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In this issue:
FootholdConnect Events
User's Conference
What's New in AWARDS
This Month in HMIS
Tip of the Month - Using Dynamic Filters in ReportBuilders
Foothold News & Blog
For more information on upcoming FootholdConnect events, please go to FootholdConnect on the AWARDS Home screen's navigation bar, or visit the Upcoming Events page of the Foothold Technology web site. And don't forget... If you've missed any recent FootholdConnect events, you can access the recordings for those in Online Help here!
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Tickets on Sale Now!
This year's User's Conference will take place on Thursday, June 28th, 2018 in New York.
When thinking about our 11th annual User's Conference, the Foothold Team asked ourselves, what do we really want our clients to gain from this daylong conference? We want our clients to learn - to learn how to become better AWARDS users and, with that knowledge, become stronger agencies as a whole. So we're headed back to the classroom with our 2018 User's Conference: AWARDS U! As a whole, the conference will remain almost identical to those of previous years: breakout sessions, multiple networking opportunities with other AWARDS users and Foothold staff, and a couple of fun surprises along the way. However, our sessions are being designed to maximize participants' tangible takeaways, and we'll be foregoing our morning keynote address in order to accommodate an even wider array of topics.
The biggest difference will be our brand new virtual experience, which we are very excited about. In an effort to make the User's Conference as accessible to you as possible, we're introducing a way for you to attend sessions without leaving the comfort and convenience of your desks. This year, all of our breakout sessions will be live streamed and accessible with purchase of a virtual ticket. We're hoping this allows more of our clients to participate than ever before, so if you aren't able to join us in person, we hope you can join us online.
For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.
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As we have done in previous months, we are continuing to make available a new set of useful features and functions to users of AWARDS. As always, this round of upgrades is provided free of charge to all AWARDS users and is described below. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask your local Help Desk or your Foothold Customer Success representative. We hope these enhancements improve the way you use AWARDS and provide services!
Deployment Date: 4/4/18
BillingBuilder - Change Healthcare Clearinghouse
Foothold Technology is proud to announce our new partnership with Change Healthcare Clearinghouse. This partnership will allow agencies who use BillingBuilder to transmit 837 claim files directly from AWARDS to Change Healthcare, and receive 835 remittance files directly from Change Healthcare into AWARDS. This connection removes the need to store these types of files on a user's device. In addition, your agency's claim submission and adjudication process will become more streamlined, resulting in faster claim responses. This connection will also give you access to the Change Healthcare Portal, which contains powerful data tracking and reporting capabilities.
We do anticipate a large number of BillingBuilder clients choosing to utilize this connection, so all clients will be implemented on a first come, first served basis.
To learn more about this connection as well as the associated cost, please visit AWARDS online help using the links below.
New BillingBuilder Clients - BillingBuilder - Service Agreement & Readiness Checklist
Existing BillingBuilder Clients - BillingBuilder - Clearinghouse Add-On for Existing Customers
To learn more about Change Healthcare Clearinghouse, please use the links below.
www.changehealthcare.com/provider-solutions
BillingBuilder - UB-04 Formatting Options
New Configure Billing Type options are now available to allow formatting changes to the paper UB-04 claim form. Agencies now have the ability to omit the ICD-10 code currently being reported in box 67A as well as the ability to omit the Rate/Procedure Code data being reported in box 44.
Central Intake - Make Placement Enhancements / New Permission
Users can now make referrals into projects to which they do not have chart access. Previously, the Make Placements drop-down on the Face Sheet only listed programs the user had chart access to. Now the user will see all the programs affiliated with the Central Intake program (based on settings in Agency Program Information). If the user chooses to make a placement into a program they DO have chart access to, they will be taken to the admission form to complete the placement. If the user chooses to make a placement into a program they do NOT have access to, AWARDS will ask him/her if they wish to make a referral by sending out an audit message to users who have the new Internal Audit Central Intake Placement Requests permission. That message, if sent, contains a link allowing the recipients to complete the placement process.
TIP: If there is no user with the new Central Intake Placement Requests permission, then the audit message referenced here will not be sent and the user making the referral will be told that a referral cannot be made at this time. As a result, in order for this functionality to work well it's important that designated users be given the permission ahead of time.
Cloning - Enhancement
HMIS Administrators now have greater control over which data elements will clone when using the Intake Cloning functionality. In addition to the current options that let you exclude "Special Needs" and "Homeless Cause" from cloning, databases can now also exclude specific HOPWA data elements, RHY data elements, and Living Situation data elements. The restrictions can be implemented database-wide or on a program-by-program basis. Contact the Help Desk or your Customer Success Representative for assistance in making these changes.
Education/Training Enrollments - New Format
The Employment > Education/Training > Enrollments feature now has a new look as we continue to develop the new navigation and usability of AWARDS. Changes to the feature include:
Program and Client drop-downs - New Program and Client drop-downs have been added to the index page, allowing users to make these selections right on the index. Once a client is selected, the index will refresh and display records for that individual. These drop-downs will be in read-only mode while data entry is occurring within a record (either editing or creating a new record). To display a list of discharged clients, click the Archives toggle to the right of the client selection drop-down.
