A complete walkthrough of what affiliates are, how to configure them, and how they can help you
An affiliate is another company that you roll calls to, or that you receive rolled calls from. These might be other EMS and fire responders, or call centers, or trip brokers. Another word for these counterparties is "vendors".
If you do not have any affiliates, they can be very beneficial. Click the link to learn why.
Roll-To Relationships
AngelTrack can handle all of the following types of relationship with the affiliates to whom you delegate calls:
| Relationship | Explanation | Affiliate settings |
|---|---|---|
| Close subcontractor | You delegate a transport to them. They perform the transport, reporting their leg times and call completion to your dispatchers. Afterward they invoice you directly for the service. You handle billing the insurance, facility, and/or patient. |
☑ Progress reports ☐ Independent billing |
| Remote subcontractor | You delegate a transport to them. They perform the transport WITHOUT reporting anything to your dispatchers. Afterward they invoice you directly for the service. You handle billing the insurance, facility, and/or patient. |
☐ Progress reports ☐ Independent billing |
| Close peer | You delegate a transport to them. They perform the transport, reporting their leg times and call completion to your dispatchers. Afterward, they handle billing the insurance, facility, and/or the patient. |
☑ Progress reports ☑ Independent billing |
| Remote peer | You delegate a transport to them. They perform the transport WITHOUT reporting anything to your dispatchers. Afterward, they handle billing the insurance, facility, and/or the patient. |
☐ Progress reports ☑ Independent billing |
When a dispatch is delegated to an affiliate, AngelTrack's Postprocess Workflow automatically places the dispatch within the workflow according to the settings you specify for the affiliate (using the Affiliate Edit page).
Roll-to affiliates can have any service level and any hours of operation. Their capabilities and hours are recorded in AngelTrack, which uses the information to constrain which dispatches can be assigned to them.
Automatic notification messages
If the affiliate has an email address, then AngelTrack's messaging system can automatically send dispatch information to the affiliate whenever your dispatcher delegates a call to them. It also sends messages to notify them of changes and cancellations. All you must do is input the affiliate's email address into the Messaging section of the Delegation tab in the affiliate's record.
If the affiliate runs AngelTrack, then your AngelTrack server can automatically transmit the trip data to their AngelTrack server. To learn how to set this up, refer to the Affiliate Server to Server Delegation Guide.
Pre-assigning a future dispatch to an affiliate
Using the 'Assign' link in the Schedule, you can pre-assign a dispatch to an affiliate far in advance of the actual activation date. The dispatch's activation date and time remain unchanged. The affiliate is immediately notified of the assignment. The affiliate will not receive any further emails from AngelTrack about the dispatch (unless you un-assign it), so pre-assigned dispatches may need to be confirmed by telephone on the day of.
☑ Progress reports
If an affiliate is configured to give you ☑ Progress reports, then there will probably need some form of protocl for these updates. Perhaps you can issue them a push-to-talk device, or set them up a VoIP account. AngelTrack expects the following events:
- going enroute
- arriving onscene
- commencing transport, along with odometer start reading
- arrival at destination, along with odometer end reading
- back in service, along with patient disposition
As these reports arrive, your dispatcher uses the 
button to record the affiliate's progress.
If an affiliate does not give progress reports, then any dispatch assigned to them will be automatically closed at that time, on the understanding that you are not going to hear back from them.
Getting odometer readings without using ☑ Progress reports
If your affiliate does not provide progress reports, then you must deal with the matter of odometer readings, which are normally needed when billing for a transport.
You can arrange for the affiliate to phone in -- or fax over -- all odometer readings each evening, and type these into the Followup page for each delegated dispatch.
Charging a bounty for referrals
If you delegate a large number of calls to other services and receive a bounty for each referral, and if some of the referred patients are covered by Medicare, Medicaid, VA, and other federal programs, then you are subject to the Anti-Kickback Statute. Before beginning operations, consider reading the linked document, and make sure you consult your legal team to verify that your referral/bounty program complies with those regulations.
AngelTrack's billing system does not manage the collection of bounties for you, but it does provide a report specifically intended to help you do this: the Delegation History Report under Dispatch Home has flexible filters to assist you in zooming in to the list of calls you sent to each affiliate. From there, simply export the grid to your spreadsheet, and calculate the bounty in the spreadsheet.
Roll-to affiliates can use the customer portal
Any roll-to affiliate can use the customer portal to look in at their call schedule, using any internet-connected computer or mobile device. If the affiliate sends in ☑ Progress reports, then the customer portal behaves just like a dispatch board, showing active and upcoming calls and the crews' progress. Affiliates that do not report their progress can also use the customer portal, which will show them one chart of all today's calls and then another chart of all future calls.
To learn more, read the Customer Portal guide.
Roll-From Relationships
A dispatch rolled to your service from an affiliate is booked normally and dispatched normally, appearing on the dispatch board just like any other dispatch. The only difference is in the dispatch's billing settings:
| Relationship | Explanation | Billing settings |
|---|---|---|
| Remote subcontractor | They delegate a transport to you, and you perform the transport. Afterward you invoice them directly for the service, for which they have guaranteed payment. They handle billing the insurance, facility, and/or patient. |
☐ Bill insurance ☐ Bill facility ☑ Bill affiliate ☐ Bill patient |
| Remote peer | They delegate a transport to you, and you perform the transport. Afterward you handle billing the insurance, facility, and/or patient. The affiliate does not guarantee payment. |
☑ Bill insurance ☑ Bill facility ☐ Bill affiliate ☑ Bill patient |
Rolled-from dispatches pass through QA and the postprocess workflow normally, like any other dispatch. When ☑ Bill affiliate is set, there is an Invoice Generator for affiliates, and affiliates can run a ledger balance month-over-month just like facilities do.
Ending a Relationship with an Affiliate
If and when you cease doing business with an affiliate, mark the affiliate record inactive. We strongly recommend against reusing the record for a different affiliate company, or delete any information from it; the information can remain permanently in the affiliate's inactive record for future reference.
Reporting on Affiliate Financial Activity / Vendor Billing Reports
AngelTrack has several ways of viewing and analyzing your financial activity with an affiliate...
To see all outstanding balances for all affiliates, use the Affiliates With a Balance report under Billing Home. The Invoice Generator for Affiliates can provide the same data in its preview.
To review all past payments to or from a specific affiliate, visit your Affiliates List, click on the affiliate in question, switch to the Payments tab, and use the date filters to set a date range. You can then drop the results to Excel for further analysis.
To review all past and current invoices for a specific affiliate, visit your Affiliates List, click on the affiliate in question, switch to the Invoices, and use the filters to select which invoices status (open / paid / unpaid / cancelled / sold) you wish to see.
To review all past payments to or from all affiliates, use the Payment Event Finder and filter by counterparty.
To review all past and current invoices for all affiliates, use the Invoices List and filter by counterparty.
You can also use Report Builder to roll your own reports on affiliate financial activity, using these data categories:
- Dispatches | Dispatches-Financial | datafields "Bill To Affiliate" and "Payments From Affiliate"
- Payment Events | PaymentEvents-NonZero | datafields "Counterparty Type" and "Counterparty Name"