparation time and then of course presenting.
A: The case review would be fine. If the conference presentation topic is legal nurse consultant related (fits into the ‘Scope and Content Codes’)- then the hours would be fine as well.
Q: I am an R.N. with approximately six years of ER nursing, five years of clinical research coordinator/QA experience and more than six years of experience in drug safety at CROs and pharmaceutical companies. A colleague told me that drug safety experience was acceptable for eligibility. Is this accurate?
A: It would depend on what your tasks were. Using the ‘Scope and Content Codes’ where would you place your experience in regarding the tasks, were they reviewing cases, writing analysis or chronologies, etc.
Please refer to the ALNCCB webpage which lists the scope of duties and also the content areas. Draft the duties from your listed experiences and divide them into those areas on the website and then add up the hours of performing those duties. That would give you how many hours of performed LNC work.
Q: I am a practicing RN and have been working in the court system. My work has included writing court reports, investigating child abuse and neglect cases, reviewing hospital, health department, physician office medical records, interviewing physicians, nurses, mental health professionals, social workers, law enforcement personnel, school personnel for the purpose of gathering evidence, organizing records, testifying as a fact witness at court, serving as a fact source for child medical exams, child forensic exams and much more. I have worked for the court attorney on these cases in a volunteer capacity. Can these hours qualify as "billable hours" for the purpose of qualifying to take the LNCC exam?
A: The activities listed would qualify.
Q: There is paralegal that lets me work with him as an LNC- however as he is not a lawyer but a paralegal, can I obtain my hours with him?
A: Under the employment of this organization you can use the hours worked on actual cases doing the specific LNC billable tasks towards your practical hours. A lawyer vs a paralegal makes no difference.
Q: I have been performing medical cost projections for liability and/or workers' compensation insurers/TPA for at least 6 years. This involves reviewing and summarizing medical records in a manner understandable to the adjusters; projecting future treatment and its costs based on both the history and treatment guidelines. Costs are based on either a WC fee schedule or usual and customary, based on the claim type and adjuster preference. I have been writing Medicare set-asides for over 6 years, as requested by workers' compensation self-insureds or third party administrators. These are billable based on a flat fee or on a per hour basis, depending on the customer. They involved detailed review and summarizing of the medical records; anticipating the future medical needs of the claimant, including prescription medications; determining those needs, the coding, and the costs over the life expectancy based on either WC fee schedules or usual and customary (depending on the state/requestor). This involves researching evidence-based guidelines and other medical information. These are submitted to our partner attorneys as well as the claimant. I interact on a regular basis with our partner attorney's regarding submission of these reports to Medicare, updating and/or revising, the documentation needed for submission, and other issues. I also perform liability insurance reviews, summarizing the medical/injury history, researching medical information and treatment guidelines, relating the medical issues to the issues resulting from an alleged incident, in a matter understandable to the referring adjuster/attorney. I have been doing the liability reviews for approximately 3 months. I have been involved in multiple conference calls and conversations with adjusters and/or attorneys to explain the details of the above.
A: The activities meet the requirements.
Q: I have completed an internship with an LNC educational program working on active cases in a mentorship environment. Do these hours count toward my 2000 hours?
A: A formal internship or clinical practicum program can be counted toward the practice experience as long as the internship or practicum hours are worked on active client cases and consist of activities that would generally be considered billable hours and match the types of activities, topic areas and criteria currently used to describe practice experience. However, these hours can only be used toward a maximum of 10% or 200 hours of the practice hours submitted and must be able to be documented through a formalized internship or practicum program.
Q: How can I be sure what I do will be accepted for my 2000 hours?
A: Draft a list of your activities/tasks you would like to include in your 2000 hours. Use the following PDF from the application to draft your activities into each Scope of Exam and Content Area Codes. Please utilize this PDF to designate where each activity/task you think would apply should fit.
Q: If my legal and professional name differ, which should I utilize in applying for the LNCC certification?
A: Please utilize your legal name in reference to all LNCC exam application materials.
For additional information on general LNCC certification questions, please read through our FAQs or contact ALNCCB Headquarters at info@aalnc.org.