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In this issue:
FootholdConnect Events
What's New in AWARDS
This Month in HMIS
Tip of the Month - External Email Notifications in AWARDS
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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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 reach out to the Help Desk. We hope these enhancements improve the way you use AWARDS and provide services!
Deployment Date: 12/4/19
Agency Program Information - Change to County Option Available
The County field located under Agency Program Information (on the Address Information and HMIS Site Information tabs) can now be changed from a text box to a drop-down list. Databases that already use County lists in other areas of AWARDS will see this change automatically. Databases that still see a text box can have this field converted to a drop-down list upon request by contacting the Help Desk.
BillingBuilder - Transportation Now Tied to Billing
The Transportation feature located in the Services - Individual module is now connected to BillingBuilder! As part of this change, the BillingBuilder's Procedure Configuration page displays a new Billable Documentation Type option called "Services - Transportation." When selected, this option will allow transported passenger records to be invoiced that meet the procedure billing requirements.
FormBuilder - Form Configuration Updates
The following improvements have been made to the configuration options available when creating and adjusting FormBuilder forms:
Conditionally Displayed Options - Previously when building a FormBuilder form, users could set a form field to be conditionally required. With this enhancement, a new Conditionally Displayed option is now available, and the options available are similar to those when working with the Conditionally Required options. When set, the Conditionally Displayed option allows users to set a form field to display based on a specific response(s) to another field in the same section of the form. In addition, users are now able to configure whether a form field should be conditionally displayed AND/OR conditionally required. If a field should be both displayed and required using the same criteria, check the new Require if displayed based on the conditions above checkbox to apply the same settings for both configuration options.
New Labels - For easy, at-a-glance information, four new columns have been added to a form's Update Field Details per Section page:
- Required
- Conditionally Displayed
- Conditionally Required
When fields have been configured to be Required, Conditionally Displayed, and/or Conditionally Required, this will be indicated by a check mark under the corresponding column.
Household Composition - Updates
The following adjustments have been made to the household composition functionality:
SSNs and DOBs no longer need to be masked for un-admitted members of global households - We have added a setting that will allow each agency to decide whether to allow the SSN and DOB to show for un-admitted household members. To request that this setting be turned on, please contact the Help Desk. (When turned on this setting applies to all programs in your AWARDS database.)
Legacy Household ReportBuilder has been removed - When we rolled out enhanced Households functionality in September 2019, we released a new Household Program Enrollments ReportBuilder to accommodate the new features. We temporarily left access to the Legacy Household ReportBuilder so that workers could see the settings on their saved report formats for a few months, giving them a chance to rebuild their reports as saved report formats in the Household Program Enrollments ReportBuilder. We have now removed access to this defunct legacy report.
Medications - New Searchable Name Library
The following updates have been made to the Medications and Allergies data entry forms the Medical module:
Medications - For agencies set to display the medication Name field as a text box on the Medications data entry form, a new auto-search feature has been added that suggests medication matches after five characters have been entered. The search results contain the name (both branded and generic) and strength/unit information, using the NLM RxNav library. Once a match is select from the list, the medication is displayed in the Name field, the associated Strength/Unit information is populated and cannot be edited, as is the RxNorm value.
TIP: Users can still enter free text in the Name field and not select a match, saving what was manually entered instead.
For agencies set to display the medication Name as a drop-down whose selections have been configured by the agency, no changes have been made. If your agency would like to use the new searchable library, please contact the Help Desk to replace the drop-down with a text box.
Allergies - When working with an allergy record whose Type is related to a medication ("Drug allergy," "Drug intolerance," or "Propensity to adverse reactions to drug"), the Substance field also includes the new auto-search feature that suggests medication matches after five characters have been entered. The search results contain the name (both branded and generic) and strength/unit information. Once a match is select from the list, the medication is displayed in the Substance field, and the associated RxNorm information is populated and cannot be edited.
TIP: Users can still enter free text in the Substance field and not select a match, saving what was manually entered instead.
Permissions - New and Updated Permissions
The following permission has been relabeled under Permissions Maintenance:
Plans and Reviews Due Date Corrections Data Entry - This permission is now labeled Plans and Reviews - Modify Due Date on Locked Plans to more accurately reflect its purpose.
In addition, two new optional data entry/access permissions are now available upon request. These permissions are designed to provide more granularity around who can enter due dates and delete unlocked plans in Plans and Reviews:
Plans and Reviews Deletion - Users with this permission can delete unlocked plans in Plans and Reviews if those plans have not been e-signed, or the content of no later plan/review has been copied from it.
Plans and Reviews - Modify Due Date of Unlocked Plan - Users with this permission can edit the due date for unlocked plans in Plans and Reviews; specifically, they can change the due date to any date between the previous plan's due date and the subsequent plans's due date.
Because these two permissions are optional they are not automatically available in all databases. If you are interested in restricting these actions by having these permissions added to Permissions Maintenance in your AWARDS database, contact the Help Desk.
Progress Notes - Duration Default Value Optional Enhancement
Currently progress notes default to a duration of 15 minutes for day programs and 30 minutes for housing programs. A new optional setting is now available that allows agencies to instead set their own default progress note duration values for specific program types. This enhancement can also be applied to the Res / Day Hab Daily Checklist for programs that use that functionality.
