Each appointment in CARES has an Appointment Billing Allocation. Be sure to consult OCR's Billing Policies & Procedures to learn more about default allocations by case type, considerations in making successful requests, and what to do for appointments that start with a zero-dollar allocation until you provide certain paperwork to OCR. Below, learn how the appointed office must monitor and request to increase the allocation in CARES.
- Timing Matters
- Proactive Monitoring (Recommended)
- Automatic Warnings and Notifications
- How to Request Additional Funding
- Monitoring Requests Made (including occasional email notifications requesting more information)
Monitoring Allocation
Timing Matters
Monitor your Appointment Billing Allocation for each appointment to determine if and when an Additional Funding Request is necessary. If a request is not approved by the time the Managing Attorney creates and submits their invoice, the invoice will automatically exclude payment for those activities that exceed the allocation (indicated by an "Insufficient Funds" notification on the invoice). As detailed in OCR's Billing Policies & Procedures, offices must request special permission from OCR's Executive Director to be paid for activities late and/or on a second invoice. More on invoicing
The appointed office should seek additional funds approval in CARES well before invoices are due for appointments exceeding the allocation thresholds. It takes up to 14 calendar days for an initial request to be reviewed. The appointed office is responsible for monitoring any email notifications and responding to requests for additional information in CARES in a timely manner.
Proactive Monitoring (Recommended)
Avoid the invoicing delays and non-payments described above by regularly filtering Cases > My Appointments for "Nearing Maximum Billing Allocation." Doing so half a month before you plan to submit an invoice each month will save you trouble later. Determine if an Additional Funding Request is necessary for each appointment returned by this search. You can review the appointment's Appointment Financial Profile for a summary of remaining funding.
Automatic Warnings and Notifications
CARES alerts appointed attorneys on the Home Screen when an appointment is nearing or has exceeded the allocation limits:
Click on this alert as soon as possible to review the appointment and determine if an Additional Funding Request is necessary. Review the appointment's Appointment Financial Profile for a summary of remaining funding.
CARES also displays a red alert in your My Appointments list and on the appointment itself when it is nearing or has exceeded the allocation limits:
Sometimes, you may want to adjust when these alerts appear on a certain appointment. Change the percentage thresholds that trigger these alerts by using the Warn When Billing Reaches Percentage on the appointment Profile. More on this
As a final notification, CARES displays "Insufficient Funds" in red on the bottom of any invoice in which activities are automatically excluded for lack of funding. Activities are excluded regardless of whether a funding request is pending. Click on the plus signs on the invoice until you see the blue case number--click on the case number to jump to the case and examine its Financial Profile for more information.
After a funding request leads to sufficient funding, the activities can be paid on new invoices, but there is usually not enough time to have a new additional funds request approved by the time you see an Insufficient Funds notification on an invoice--see Timing Matters above. More on invoicing
How to Request Additional Funding
To request additional funds, the appointed attorney (or a Managing Attorney in their office) can click on the blue words Request Additional Funding below the other text on an appointment's Financial Profile. The request form that pops up summarizes the appointment's financial information. Enter a dollar amount in "Requested Additional Funds." "Projected Allocation" will update automatically to show your requested new allocation. Enter an explanation—remember that you must support your additional funding request with a description of the legal work you anticipate is reasonably necessary per OCR's Billing Policies & Procedures. Scroll down to read and agree to the certification check box and click Submit. While a request is pending, no one may submit another request on that appointment, and the requester may receive an email notification if OCR needs additional information (more on that next).
Monitoring Requests Made
If the OCR requires more information about a pending request before it can be decided, OCR will flag the request with a status called "Additional Review," and the requester will receive an automatic email notification detailing the extra information requested. If you receive such an email, it will explain where to add information to the request directly in CARES as soon as possible. Do not reply to or forward such email notifications--instead, take action directly in CARES as described in the email. The request may only be updated in the account that created it (if you are a Managing Attorney submitting requests for users in your office, you will receive these emails and need to address them in your account). Please remember that your email address stored in CARES is displayed on each invoice—if you ever notice your email address needs an update, submit a Change Request Form to ensure you continue to receive email notifications.
After you have made a request using the Request Additional Funding button within an appointment, you can also find and monitor it by clicking Requests > Additional Funds in the left-side navigation menu. If you notice the "Additional Review" flag here, you can click on the request to add comments.
The Requests > Additional Funds screen shows a table of all your requests. Notice the "Status" and other search filter options along the top of the Additional Funds screen; click the blue magnifying glass to apply any filters. Click on a blue case number within the table of requests to open that specific request and view details, including red notes from OCR after approval or rejection.
Alerts on the Home Screen will tell you when OCR approves or rejects a request. Click on the alert to review the status change and any red notes from OCR. Dismiss Home Screen alerts after review by clicking on them, then clicking the "Dismiss Alert" button in the upper right corner—the request can still be found in Requests > Additional Funds.
Approved requests will automatically apply to the Appointment Billing Allocation after approval. Within each request in Requests > Additional Funds, you can click on the blue case number to jump to that appointment (a shortcut if you need to submit another request). You can delete and thereby withdraw a request if it is still in "Submitted" status (e.g. if you find a mistake). However, you can no longer do so after OCR has started to process the request.
See also