Hona for Filevine firms

Hona works alongside Filevine. Filevine stays the system of record for every project. Hona is the system of action: its AI case agent, Lia, runs your firm's playbooks to do the follow-up work of personal injury pre-litigation, from intake through treatment, records, settlement and payout, and logs what happened back to the Filevine project.

How does Hona work with Filevine?

Hona connects to Filevine through a Hona service account, reads each project, works it with the client and their medical providers, and writes the results back to the project. When a project changes phase, Hona moves the client's case tracker, sends the update you wrote for that phase, and starts the playbook for that phase.

Filevine stays the source of truth for case and contact data. Your team keeps working in Filevine, and the project gets more complete, because every client conversation lands on it. Activity from Hona is logged in Filevine under the Hona service account, so anyone reading the project can see what came from Hona.

Hona can also create Filevine tasks from Hona triggers, so a form submission, a finished call or a phase change puts work on the right person's list in Filevine. Hona automations can also create a Filevine contact and project from a new lead, and create a Filevine trust check request when a Hona Disbursement changes status.

What syncs between Filevine and Hona?

How does Hona log activity in Filevine?

• Texts. Hona keeps one threaded note per project for texts, tagged #HonaSMS, and adds each text, Lia's included, as a comment on it. The note is pinned to the project by default, and your Hona account manager can turn pinning off.
• Notifications and forms. Phase updates, form and e-signature requests, review requests and form submissions are logged as notes tagged #Hona. Firms can add their own suffix to the tags, or tag form submissions #HonaForms.
• Calls. When the AI Receptionist takes a call from a caller Hona matches to a case, the call summary is logged as a phone call note on the project.
• Documents. Files from texts, forms and e-signatures upload to the project's documents. Your firm can name a folder, and Hona uploads into the matching folder on each project.
• Who it comes from. Everything is logged under the Hona service account, so your team can tell Hona activity from their own.

What is a Hona playbook?

A Hona playbook is your firm's standard operating procedure, written so Lia can run it. It says when it starts, such as a project entering a phase; what Lia does, in plain language; and when it stops, such as records received or a person on your team taking over.

Escalation rules live inside the playbook, written the way you would say them: "Escalate to the case owner, high priority, when the client mentions a new injury."

Hona ships standard playbooks for care coordination, provider follow-up and escalations. Hona's forward-deployed team builds custom playbooks with your firm, and your team can read and change any playbook in plain language.

How does Hona work alongside Filevine at each stage of pre-litigation?

1. Intake and sign-up

The jobs are to answer every call, qualify the lead, capture the facts, get the retainer signed, and open the project.

• Hona's AI Receptionist answers calls around the clock in 31 languages, screens new injury callers, and sends your team a transcript and summary of every call.
• A Hona automation can create a Filevine task when a call ends or an intake form comes in, with the call transcript or form answers in the task, so your intake team follows up from Filevine.
• A Hona automation can create the new lead as a Filevine contact and, if you choose, a new project with its project type, phase, name, incident date, description and intake fields, so nobody types it in twice.
• Intake forms go out by text with e-signature, and Lia's intake playbook follows up until the documents you need arrive.
• Once the project is open in Filevine with Hona Enabled set to yes, it syncs into Hona under the project type you mapped.

2. Onboarding the client

The jobs are to explain what happens next, gather the accident details, insurance information and list of providers, and get authorizations signed.

• Forms collect the details by text. Answers you map update fields on the Filevine project, and each submission is logged as a note. Answers can also add or update items in a Filevine collection.
• Photos, police reports and signed documents arrive as documents on the project.
• The client gets a case tracker that shows their Filevine phase in plain language. No app is required. Updates arrive by text with a link.

3. Getting the client through medical treatment

The jobs are to remind clients about appointments, confirm they went, catch new providers, check in between visits, and catch gaps before they form.

• Lia's care coordination playbook texts and emails clients appointment reminders, follows up after each visit to confirm attendance and pick up new providers, checks in between visits, and can call a client to schedule an appointment when your firm turns calling on.
• If a client misses an appointment and cannot be reached, or mentions symptoms nobody is treating, Lia escalates to your team with the reason, what she already tried, and a priority.
• Every text Lia sends and receives is logged to the Filevine project, so anyone who opens it sees the conversation.
• In Lia's beta, appointments Lia tracked to resolution had 86% attendance, against a typical healthcare rate of about 70%.

