How-To for advocates

Getting started (onboarding)

The short version: request a seat at /for-advocates, get approved, sign in, set your organization's shared settings once, and invite your team.

Requesting a seat and getting approved

An "organization" is whatever you work under — a solo practice counts as an organization of one. Pick the role that best describes you: Independent advocate, Care manager, Attorney / legal practice, SHIP counselor, Long-term care ombudsman, Legal aid organization, Nonprofit / community organization, Facility (nursing home, assisted living, hospital). Four of those roles (SHIP counselor, Long-term care ombudsman, Legal aid organization, Nonprofit / community organization) are free, permanently, for every seat at your organization. The rest are free through the founding pilot (through 2027-02-28), then $99/month per active seat.

Your organization, your seat, and your profile

Settings split by what's genuinely shared versus what's genuinely yours. Under Your profile, there's exactly one field: your representative name, the one used on CMS-1696/SSA-1696. Under Organization, everything your whole team shares — letterhead, reply-to address, time zone, and your book of record (see the next section) — set once by whoever signs up first (the organization's owner), inherited automatically by everyone they invite.

Inviting your team

Riverside Elder Law has three attorneys. Maria signs up first and becomes the organization's owner; she sets the firm's Clio link pattern once, then invites David and Priya from Settings → Organization → Invite. Each of them signs in with the link CaseWhy emails them and types only their own representative name — nobody re-enters the firm's Clio pattern, letterhead, or time zone.

Subscribing your calendar

Every deadline across your caseload, in the calendar app you already use, via one ICS feed link from your Organization settings.

Linking your system of record

Choosing your system

Pick from the list, grouped for this audience — not a generic CRM dropdown:

• STARS — SHIP / benefits counseling
• NORS — Long-term care ombudsman
• SAMS / WellSky Aging & Disability — Aging network agency
• Bonterra Apricot — Aging network agency
• Clio — Legal practice
• LegalServer — Legal practice
• MyCase — Legal practice
• Salesforce — General CRM
• Microsoft Dynamics — General CRM
• HubSpot — General CRM
• a Google Sheet or Excel workbook — Spreadsheet
• Other — type your own; it renders exactly as typed in "Open in {name} ↗".

Building your link pattern — worked examples

One click back to your system

"Open in {system} ↗" is a plain link that opens in a new tab. It doesn't share your login with your system of record, and CaseWhy never connects to it directly — you stay signed into your own system exactly as you already are.

Pasting the Desk link back into your own record

Maria copies the case's link from its own page and pastes it into the matter's custom field in Clio — the other half of the two-way link, so anyone working the file in Clio can jump straight into the case's explanation, tracker, and letters.

If your system has no web address to give

STARS and NORS are built for logging a contact or complaint for an annual federal report, not for a browsable per-client record — so most SHIP counselors and ombudsman staff leave the link pattern blank. Your reference number is still searchable on the Desk board either way.

Troubleshooting

"Open in {system} ↗" leads to the wrong record or a 404: check the pattern has exactly one {reference}, check the reference matches your system's own number exactly (including any dashes or leading zeros), and check you're signed into your own system in the same browser.

Bringing in your caseload

Adding one client at a time

For a light caseload, or as new clients come in: sign in and use "Open a case for a client" from your Desk case list.

Importing many at once

Most advocates start with an existing caseload, not zero clients. A CSV import maps your file's own columns to what CaseWhy needs:

After you upload your file, a mapping screen lets you point your own column headers at Label, Reference, and Tags — no fixed template required. Capped at 500 rows per import; a larger caseload imports in batches.

Exporting from your own system first

• Clio: Matters → the list view's own Export button.
• LegalServer: a saved search or report, exported to CSV from its own Reports module.
• Salesforce: a list view's own "Export" action, or a report exported to CSV.
• A spreadsheet: already a CSV, or File → Download → Comma Separated Values.

What the real-name warning means

If most of the values you mapped to Label look like a real first-and-last name rather than a file number, the import screen warns you before proceeding — labels are stored in CaseWhy's system, and a reference number is safer. It's a warning, not a block: you can proceed anyway, since you hold the client relationship and the judgment call.

Working a case, start to finish

A Medicare Advantage rehab denial for "Client 7." One example, carried through every step below.

Opening the case and reading the explanation

Client 7's denial notice is uploaded once; the case reads back why the plan denied the rehab stay under the actual rule, in plain language, with a checkable citation.

Following the tracker

The step table shows exactly what's done and what's next for Client 7's current level — nothing generic, only the steps that actually apply to a rehab denial at this level.

Getting the letter and the filled forms

The appeal letter cites the rule directly; any government form the level requires comes pre-filled from what the case already knows.

Sending it and recording the date

"I sent it" records the filing date, starts the decision clock, and updates Client 7's row on your board.

Adding evidence

Physician statements, records, or anything else the level calls for attach to the same case, checked off as they come in.

Recording the decision and what happens next

Won, upheld and moving to the next level, or no response by the deadline — each path updates Client 7's status and, where it applies, opens the next level's own step table automatically.

For a coverage type you see less often, the full how a Medicare appeal works, step by step guide covers every level in detail, and /plus shows exactly what each packet contains.

Managing your caseload day to day

Reading the board

Filter chips (Open · Due this week · Won · Closed), a find box over reference or tag, and — once your organization has more than one seat — an "Assigned to" filter.

Reminders

Reminders reach the seat a case is assigned to, never the whole organization and never the client. Pause them per case from the case page itself.

Your calendar

One ICS subscription covers every client's deadlines, kept current automatically as cases move.

An overdue case

An overdue deadline tints the row on your board and, where the level allows a late filing for good cause, surfaces that path directly from the case.

Your organization and team

Owner versus member

Assigning cases

Any organization with more than one seat can reassign a case from the case list — useful when a supervisor wants to see who's carrying what without splitting the caseload into separate silos.

Billing

SHIP counselor, Long-term care ombudsman, Legal aid organization, Nonprofit / community organization are free, permanently, for every seat. Independent advocates, care managers, and attorneys are free through the founding pilot (through 2027-02-28), then $99/month per active seat, unlimited cases. Facility pricing hasn't been set yet.

Leaving or closing

A member can leave the organization individually — you lose access, but nothing about the organization changes for anyone else. Closing the organization (an owner-only action) deletes every client, case, and letter under it; your export is offered first.

Records, exports, and privacy

What CaseWhy stores about your clients, plainly

A label, a reference number, tags, and a link — never a real name, never the document text itself past what's needed to draft your letter, and never a Medicare number past redaction.

The professional-use terms, in your own words

Your organization holds the client relationship and their consent. CaseWhy stores no client identity. This isn't a business-associate arrangement, because there's no protected health information on CaseWhy's side to begin with. Read the full professional-use terms.

Exporting your data

A CSV of every client and case (reference, tags, type, level, dates, status, assigned seat — never an identifier), available any time from Settings.

Client identifiers you type at download

Anything you jot down for your own quick reference — a real name, a phone number — stays on your own device only. Check, edit, or forget it any time from the case page; it's never sent to CaseWhy.

Reference

• /forms — every government form CaseWhy fills, by type.
• /plus — packet contents and pricing by coverage type.
• /how-to — how a Medicare appeal works, step by step, for every coverage type.
• /tracker — the public Appeal Tracker demo.
• Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy.

Getting help, and an FAQ for advocates

Email appeals-help@casewhy.com — during the founding pilot, expect a response within one business day. SHIP and QIO contacts are for questions about the rules themselves, not about the product.