NOTE: For CR program types the default duration is zero. This will not change; this optional enhancement does not apply to CR program types.
For more details and/or to request that this enhancement be turned on in your AWARDS database, please see the Service Contacts - Implementation Request Form.
ReportBuilders - New Data Variables
As part of our ongoing efforts to make the ReportBuilders across AWARDS more comprehensive and user-friendly, we've made additions to the following ReportBuilders:
Encounters ReportBuilder - Encounter Source and Summary of Care have been added as data variables within the "Encounters Information" section of the Encounters ReportBuilder Options page. These data variables pull in any available data in a corresponding Encounters record.
Providers ReportBuilder - Last Authorization Due, Last Authorization Done, and Next Authorization Due have been added as data variables within the "Provider Information" section of the Providers ReportBuilder Options page. These variables pull in any available "MD Authorization Timetable" data for agencies configured to use Authorizing provider types in the Providers feature.
Service Referrals ReportBuilder - Referral End Date has been added as a data variable within the "Service Referral Information" section of the Service Referrals ReportBuilder Options page. (This new variable is only available when the Service Referrals feature has been configured to display the optional Referral End Date field on the service referrals data entry page.)
System Setup - Changes to HMIS Exports and Uploads
For customers that use the HMIS Data Export feature (via the Export button or the HMIS Upload process), we have implemented the following changes and enhancements, necessary to lay the groundwork for release of our upcoming Delta Refresh project (described under This Month in HMIS, below). These changes will be apparent the next time you perform an export or upload.
AWARDS UUID - The Personal ID column of the CSV files generated by AWARDS now uses a unique 32-digit Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) in the Client.csv file instead of using the AWARDS ID. This means that in the AWARDS exporting database and in the AWARDS destination database, the same UUID will be used.
TIP: If your database is set to use HMIS Uploads or Imports, the UUID will display automatically in your Client Search results. If the UUID search field is not available in the Client Search feature and you would like it to be, please contact the Help Desk.
Export Start Date and Export End Date - For the next couple of months, all HMIS Uploads must have the start date of 10/01/2016 in order to ensure that every program does an upload for all clients that will need to have a UUID in the destination database, covering the same time period (last 3 years) as the LSA. As a result, when generating an upload, the start date is not editable, enforcing 10/1/2016 as the start date and the current date as the end date. This means that all validation errors that relate to clients from 10/01/2016 onward must be addressed prior to HMIS uploads being successful. In other words, this will ensure that a complete roster from 10/01/2016 to the present has been uploaded.
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As you can read about in the What's New in AWARDS section above, we've released a few changes to the HMIS Upload feature in order to prepare for the release of Delta Refresh in the first quarter of 2020. Currently, when data is imported into an HMIS database all of the client records found in the import file are completely overwritten. When the Delta Refresh project is released next year, that will no longer be the case; instead, only the parts of a client record that have been updated in the source database will be imported into the destination database. This means that you will be able to interact with the imported records, such as making corrections, adding progress notes, using FormBuilder forms, etc. It also means that Coordinated Entry projects will be able to share data back and forth between systems if necessary.
To prepare for these changes we first must make sure that we can link client records across databases. This will be accomplished by assigning new Universal Unique IDs (UUIDs). To make sure that all records get UUIDs we will be locking the start date of all HMIS Uploads to 10/01/2016. Most users have been going back at least this far so the change will not be noticeable, but users who have been in the habit of changing the Upload Start Date will not be allowed to do this for the next month.
Another new feature that was announced above is the conditionally displayed FormBuilder fields logic. We will be using this new logic in the HMIS Coordinated Entry Event FormBuilder form.
The HMIS Coordinated Entry Event FormBuilder form may also be helpful for some SSVF projects which provide rapid resolution services. The VA is no longer requiring SSVF grantees to have separate rapid resolution services, but this FormBuilder form can be turned on if needed in your RRH and HP projects. The form is found in the Shared Forms Library and can be downloaded as needed.
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Tip of the Month - External Email Notifications in AWARDS
As you may know, AWARDS generates Internal Audit messages related to data entry and reporting for a variety of functionality throughout the system. Those messages are sent to your AWARDS Messages module when you have the permission to receive them.
Did you know that a Notifications feature also exists that allows you to configure whether or not you would like to receive a corresponding notification in an external email system? Using the Notifications feature you can select which Internal Audit messages the emails should be sent for, and keep your email address information up to date.
This is a great feature to use if you're not regularly logged into AWARDS but you don't want to miss upcoming charting timetable reminders, records that are ready for your e-signature (this applies to progress notes, plans and reviews, and monthly checklists), MAR notifications, Help Desk messages (for local Help Desk team members), and much more!
When you receive a notification via email, the content of that notification will include the type of internal audit message, along with a link to the message in AWARDS.
NOTE: External email notifications NEVER contain protected health information (PHI); that data is limited to viewing from within AWARDS after the user logs in to view the full message.
Click here for more information on setting your notification preferences. Keep in mind that your agency may have requirements regarding whether external notifications can be set to your work email address, personal address, or either. That requirement will be specified when you set your notification preferences.
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