SmartAdvocate Tips of the Week - Negotiations & Settlements
The Settlement Forecast Report
The Continue Negotiations Feature
Use the Settlement Forecast Report to show Projected Income
Enter and track Distribution Checks automatically on the Settlement Screen
Medical Provider - Bills Finalized and Don't Pay at Settlement Options
Enter and track Distribution Checks automatically on the Settlement Screen
Utilizing the “Bills Finalized” and “Don’t Pay at Settlement” Options for Medical Providers
The Basics:
In SmartAdvocate, there are various tools aid the Negotiation and Settlement process of your cases.
There are a handful of reports under Financial Reports for you and your firm to utilize in tracking outstanding fees, forecasted settlements, and more.
Case Settlement Values: Lists settlements reached in a selected time range. The results are listed in text tables, grouped by the attorney who reached the settlement.
Fees Outstanding: Lists cases with outstanding fees in a series of text tables, with each table associated with the attorney responsible for the settlement. Most columns are optional, and the selection of columns is one of the parameters. Other parameters include the attorney or case manager, whether to include open or closed cases, whether to include settlements that do not generate a fee, the case referral status, and the date range.
Settlement Forecast Report: Provides anticipated upcoming case settlements, based up the Expected Resolution Date field. (See Case Summary.) Note that if the Expected Resolution field is not filled out, this report will not populate for that case. Almost every column is optional, and the selection of columns is one of the parameters. Other parameters include date range, staff, and office ID (location). Columns include case number, name, and status, open date, case group, attorney, minimum value, expected resolution date, disbursement amount, projected fee, referral fee, and net fee.
Settlement Report: Lists settlements in a text table. Columns include the case number, case type, plaintiff name, the dates that the settlement was reached, the settlement release was sent to the plaintiff, the signed release was received from the plaintiff, and the signed release was sent to the insurance company, the amount of the settlement, the company being settled with, the case status and sub-status, and the comment on the case status. Parameters include the date range of the settlement, the case status and type, and whether to include open or closed cases. Most columns are optional, and the selection of columns is one of the parameters.
For an overview on more of the Financial Reports, jump to Reports Overview
Beyond Reports, SmartAdvocate Dashboards provides tools to help track Negotiations and Settlements of your cases - specifically the Negotiation Follow-Up Dashboard.
Negotiation Follow-Up: Displays information about the status of unresolved negotiations. The information includes the number of the associated case, the plaintiff who is the subject of the negotiations, the incident date and earliest SOL in the case, the number of days the case has spent in its current status, the information about the company being negotiated with, the most recent negotiation date, demand, offer, and comments in the negotiation with the company, the last Negotiation note in the case, the staff member performing the negotiation, and icons for creating a new note and a new demand and offer in the negotiation.
For an overview on more useful Dashboards, jump to Dashboards Overview