4. Collecting bills and records from providers

The jobs are to confirm visits, request itemized bills and records, and follow up until everything arrives.

• Lia's provider follow-up playbook emails provider offices for attendance, itemized bills, balances, CPT and ICD codes, letter of protection status and medical records, using the client's signed HIPAA authorization.
• She keeps following up until the office answers. Results land on the Treatment tab in Hona, and when your firm wants, the playbook has Lia update the Filevine record too.
• A Hona automation can create a Filevine task when a document arrives, so someone on your team reviews it.

5. Client updates when a project changes phase

The jobs are to tell the client when the case moves, answer "where's my case?", and keep them engaged through the long quiet stretches.

• When a project moves to a new phase in Filevine, the nightly sync picks it up. Hona moves the client's case tracker, sends the update you wrote for that phase, and starts the playbook for that phase.
• When a client should hear right away, staff can sync that one project by hand for an immediate update.
• Lia answers client texts at any hour from your FAQs and phase descriptions.
• Drip messages keep clients engaged while a project sits in one phase.

6. Building the demand

The jobs are to confirm treatment is complete, gather final bills and records, and collect anything else the demand needs.

• When a client texts that they are done treating, Lia records it, and the text is logged to the project.
• The provider follow-up playbook collects final bills and records.
• Lia chases the client for what is still missing, and the files arrive as documents on the Filevine project.

7. Negotiation

The jobs are to keep the client informed while offers go back and forth, and get the client's decision on each offer.

• Phase updates keep the client informed without a phone call.
• Questions about case value, settlement or timing go to your attorney every time. Lia escalates them and does not answer them.
• Your attorney talks the client through each offer in the same text thread, which is logged to the project.

8. Settlement payouts

The jobs are to pay the client, pay medical providers and lien holders, and answer "where's my money?"

• Hona Disbursements, powered by Confido Legal, pays your client, medical providers, lien holders and other vendors from Hona.
• Drafting and approving a payout are separate permissions, and an approver at your firm releases every payout.
• A Hona automation can create a trust check request on the Filevine project when a client disbursement changes status, with the amount and payee filled in, and can send it straight to Filevine's check queue.
• The client gets a secure link in the same text thread, verifies their identity, and chooses an instant payout to a debit card or free direct deposit.

9. Closing out

The jobs are to ask for a review and measure how the client felt about the case.

• Review requests and NPS surveys go out automatically when a case reaches the phase you choose.
• A reputation dashboard tracks the results.

Why does the follow-up matter so much?

Most personal injury claims are won or lost before anyone files a lawsuit. An Insurance Research Council study of auto injury claims, published in July 2026, found that about 4 in 5 claimants resolved without a lawsuit. Represented claims took a median of about 440 days, and total payments ran about $2 for every $1 of medical bills.

That makes the treatment record the center of the case, and it takes more than a year of steady follow-up to build. Filevine holds the record. Lia does the follow-up that fills it in.

How do you set up Hona with Filevine?

An admin with Hona admin access and Filevine Account Admin access sets up the integration.

1. Activate Hona in Filevine. In Filevine, open Advanced, then Integrations, find Hona, and click Activate.
2. Create a service account and token. In Advanced, then Service Accounts, create a service account of type Hona with all permissions. Then create a Personal Access Token named Hona for that service account, with every scope except Payments API Access. Save the token secret before you close the window, and extend the token to its longest expiration, about a year.
3. Connect. In Hona, open Company Settings, then Integrations, and click Connect on the Filevine tile. Choose your Filevine region, United States or Canada, paste the token, and enter your subdomain: the part of your Filevine address before .filevineapp.com.
4. Choose project types. Hona lists your Filevine project types. Select the ones to bring into Hona.
5. Set up Hona Enabled for each project type. Pick the Filevine field that decides which projects sync, or create one: in Filevine, open Advanced, then Customs Editor, choose the project type, and add a Yes/No field named Hona Enabled to a regular section, not a collection. Making it required means no project slips through unset. Then mark which of its values sync. A blank value, or any value you did not mark, keeps the project out of Hona.
6. Map contacts. Hona maps the Filevine project type and phase and the standard project and main-contact fields for you. Add any other contacts, from parties or form fields, with their roles, and map the team and followers if you want them.
7. Set up project types and phases. For each Hona project type, list the Filevine values it covers, then give each phase at least one Filevine trigger. Phase names must match Filevine exactly, and a Filevine phase can belong to only one Hona phase in a project type. Syncing stays paused until this is done; then turn syncing on for each mapping.
8. Test a project. Use the preview tool to check a few projects, then sync a test project by hand and check that it lands under the right project type and phase.
9. Go live. When you are ready, your Hona onboarding or account manager sets the integration to Active, and nightly syncs begin.