Action icons moved - The Edit, View, Delete, and Add New icons have been moved to an action bar that appears above the index. Radio buttons appear next to each enrollment record to allow users to select which record they would like to take action on. Clicking on an individual record from the index will also open the record in data entry/edit mode.
Search field added - A new Search field also appears on the action bar, which allows users to quickly search the contents of the index. A Filter By drop-down list compliments the Search, allowing users to search the contents of "All Columns" (the default) or a specific column.
Refine bar added to index - By default the index now displays a client's "Current" enrollment records, which either do not have an end date or the end date is in the future. To expand the display to include a client's past enrollments, use the All selection option under "Show Records" in the left-hand menu.
Link to ReportBuilder added - A link to the Education/Training Enrollments ReportBuilder has been added to the left-hand menu bar.
Education/Training Facilities - New Format and Added Status Selection
The Employment > Education/Training > Facilities feature now has a new look as we continue to develop the new navigation and usability of AWARDS. Changes to the feature include:
Action icons moved - The Edit, View, Delete, and Add New icons have been moved to an action bar that appears above the index. Radio buttons appear next to each facility record to allow users to select which record they would like to take action on. Clicking on an individual record from the index will also open the record in data entry/edit mode.
Search field added - A new Search field also appears on the action bar, which allows users to quickly search the contents of the index. A Filter By drop-down list compliments the Search, allowing users to search the contents of "All Columns" (the default) or a specific column.
Status field added - A new Status field has been added to the facility record in data entry mode, allowing users to set a facility record to one of the following:
Active - When selected, the facility will be available for assignment to clients under Employment > Education/Training > Enrollments.
Inactive - When selected, the facility will be unavailable during data entry while working with clients under Employment > Education/Training Enrollments. It will continue to be shown in related previously saved records and reports.
Refine bar expanded - By default the index displays all facilities with an "Active" status. To expand or limit the display, use the selection options under "Show Records" in the left-hand menu: All, Inactive, and Available for Deletion. (Facilities can only be deleted when there are no Education/Training Enrollments records associated with them.)
Link to ReportBuilder added - A link to the Education/Training Facilities ReportBuilder has been added to the left-hand menu bar.
FormBuilder - Enhancements
As part of our ongoing efforts to make the FormBuilder functionality as useful and user-friendly as possible, the following enhancements have been made:
FormBuilder Configuration
Updated Form Location Names - The names of several form locations have been updated to more accurately reflect their location in AWARDS; specifically, their presence on menu fly-outs as opposed to on the module menu pages where they previously resided earlier this year. These updated names are also reflected on the forms index within the FormBuilder Configuration feature.
Commonly Used "Advanced Settings" Relocated - When configuring a form many of the settings specific to the selected field type were previously accessible only upon clicking an Advanced Settings link at the top of the page. Now the most commonly used of those "advanced" settings are displayed on the Add/Update a Form Field page by default, streamlining the configuration process.
Assessment Coding and FIeld Transformation (Meaningful Use) - In preparation for the release of the Meaningful Use 2015 Edition, two configuration changes have been made; specifically:
LOINC and SNOMED Code Fields - The bottom of the "General" tab during FormBuilder Configuration now includes a "Codes" section, with fields for LOINC and SNOMED. These fields are designed to provide users with the opportunity to attach medical coding to FormBuilder forms for the purpose of reporting, such as the Meaningful Use Dashboard > Quality Measure report.
Field Transformation Option - The Add/Update a Form Field page accessed when working with form fields during the configuration process now includes a Field Transformation option if the field type has been set to "Selection List" or "Radio." This option, which contains a selection for "Assessment Result," will, when set, let AWARDS pull the correct medical coding into Meaningful Use reports. These fields will also be present on the FormBuilder ReportBuilder in the event an agency uses them for non-Meaningful Use functions and still needs reporting capability.
Form Data Entry
Index Sorting Change - For forms accessible from menu fly-outs, the form index was previously sorted chronologically with the oldest at the top and the most recent at the bottom. Now that sorting has been reversed so that the most recently completed form will always be listed at the top of the index. This change impacts the following form locations:
Employee - as a button on the Human Resources Menu
Employment - as a link on the Jobs fly-out
Services - as a link on the Services - Individual fly-out
Discharge - as a link on the Discharge fly-out
Medical - as a link on the Medical fly-out
HMIS - Client Location (Continuum of Care) for Multi-Step Intake Programs
Client Location (Continuum of Care) is now available in the Demographics section for HMIS programs set to use Multi-Step Intake. This will allow users to make changes to Client Location without re-processing admission.
Home Screen - Census Module Menu Fly-Outs & Reports Module Additions
As part of our ongoing series of improvements to the look and feel of AWARDS, we've been replacing standard module menu pages in AWARDS with menu fly-outs. These changes were deployed for Charts modules in December 2017, and are now being deployed for Census modules as of April 4th 2018. Each module that has been transitioned to the new menu fly-out structure will, when clicked from the Home screen, display a menu list containing all features located within that module. Clicking a feature from the list takes you directly to the next screen in the selected feature’s data entry workflow - be it an index, settings page, client selection page, or otherwise.
