In this issue:

FootholdConnect Events
What's New in AWARDS
This Month in HMIS
Tip of the Month - Cross Chart Access Permissions
Foothold News & Blog

FootholdConnect Events

For more information on upcoming FootholdConnect events, please go to the FootholdConnect button on the AWARDS Opening Menu page, 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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What's New in AWARDS

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 Client Services representative.  We hope these enhancements improve the way you use AWARDS and provide services!

Deployment:  August 10, 2016

BillingBuilder - Insurance Authorization Enhancement

To better control the number of units/procedures being invoiced based on an individual consumer's authorization record, AWARDS will now block invoicing when a consumer's authorization has been fully invoiced/billed. To help identify these instances, a new Total Invoiced column has been added to insurance authorization records.  This column will report all posted invoice units or procedures that are associated with a consumer's authorization. Additionally, the Generate Invoices page will indicate when the number of services documented exceeds the number of remaining authorizations, and invoices will be adjusted accordingly.

Daily Checklist - New Location

In an effort to make the Daily Checklist more accessible to users, the button has been moved from under Service Plans onto the Services menu. The Daily Checklist functionality itself has not changed, only the location from which it is accessed. 

Intake/Admission Referral Sources - Enhanced "Agency" Selections

When the "Agency" referral source type is selected while creating referrals and admission records within the Intake/Admission module, two new drop-down options are available on the screen - Referral Agency and Referral Contact. These drop-downs replace the agency search and referral source data entry screen that allowed users to create a new referral agency/contact at the time of saving the referral source.

The contents of the new Referral Agency list are pulled from a new Referral Agencies feature, located under Administration > System Setup. (See the related announcement below for a detailed description of this new feature.)  Once a referral agency is selected, the new Referral Contact selection list will refresh to show all contact names saved for that agency, along with an option for "Unknown."  For easy filtering, a Search text box is provided next to the Referral Agency drop-down, enabling users to filter down the list.  (Note that there may be a brief loading time when using the search feature.)

IMPORTANT!  As a part of these changes new referral agencies and contacts can no longer be created through the referral/admission form; as a result,, we encourage agencies to discuss an internal communication plan for workers to request new agencies and contacts be added by those with access to the new Referral Agencies feature within the System Setup module.

Please note that as a part of these enhancements the Merge Duplicate Sources feature has also been removed from the Intake/Admission Search page, and users with access to this feature will now find it located under System Setup > Referral Agencies > index page.

MAPP Data Sharing for NYS Care Management Agencies

To help NYS Care Management Agencies (CMAs) receive payment for services and track clients in their care coordination programs, Foothold is excited to announce the deployment of two Medicaid Analytics Performance Portal (MAPP) files: the Billing Support Upload File and the Tracking File Segment Record.  CMAs may now extract this data from AWARDS and upload it to MAPP, rather than double entering data in both systems, or keeping the data in MAPP alone.  With the deployment of these files, CMAs are empowered to store and report on their MAPP data in-house.

The MAPP export files work in conjunction with our MAPP import file, which CMAs can use to batch enter thousands of new referrals in AWARDS.  If you are interested in implementing the MAPP import/export package at your agency, please contact your Implementation Consultant or Senior Project Manager.  For those agencies that have implemented the MAPP package, an instruction sheet for it can be found here.

Referral Agencies - New Feature!

A new Referral Agencies feature has been added under Administration to the System Setup module.  This new feature gives users with access to the System Setup module the ability to maintain a list of agencies that are to be used for admission referral sources and outgoing service referrals. The new feature displays all previous referral agency sources, listed alphabetically on an index.  

Within referral agency records in this new feature you will find previously tracked Agency Name, Address, City, State and Zip.  In addition you'll find the following:

• New Admission Referral Source? and Outgoing Service Referral? check boxes - These new option have been added to the agency record, allowing users to designate an agency as one that should only be used as an admission referral source, only as a service referral, or both.   Note that because previously the referral agency list was shared between the two features, both check boxes will be checked by default; to designate some agencies as only one type or the other, uncheck a box as needed. 
• Program Type option relabeled Agency Type - Additionally, note that the selection list for this option may display more choices than there were previously, as configured lists that were program-specific have now been combined to display as agency-wide.
• New data entry fields - Each referral agency record now contains fields for Address 2, Phone, and Notes.
• New Status selection list - This drop-down list contains options for "Active" and "inactive."  Referral agencies that are saved as active are available during the data entry process of an admission referral source or a service referral. Agencies set as inactive are not available during the data entry process, but are still able to be viewed in reports if previously saved as a referral source/service referral. 
• Contacts sub-index - Agency records will contain a sub-index displaying any contacts saved for that agency. Fields/options listed on contact records include: First Name, Last Name, Title, Phone, Fax, Email, and Notes.

