Tip #15 - Are you taking full advantage of the Injuries Screen in SmartAdvocate?

Are you taking full advantage of the Injuries Screen in SmartAdvocate?

The Injuries Screen in SmartAdvocate is perhaps one of the most important screens where data is entered. Yet, many users are not making full use of it, that is, if it is even used at all. It goes without saying that the client’s injuries are the cornerstone of your case. It is the most significant determining factor of any recovery. The client’s injuries are alleged in every Complaint, Interrogatories or Bill of Particulars and are always prominently highlighted in every demand. An inquiry into the client’s injuries is one of the first questions asked at intake.

The Injuries Screen, then, should be efficiently used to document those injuries so that you can use the power inherent in SmartAdvocate’s document templates to easily and quickly have said injuries inserted or merged into your documents. Initially, the Injuries Screen will usually have the ‘quick injuries’ that may have been entered from the Incident Screen at Intake. Upon receipt of the medical records, you will need to enter more detailed information regarding the client’s injuries on the Injuries Screen.

There are basically two main sections of the Injuries Screen: (a) Injury Details, and (b) Injuries Summary.

The Injury Details

Go to the Injuries Screen and click the ‘Add Injury Detail’ button. If the sub-menu displaying Injury Detail is not displayed, click the ‘+’ sign to the left of the client’s name, then click the ‘Add Injury Detail’ button or the ‘Add Injuries Using ICD codes’ button. If you choose the ‘Add Injuries Using ICD codes’ option, please bear in mind that the codes are entered without punctuations. E.g., E36.0 would be entered as E360, E36.12 would be entered as E3612. (Incidentally, some clients have reported that they get higher offers when ICD codes are used in their demand packs!).

The ‘Add Injury Details’ screen will be displayed.

2. Make any appropriate entries by accessing one or more of the available tabs for ‘Specific Injury,’ ‘Quick Injury’ or ‘Other Injury.’ Here you can also use ICD codes to populate the injury section by choosing the ‘Other Injury’ option.

Here is an example entered for Specific Injury:

The specific injuries will now be displayed on the Injury Details.

Here is an example of an entry with ‘Other’ injuries:

Here is an example of both ‘Specific’ and ‘Other’ Injuries displayed on the Injury Details screen:

Injury Summary

Right click the grid for Injuries (or click the action icon in the far-right column) and select Edit

2. Enter the Injuries Summary as appropriate.

Clicking the ‘Auto Populate’ buttons for Injury Summary and/or Pleading Summary will append the information previously entered in Injury Detail to the text already entered (if any) in the Summary fields.

3. Click the ‘Confinements’ tab to enter confinement to Hospital, Confinement to Bed, Confinement to Home and Incapacity, if desired.

Now you can use the appropriate merge codes in your templates to populate the aforementioned information from those screens in your pleadings, letters and other documents.

[Note: Injuries Summary, Pleadings Summary and Confinement details will display on the Summary Screen under the Injuries tab]