NOTE: These changes impact only the Profile, Housing, and Discharge census modules; Intake/Admission and Transfers are not affected.
As part of these enhancements, several new reports have been added to the Reports module, located in the AWARDS navigation bar; specifically, all ReportBuilders and Housing reports previously accessed through the menu pages in impacted Census modules are now be available via the Reports module instead.
For more resources and information on these enhancements, please review the updated Where Do I Find... document. It details some new feature locations (for instance, reports that are now located in the Reports module) and other items that you may have questions about as you navigate through AWARDS using the menu fly-outs.
Nightly Absences - Now Configurable
The following updates have been made to data entry and billing components of the optional Nightly Absences functionality for agencies that use it:
The list of statuses is now configurable by program type.
For each program type, users can designate which status(es) indicate Present, Hospitalized, or Other. They can also identify which Present status will be the default, and which Hospitalized status will be the default if there is a Hospitalization record present.
Configured statuses can be linked to BillingBuilder procedures.
Once an invoice has been posted in BillingBuilder, it will be locked from changes in data entry mode.
To configure this area of AWARDS, please contact your Foothold Customer Success representative.
Program Status - New Format
The Services-Individual > Program Status feature now has a new look as we continue to develop the new navigation and usability of AWARDS. Changes to the feature include:
Program drop-down - A new Program drop-down has been added to the index page, allowing users to make this selection right on the index. Once a program is selected, the index will refresh and display program status records for that program. This drop-down will be in read-only mode while data entry is occurring within a record (either editing or creating a new record).
Action icons moved - The Edit, View, Delete, and Add New icons have been moved to an action bar that appears above the index. Radio buttons appear next to each program status record to allow users to select which record they would like to take action on. Clicking on a program status record from the index will also open the record in data entry/edit mode.
Refine Bar Added to Index - A new refine bar has been added to the left side of the index page, which allows users to toggle between viewing All records and Current records.
Search field added - A new Search field also appears on the action bar, which allows users to quickly search the contents of the index. A Filter By drop-down list compliments the Search, allowing users to search the contents of "All Columns" (the default) or a specific column.
Link to ReportBuilder added - A link to the Program Status ReportBuilder has been added to the index, on the left-hand menu bar.
SSVF Projects - Employment Status Requirement
"Employment Status" is now a required option in all SSVF projects.
System Performance Measures Report - Enhancements
The System Performance Measures report found in HMIS databases can now be run for single programs and custom groupings, as well as by Continuum of Care. (When the report is run for a single program or custom grouping the first two questions in the report will be unavailable since those questions rely on looking at an entire Continuum of Care.)
In addition, Measure 7b1 was revised to include additional destinations as positive outcomes, based on the updated Appendix found in the System Performance Measures report specifications.
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Uploading to an HMIS? Get ready for some changes.
In a few months we're going to be releasing our "Delta Refresh" project which will allow databases to upload back and forth to one another for the purposes of Coordinated Entry. Before that project can be released it is going to be critical that all one-button upload users make sure their full census is being uploaded error-free ahead of time. Double-check the last upload that you performed by going to the Messages module and reading the Upload Results messages. If there was a Validation Error attachment please read that attachment carefully and make sure you correct all of the errors found in the message. Later this month we're going to be releasing some enhancements to the One-Button Upload feature to make the error messages more user friendly, and we'll be requiring that all validation errors are fixed before an upload can proceed. We'll be sending out more details about this process in the upcoming weeks. We will also be scheduling a webinar to explain how to fix the most common validation errors and how to prepare for the Delta Refresh project.
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Tip of the Month - Using Dynamic Filters on ReportBuilders
Did you know...
...that the filter options in ReportBuilders are a great way to narrow down the scope of a report? One of the most common uses for filters is to place limits on date fields; for example, if you want a report that shows you notes written since January 1st, you can add a filter that days “Contact Date is Greater Than or Equal to 1/1/2018.” But what if you want that date to change? For instance, you may want a report to show you all of the notes that were written in the last two weeks, regardless of when you choose to run that report; that's where dynamic date filters come in!
AWARDS allows you to add filter options on date fields that include keywords such as "days," "weeks," "months," and "years," as well as qualifiers such as "next" and "last." AWARDS will also recognize days of the week and months of the year. You can place a number in front of any of those keywords and use plus or minus signs to specify whether you want the filter to go in the future or in the past that many units.
Here are some examples of filters you can use that take advantage of these dynamic options:
- Admission Date is Greater Than or Equal to "-2 Weeks" (will show all clients admitted in the past two weeks)
- Date Modified is Between "-30 Days" and "-7 Days" (will show notes modified more than 7 days ago, but less than 30 days ago)
- Contact Date equals "Last Tuesday" (will show you notes with a date equal to the previous Tuesday)
We encourage you to experiment with different filters and see what you can come up with - it has the potential to add a whole new "dynamic" to your use of ReportBuilders!
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Check out the latest in Foothold news and recent entries from the Foothold blog!
MHY Family Services in Pennsylvania: An Animated and Welcoming Approach to Change
THINK TANK | Value-Based Care: The New Healthcare Landscape
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