Tickets on Sale Soon!

Expo 2017 | June 22, 2017 | NYC

We're excited to announce this year’s keynote speaker - David Simon, a Baltimore-based journalist, author, and television producer most well-known for the hit TV show, The Wire. 

Intake/Discharge Enhancements

With the January deployments, users will see some changes to the way Intake Cloning, Discharge from Residential programs, and Transfers happen. The upcoming changes will ensure better data quality, and make cloning easier. Changes users should expect include:

• On the Client Search results page, there will be a "Clone" icon to the left of each entry in the table - available when Cloning is turned on in your database - that allows a user to clone from one program into another program. After clicking the Clone icon the user will be taken to Intake/Admission Search with the client's name and SSN already filled in to the search inputs. The program selected on the Intake Search page will default to the program that was listed next to the Clone icon on the Client Search results page. 
• Cloning into multi-step programs will be more discriminating as to what fields are required, making it possible to update a referral form without knowing all demographic data. Users will be able to update the Application Evaluation (referral) without having to answer all the demographic questions.  All fields under the Demographic section will not be required when cloning.
• When discharging from one residential program to another - available if this feature is turned on in your database - the programs listed in the New Housing Placement drop-down will be limited to those to which the user has chart access. (The user must also have the permission to the Intake/Admission module - "Referrals Data Entry.")  This "New Housing Placement" functionality will bring the user to a referral/intake form for the destination program (rather than automatically creating a program history record and creating a nearly blank admission form like it does today). The vacancy check will still remain in place and not allow the user to proceed with the discharge if they selected a program without vacancies. The Apt/Unit drop-down will now be on the referral/intake form. After the discharge is processed, if a program was selected in the New Housing Placement drop-down, AWARDS will take the user to the admission/referral form. All client data from the source program will pre-populate (clone) into the form. The Intake/Admission date will  be set to the discharge date.
• Client Transfers will no longer work with HMIS projects (programs). HMIS projects will not be listed in the drop-downs under Client Transfers.

Service Documentation Enhancements

With the January deployments, users will see some changes to the way Start Time, End Time, and Duration are documented throughout AWARDS. Currently, these fields work differently across the various areas where services are documented - Progress Notes, Supportive Services Checklist, Daily Checklist, and Groups documentation. The upcoming changes will make things more consistent across these different areas, as well as provide additional flexibility. Changes users should expect include:

• Start Time, End Time, and Duration fields will be relabeled, and field order will be changed to place the fields in that particular order.
• Time fields will be reformatted.
• Daily Checklists that are configured to include a Duration data entry field will also automatically include a Start Time field.
• A new option will be available to determine which of these three fields are data entry fields vs. calculated fields; for example, Progress Notes could have data entry fields for Start Time and End Time, and have Duration be the calculated field.
• ​The Start Time field will always be required, along with either Duration or End Time - depending on how the option noted above is set up. So either Start Time and Duration will be required data entry fields, or Start Time and End time will be required data entry fields.​ 

In our ongoing work to support NYS Care Management Agencies, we have updated our MAPP Tracking File Segment Record and Billing Support Upload File. These Version 2.2 updates include new data entry and reporting fields to capture Children's Health Home information. If you are interested in turning on these forms and reports in your database for care coordination programs, please contact your AWARDS Senior Project Manager or Implementation Consultant.

We have also made available in AWARDS the following consents for Children's Health Homes:

• HH Consent Under 18yo (DOH 5200)
• HH Consent Info Sharing 5201
• HH Withdrawal of Consent <18 - 5202
• HH Consent of Educ. Records (5203)
• HH Consent Withdrawal of Educ. 5204
• HH Funct. Assessment Consent - 5230

If you would like any of these consent forms turned on for your children's care coordination programs, please contact the Help Desk.

Update to Secure Messaging Objective

Due to CMS Modified Stage 2 requirements for the Secure Messaging calculation, beginning in 2017, the vendors of certified electronic health record technology must change the increment of the Secure Messaging numerator when a secure message is sent to the patient from the eligible provider. This is reversal of the prior calculation that previously incremented the numerator when a secure message was sent from the patient to the eligible provider. Foothold is in the process of testing and implementing that change and it will be live before January 1, 2017 (and likely by the time you receive this notice.) This change is retroactive for data displayed on the 2014 Edition - Stage 2 report. If you have any additional questions or concerns please contact the Help Desk.

Now that AHAR submission has finished, it's a perfect time to check the quality of your HMIS data to make sure things are clean and ready for 2017. One easy way of checking data quality is by running the CoC APR. Remember that there are now two different versions of the CoC APR in your fiscal menu. If you don't see them both, contact the Help Desk and we can turn them both on. The APR that is currently being used by HUD in eSNAPS is the old CoC APR. The new CoC APR is great for checking the quality of your data, however it is not the version being accepted in eSNAPS. HUD hopes to start using the new APR next spring or summer.

The turn of the year also means that it's nearly time for the 2017 Point-In-Time count. A sheltered count and a street count are conducted in Continuums of Care across the country during the last 10 days of January. Although it can be difficult to count people during the midst of winter storms, it definitely helps make the struggles of the unsheltered homeless even more real. AWARDS can help communities conduct both their sheltered and unsheltered counts.  If you need help setting up unsheltered count projects, contact your Senior Program Manager. As for the Point In Time report itself, we are planning on updating it in mid-January, so watch the next FootNotes newsletter for more details. 

For PATH grantees, now is a time of many changes. SAMHSA is asking PATH grantees to start using a two program model. Each PATH grantee should have one "PATH Outreach" project and one "PATH Services" project. Clients will be placed into one of the projects based on their "Type of Residence" at the time of their first contact. They'll stay in that project until they're discharged. This will be important for the new PATH Annual Report Survey (ARS) coming later next year. If you're completing the PATH ARS now there is a mapping document available inside the PATHPDX.org that can help bridge the gap between the new report and the old report.

Watch this short video to learn how to maintain user Permissions in AWARDS!

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