OK, this will be a demonstration of the
new functionality added to the VBMS Awards
and eMPWR applications to support the
automation of attorney fee processing.
Now we are jumping right in here to a
stage where an award has been granted a
compensation rating and generated in BMS A.
So we are at the pending authorization
screen right here and here we see the
proposed award net effect of about $16,000.
So and the and practice typically the award
attorney fee will be about 20% of the retro.
Of course, that's not always the case,
but for the sake of the demonstration,
we will continue with that assumption.
So we will be looking to enter a
attorney fee here of about $3200.
So. The first step in this is
to actually return the award.
And with the award returned,
we will jump over to the left
to the award adjustments tab.
And from there, we will head to
the other adjustments screen.
And for the adjustment reason,
we will select the new attorney fee reason.
And this reason requires.
And adjustment amount and that adjustment
amount is the attorney fee withholding.
So. As I mentioned earlier,
we are entering 3200.
And we have the ability to enter from
dates and two dates in this transaction.
Now this is not required and these dates
will not impact the way that this offset
is withheld from the retroactive payment.
It is simply there for the reference
of any future eyes who come to review.
So for the sake of this award,
I am going to be entering.
March 1st, 2022. July 1st, 2022.
And clicking done.
And just like that, the attorney
fee has been entered on this award,
and after it's authorized,
it will automatically recoup
from the retroactive payment.
So we will continue that process
again by generating the award.
And here we are again at the
pending authorization screen and
we do have a warning message here
indicating when the attorney fee
exceeds 20% of the award amount.
But again, this is for the demos sake,
so we are going to continue now.
One thing I will also mention at
this point is that the net effect
still shows the full $16,000 amount.
Now that will be coming in a future
enhancement and that the net effect
will reflect the attorney fee
offset along with the award print.
But at the moment it remains the
same amount prior to the entry
of the attorney be offset.
So now we have this award
ready for authorization.
And I am going to continue to
authorize this award. As it is a.
Speak claim in a test environment I
will be able to just go ahead and.
Sign in again and authorize my own award.
Now, in practice, of course,
this would be going through your.
Designated authorizer.
But for the sake of the demonstration,
I will be handling it myself.
So here we go, once again searching
for the same file number.
Edit down into the compensation award.
Going to review the current pending award.
And here we are, the pending
authorization screen again.
So I will go ahead and
continue to click authorize.
And continuing authorization.
And we have confirmation that
the award has been authorized.
So that is the complete process.
In the VBMS-A application,
so from here I will go ahead and
continue on to the eMPWR application
here at the home screen. I will.
Search for that same file number.
And here we see the transaction
that has come across from VBMS-A
because it was an original award.
We see it here as the 11 B transaction.
Now you'll see the authorized benefit
being that net effect that we saw in
VBMS-A but over here in the payments,
we can see the lesser amount being after
the attorney fee deduction has taken place.
Now this will be coming in future
functionality as well and that we will
want to show the $3200 deduction more
clearly in the accountable balance column.
But at for the moment you can tell
that the offset occurred properly by
comparing the difference in the authorized
benefits and the actual payment amount.
So now if we go into the
accountable balances tab,
that is where we will see this
award offset residing.
So here is the $3200 attorney
via offset that we entered.
Along with the information about
the award type,
the dates, file number,
all the information about the award and
the offsets that it was withheld from.
Now click it on that line opens
it up in a new modal where
more information is presented.
And so once this award offset is in place,
that will initiate the 65
day due process period.
Now we are going to go ahead and Fast
forward after that to the end of that time.
For the sake of the demonstration
and assume we are at the point
where we want to now do something
with this award offset balance.
So at the time of this recording there
are two transactions that have been
added to the empower application to
deal with this balance and that is
going to be the O6J1 transaction which
allows you to release this amount.
As a payment or the 06 J 3 transaction
which allows you to return the
amount to appropriation.
So I will go ahead and demonstrate
the O6J1 transaction here.
So to begin with,
we click on the process fiscal
transaction button in the upper right.
Selecting the appropriate award and claimant.
Now that will populate the
transaction tree here on the right.
And just like with other accountable balance.
Transactions.
This tree is being dynamically populated,
so we see these new O6J1 and O6J3
transactions populating here only
because there is an award offset
balance associated with this case.
If there was no award offset balance,
you would not see these transactions.
And one additional note I will make
here is that the O6J1 transaction,
which allows you to release the
award offset balance as a payment
that is available as both a
participant and a vendor transaction.
Now the vast majority of the time it
will be released as a vendor payment.
I will select that here.
And there we see the transaction here again.
So when releasing as a vendor payment,
the intent is to release it to the attorney,
which is the whole purpose of the balance.
So that is the most common scenario
that will be seen in the field.
Now it could also be released as
a participant transaction and
in those cases that might be.
For example, if the.
Our balance is actually owed
back to the veteran.
That would be the the the correct
combination to use there.
The participant transaction with the O6J1.
So for the demonstration,
we will be doing the vendor O6J1.