Set a reminder to renew the Filevine token before it expires. If it lapses, syncing stops until you enter a new one on the Filevine tile.

Your firm can also limit the sync to active Filevine projects.

How does Hona keep your team in control?

Lia works alongside your staff, never around them.

• Lia tells clients she is an AI.
• Lia texts and emails clients, and she can call a client to schedule an appointment when your firm turns calling on.
• She never gives legal advice, medical advice, or an opinion on case value or settlement. She escalates those questions, and any client in distress.
• Proactive messages go out only between 9am and 7pm in your firm's time zone. Lia answers incoming texts at any hour.
• Your team can review Lia's work, pause her, or take over any conversation.
• Lia updates Filevine records only as part of a playbook, and only when your firm wants her to.
• Every text, Lia's included, is logged to the Filevine project, so the record shows what was said.
• Hona is SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA compliant.

The takeaway

Keep Filevine. It is the record of every project, and it is good at that. Add Hona to do the work a record cannot: reach out first, follow up, notice when a client goes quiet, and hand your team what needs a person, as a Filevine task when you want one. Every text, note and file lands back on the Filevine project. Your playbooks already describe the work. Lia runs them.

Book a demo to see Lia run your playbooks on projects from your Filevine account.

Frequently asked questions

Does Hona replace Filevine?

No. Filevine stays the system of record for every project. Hona connects to Filevine, does the client and provider follow-up through its AI case agent Lia, and logs texts, notifications and client files back to the project.

What does Hona write back to Filevine?

Every text with the client, Lia's included, is logged to the project. Notification history and form submissions are logged as notes, client files arrive as documents, and form answers you map update project fields. Hona automations can create Filevine tasks, and Lia can update Filevine records as part of a playbook when your firm wants her to.

Which Filevine projects sync to Hona?

Projects with the Hona Enabled field set to yes. Each project's Filevine project type sets its Hona project type, and its phase sets its Hona phase and the client's case tracker.

Can Hona create tasks in Filevine?

Yes. A Hona automation can create a Filevine task when a message comes in, a form is submitted, a call ends, a project enters or leaves a phase, a task is created or completed, or a document arrives. You set the subject, details, due date and assignee, and you can pull in details from the trigger, such as a call transcript.

Can Hona create projects in Filevine?

Yes. A Hona automation can create a Filevine contact from a new lead, such as an AI Receptionist call or a chatbot form, and optionally a new project with the project type, phase, name, incident date, description and intake fields you set.

Does Hona Disbursements work with Filevine trust accounting?

Yes. A Hona automation can create a Filevine trust check request on the project when a client disbursement changes status, filled in with the amount and payee, and can send it straight to Filevine's check queue.

Where do Hona's texts appear in Filevine?

In one threaded note per project tagged #HonaSMS, with each text as a comment. The note is pinned by default. Notifications and form submissions are separate notes tagged #Hona.

How quickly does a phase change in Filevine reach the client?

Hona picks up phase changes on its nightly sync, and the update goes to the client the next day. Staff can sync one project by hand for an immediate update.

Why did syncing stop?

The most common cause is an expired Filevine Personal Access Token. Create a new token for the Hona service account in Filevine, then enter it on the Filevine tile in Hona.

Does Lia give legal or medical advice?

No. Lia never gives legal advice, medical advice, or an opinion on case value or settlement. She escalates those questions to your team, and she tells clients she is an AI.