In addition, when working with referral agency records please note that:

• Agencies that have been saved as a source within a referral or within a service referral, and agencies with contact records are not eligible for deletion. (However, they can be hidden from future data entry by setting the status to “Inactive” within the agency record.)
• For reporting purposes, a Referral Agencies ReportBuilder has been created, and can be accessed from the Referral Agencies index page in data entry mode, or by going into the Referral Agencies feature in report mode. 
• For users with permission to merge duplicate sources, the Referral Agencies index page in data entry mode includes a Merge Duplicate Sources link.

Service Referrals - New Design Applied

The Service Referrals feature in the Services - Individual module now has a new look as we continue to develop the new navigation and usability of AWARDS. Changes to the feature include the following:

• 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). 
• Link to ReportBuilder - A link to the new Service Referrals ReportBuilder has been added to the index, on the left-hand menu.
• Action icons - The Edit, View, Delete, and Add New icons/link are available on an action bar that appears above the index. Radio buttons appear next to each service referral 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/editing 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 field, allowing users to limit the search to the contents of "All Columns" (the default), "Referral Date," "Purpose/Need," "Referred To," "Disposition," or the "Disposition Date" column. 
• New Searchable Agency List - When creating a new service referral record, the data entry screen displays the "Referred To" field as a searchable text box. As users type the name of an agency within the field, partial matches display beneath the text box, and results narrow as more characters are added. Once the appropriate agency is shown on the list, it can be clicked to select it, and once a selection is made the "Contact" list will refresh to show all contacts at that agency, along with an option for "Unknown." The contents of the Referred To list are pulled from the new Referral Agencies feature, located under Administration > System Setup. (See the related announcement above for a detailed description of this new feature.)
• Other updates to the design include improved navigation tools, such as clickable breadcrumbs at the top of the page, an action bar on data entry pages, and improved index pagination.

IMPORTANT! As a part of these changes, new agencies and contacts can no longer be created through the service referral process; as a result, we encourage agencies to discuss an internal communication plan for workers to request new agencies and contacts be added by those with access to the new Referral Agencies feature within System Setup.

For more information on working with service referral records, please click here to access the corresponding portion of AWARDS Online Help.

Vital Signs - Enhancements

The following enhancements have been made to the Vital Signs feature in the Medical module:

• Better reporting - As always, the Demographics ReportBuilder displays options to include data from client vital sign records; however, now these data variables when included in the report will report out on the most recent value for each selected item separately, rather than reporting the values contained in the most recent vital sign record as a whole. For example, if Height and Weight were saved in a vital sign record on 6/15/16, and then on 7/15/16 a record was added containing Blood Pressure, but Height and Weight were left blank, the Demographics report will display the Height and Weight data collected on 6/15 and the Blood Pressure data collected 7/15.
• Additional data entry fields/options and requirements - A new behind-the-scenes setting is now available that allows agencies to turn several new vital sign data entry fields/options on and off - by request - at the program type level; specifically; 

- Hip Circumference
- Waist Circumference
- Temperature (F)
- Heart Rate
- Respiration
- Pulse Oximetry 
- Inhaled Oxygen
- Glucose (mg/dl)

• Requirement flexibility - Additional flexibility has also been added in setting which fields/options are required during data entry. In the past, agencies had to have at least one specific vital sign field set as required. Now you have the option to make all fields not required (but at least one will have to be entered to save the page).  As with which fields/options are available for data entry, requirement selections are behind-the-scenes and must be required.

For more information on the new data entry fields/options, along with requirement settings, and to submit a change request for your agency, please refer to the "Vital Signs" section of the Medical Module Implementation Requests Form. 

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This Month in HMIS

At the recent National Alliance to End Homelessness conference, HUD's main focus appeared to be on two things: System Performance Measures (SysPM) and Coordinated Entry Systems (CES).  

The deadline for the first SysPM submission is Monday, August 15th. HUD has stressed many times that they don't expect perfect answers this first year and just want communities to turn in whatever they have. They mentioned that this year's submission will not be used as a baseline for future years; instead, it is being treated as somewhat of a pilot to see where communities are in being able to complete the report. System Performance Measures will become more and more important each year, so we will continue to provide guidance and tips on improving your SysPM data. 