And having selected that, we can click next.
And the next screen will populate with the.
Award offset balances on this case.
Now, of course, there's only
one that we just created,
so I will be selecting that.
And click and continue. After I do that,
that populates the information about
that award offset balance down below.
We can see all that same information
that we were viewing in the
accountable balance screen earlier.
Now on both of these transactions,
the O6J1 and the O6J3,
you do have the ability
to issue partial amounts,
so that would be issuing a partial
payments or returning a partial
amount back to appropriation.
So I will demonstrate that as well by just.
Issuing $500 of this balance as a payment.
No scrolling back up because we are doing
this transaction as a vendor transaction.
No transaction address populates
here by default.
If it were a participant transaction,
we would see the veterans address
of record populating here.
But because we selected the vendor,
we are required to enter a special address.
So I will be doing that with a EFT address.
And with that entered I just click save.
And there we go.
We see our special EFT address
information populating there now.
So for the O6J1, the last step.
Is to enter notes from the field.
And with all that complete,
we will click submit.
Now we do get the warning message
indicating that a special payment address
was entered, so we will continue.
And with that done, I would like
to ask our authorizer to go ahead
and authorize that transaction.
And I do see in our authorization
queue that it was authorized.
So now I will go ahead and
open that transaction.
Just to demonstrate that it contains all of
the information that we did enter earlier.
Including the partial amounts down below.
And again, at the time of this recording,
the functionality is such that
a fiscal print is generated as
a result of this transaction,
and it will attempt to automatically
upload to the E folder of the participant.
Now if it is successful in that
upload then there will not be anything
visible under this file section.
But if for whatever reason that
upload to the E folder fails,
the fiscal prints will be found
under this file section. So because.
There is nothing there.
It is safe to assume that the
upload was successful,
but I will navigate to the E folder
just to verify and also show the fiscal
print for the new O6J1 transaction.
So I've moved over to VBMS-Core
where I have already searched for
our veterans file number and I
will bring up the documents tab.
And from this screen we can see
the web atml documents type with
the subject of fiscal print O6J1.
So as you might imagine that is
the fiscal print that was created
as a result of the authorization
of that O6J1 transaction.
So I'll go ahead and click on it
here so we can review it briefly.
Now, if you are familiar with
physical prints, it will by and
large look very familiar. There is.
Nothing significantly different about
these new fiscal transactions prints.
Now once it populates here.
And there it is.
So all of these same information,
your accustomed to seeing
up top file numbers,
names the amounts of the transaction.
And down below the special
payment address that we entered.
Which in practice will typically be
the attorneys payment information.
And then finally down below more detailed
information about the transaction,
including the full amount of the attorney
fee offset then the partial amount
that we entered to issue as a payment.
And lastly the balance that's
remaining after that payment is issued.
And the print also includes the
notes that we entered as well as
the names of those who generated
and authorized the transaction.
And all of this information will be.
Mostly identical for the other
new transaction, the O6J3,
which again is for returning
the offset to appropriation.
Now the only difference on that
is that the well, first of all,
it is a participant only transaction.
You cannot process a vendor O6J3.
And also that transaction
does not require notes.
Aside from that,
the steps to follow as well as
the appearance of the physical
print are all identical with the
O6J1 which we just reviewed.
Now the next item I would like to cover
is what happens if the award offset,
balance amount needs to be corrected.
So that is a difficult topic to cover because
there are a lot of variables to discuss.
So if. There comes a case where this
amount that was offset is incorrect.
I might I would definitely suggest reaching
out to your first line supervisor for advice,
but on top of that I would also recommend
opening a finance case or fire ticket
for additional inputs just to make sure
that whatever the fix is is going to
be behaving as expected before it's
actually implemented in production.
So typically though,
once this offset has occurred from the award,
it is set in stone.
So if we were to head back to VBMS-A
AI and process a new award where we
go back to the award adjustments tab
where the attorney fee was entered,
that attorney fee cannot be edited
from that screen.
It cannot be increased, it cannot be removed,
cannot be reduced.
So that is then historical information.
So if an additional attorney.
The amount needs to be in place.
Another award would need to be processed
with that additional attorney fee
amount entered on a separate line.
Now if it needed,
if the attorney fee amount needed
to be reduced,
that is what the O6J3 transaction is for.
So you would just return that
partial amount to appropriation
and release the correct amount as a
payment with the O6J1 transaction.
But again,
if there are any Gray areas in those
scenarios which we all know are very common,
once again I would encourage anybody
to go ahead and submit the fire.
Tickets so it can be reviewed by
the Central Office team for input.
And.
All that being said of that concludes
the demonstration of the new attorney fee
functionality here in VBMS and eMPWR.
So if there are any concerns
or questions again with those,
I would also encourage the submission
of a fire ticket or finance case
for review and response by the
Central Office here.
And we do hope that this new functionality
is very helpful and improves the
quality of life for anybody who uses it.
And I would think.
Well, thank you all for viewing this demo.