Now that SysPM is wrapping up, most CoCs are shifting their focus to completing the NOFA CoC Application and preparing for AHAR. The AHAR report is not going to change this year, so communities can begin looking at their data now.  AHAR looks at Emergency Shelter, Transitional Housing, and Permanent Supportive Housing data from 10/1/2015 to 9/30/2016.  

Meanwhile, we've heard from communities across the country who are all at various stages when it comes to implementing a Coordinated Entry System. Several Foothold clients have been implementing Coordinated Entry for years using the Central Intake projects combined with the VI-SPDAT or other FormBuilder assessments to screen clients and place them in the most appropriate housing. A new AWARDS project to overhaul the Service Referrals module was released on August 10th which should allow Coordinated Entry Systems to complete referrals to outside providers much more easily and provide more robust reporting options on those referrals. Additional customization work is underway now to release a new Waiting List module which should also enhance your CES systems. 

Two new Saved Report Formats in the HMIS ReportBuilder have also been released this month to assist communities that are working on the Zero:2016 initiative to end Chronic and Veterans Homelessness. One format is called "Foothold - By Name List for Veterans" that looks just at veterans, and the other format is called "Foothold - By Name List" that does not include any filters and can be modified as needed. Both report formats include fields from the VI-SPDAT 2.0 for communities that are using those forms.  

Finally, on October 1st, the HMIS Data Standards Critical Changes version 5 will be implemented and users will see some changes to their admission forms. More details about the changes and a schedule of training webinars will be provided next month.  

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Tip of the Month - Cross Chart Access Permissions

Does this tip look familiar?  It was first published in August 2010, but the information is still very much relevant and so we wanted to bring it to the attention of the newest generation of AWARDS users!

Program chart access permissions in AWARDS allow system administrators and supervisors to determine which users have access to specific programs in AWARDS. With these permissions, a user either has complete access to a program or no access at all.  For many this is an ideal configuration.  Some agencies however wish to share some client data between programs when clients have been accepted to multiple programs.  Cross chart access permissions may be the solution.

In general, users see information in the Client History Report only for programs where they have regular chart access.  With cross chart access permission, the Client History Report will also display information about clients' history in additional programs where they don't have regular chart access.  To view this additional information, the user must have regular program chart access permission for at least one of the client's programs.

There are two types of cross chart access permissions:  specific and global.  The specific-type configuration allows supervisors to select which charts should be accessible to an individual users by means of a "Cross Chart Access" permission type.  Alternatively, the global-type configuration gives access to information on the Client History Report for shared clients automatically when the individual layer data entry/access permission is given to individual users.

(An exception to cross chart access permission is found with programs configured as "No Sharing" under System Setup, Agency Program Information, Add/Edit Entire Program.  Data from those programs is not included in the Client History Report unless the user has the actual chart access permission for them.)

To turn on cross chart access permissions for your agency you must send a request through the AWARDS Help Desk or your Client Support representative, and specify whether you would like the specific or global configuration.  After the functionality is turned on, complete the steps below as necessary to configure cross chart access permissions at your agency.

Granting Cross Chart Access Permissions with the Global Configuration

1.  Complete the process of accessing a user's individual layer of permissions as detailed in AWARDS Online Help.

2.  Check the View All Charts of Client If Can View Any permission.

3.  Click Update Permissions.

Granting Cross Chart Access Permissions with the Specific Configuration

1.  From the AWARDS Home screen, click Administration from the left-hand menu, and then click System Setup.  The System Setup Menu page is displayed.

2.  Click Permissions Maintenance.  The Permissions Selection page is displayed.

3.  Click the Permissions Type drop-down arrow and select "Cross Chart Access."

4.  Click CONTINUE.  The Worker Selection for Permissions page is displayed.

5.  Click the Worker drop-down arrow and select a user.

6.  Click CONTINUE.  The Permissions Selections page is displayed.

7.  Choose which cross chart access permissions you would like to grant to the user.

8.  Click Update Permissions.

This completes the process of configuring cross chart access permissions in AWARDS.  For more information about the System Setup module and permissions in AWARDS, click here.

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Foothold News & Blog

Check out the latest in Foothold news and recent entries from the Foothold blog!

• Foothold Technology’s Supportive Housing Resource Center Visits Chicago
• INSIDE AWARDS | Certification: Turning AWARDS Users into Experts

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  https://demodb.footholdtechnology.com/help/?11678 - August 2016