|   |
| |
We are excited to release the second edition of FootNotes 2.0! As noted last month, it has been streamlined and is now sent every six weeks. We thank those of you who already provided feedback on the content you would like to see. If you have not yet responded, or if you have additional feedback, please use this Google Form to tell us what is working, what is not working, and most importantly, what is missing from FootNotes. Thank you for partnering with us!
Updates from the COVID-19 Response Center
What's New in AWARDS
A Look at What's Ahead!
Connect With Us!
Tip of the Month - Get Your Locations List Ready for the New Calendar!
News from the Field - With Senior Advisor David Bucciferro
Customer News - Meet the 2020 AWARDS Impact Prize Winners!
Updates from the COVID-19 Response Center 
The following information may be beneficial to you in this ever-shifting response landscape. If you’d like to access info on more Response-related initiatives and resources, check out the COVID-19 Response Center in Online Help.
Zoom in AWARDS is Here! - Check Out This Great New Telehealth Feature
The AWARDS / Zoom integration we gave you a heads up about a while back has now been approved in Zoom's App Marketplace and is officially ready for your use! This enhancement will provide Zoom users with a single-sign on so that staff can conveniently and securely start meetings without leaving AWARDS - the perfect complement to your telehealth workflows. Click here to learn more!
HHS Announcement - Relief Fund Payments for Medicaid & CHIP Providers
Earlier this summer, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced an enhanced Provider Relief Fund portal, as well as additional distributions from the Fund to eligible Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) providers. Click here to read the HHS press release for more details.
The following new features, enhancements, and updates will be available in your AWARDS database beginning on Wednesday, July 29th. To read more about these changes in detail, please visit our What's New Online Help page.
FormBuilder - Forms Can Now Be Inactivated on a Program-by-Program Basis
Ever run into an instance where a form in use by multiple programs was no longer applicable to just one of those programs? If yes, then you know that the only way to have the form inactivated for that single program would be to contact Foothold for assistance. Upon deployment of this enhancement, the power to inactivate forms on a program-by-program basis shifts to you! It's as easy as entering an Inactive Date on the form's programs tab, and unchecking the corresponding program selection. Click here to learn more!
Zoom Integration - New Feature!
As mentioned above in the COVID Response Center Updates, we are thrilled that the AWARDS / Zoom integration is now available! If your agency uses Zoom, simply reach out to the Help Desk to request that this enhancement be made available in your AWARDS database. Once we've flipped the switch for you, your staff will have single-sign on Zoom access right from the AWARDS navigation bar, and will be able to link their Zoom accounts, see their schedules, and launch meetings all without leaving AWARDS. Click here for step-by-step instructions and other useful information on this beneficial telehealth functionality!
We hope many of you were able to join us at our first ever virtual Users Conference, where one of the sessions provided the opportunity to hear from our newly formed Product Team and VP of Engineering, and another reviewed the exciting changes you'll soon be seeing to the Calendar in AWARDS. As discussed in June's FootNotes, we have been transitioning to the Agile Scrum process, and are working towards providing you with a clearer look into our product pipeline. Our Product Team will continue to develop ways to share relevant information with you, including occasional segments here in FootNotes. Below please find updates on the items mentioned in the June, and keep your eyes out for more communication from the Product Team moving forward!
Calendar
Many of you got a sneak preview of the new Calendar at the Users Conference, and we are excited to finalize several key features as we get closer to its release this summer. Click here for a short video showcasing some of the new features!
File Cabinet Organization
The new file cabinet functionality, which will allow you to organize your electronic files, is heading into development shortly!
FHIR
We are hard at work identifying the infrastructure needed to to support this new transmission protocol - Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources.
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!
Tip of the Month - Get Your Locations List Ready for the New Calendar!
News from the Field - With Senior Advisor David Bucciferro
Customer News - Meet the 2020 AWARDS Impact Prize Winners!
Tip of the Month - Get Your Locations List Ready for the New Calendar!
Did you know... that the Calendar utilizes the custom locations list identified for your AWARDS database? As we get ready for the new and improved Calendar, it's the perfect time for AWARDS administrators to check this list and make sure it's up to date. Click here for a refresher on updating the customized locations list.
News from the Field - With Foothold Senior Advisor David Bucciferro
We are excited and proud to announce that Foothold Senior Advisor David Bucciferro was recently elected as Vice Chair of the Electronic Record Health Association (EHRA), a trade association of 32 companies that collaborate on issues that impact EHR developers and the healthcare providers who use health information and technology (IT) to provide patient care. David’s participation in this work at a National level allows Foothold to keep its finger on the pulse of all that is going on in the world of Healthcare and Health Information Technology. This segment of FootNotes is where we will highlight key issues David is seeing in the field.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, there were many efforts taking place in the world of Healthcare, especially in regards to Health Information and Health Information Technology. Many of the promises associated with the 21st Century Cures Act and Opioid Support Act were beginning to make their way through the complexity of the federal system. Below are a few of the large efforts gathering steam and beginning to show results. In the upcoming months we will discuss these and look at ways they could affect the work you do and the expectations placed on you as service providers. Upcoming issues will also look to cover topics like EVV, opioid support, and the CARES act initiatives.
Interoperability - In March of 2020 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) finalized two transformative rules - from the HHS Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) - that will give patients unprecedented safe and secure access to their health data. Together, these final rules mark the most extensive healthcare data sharing policies the federal government has implemented, requiring both public and private entities to share health information between patients and other parties, while keeping that information private and secure - a top priority for the administration. Much will come from these efforts, including rules around Information Blocking, new data sets to be shared, new mechanisms to share data, and even fresh rules around HIPAA and 42 CFR Part 2.
Vital Role of EHRs - One of the most important, but often unmentioned, efforts during the COVID crisis has been securing and distributing up to date and accurate COVID data. In the past, HIE information from a national perspective depended upon state and even local rules around data sharing and participation in health exchange activities. EHRs became the focal point of this effort, identified as one of the critical components of any national health care information effort.
Patient IDs - Another issue that has become more apparent during the COVID pandemic is the need for some way to identify patient data as belonging to a specific individual. All too often, misinformation is shared because the identifiers used do not successfully identify unique individuals. These challenges, along with other factors, have spurred the call for some type of healthcare data identifier, something short of a national ID but robust enough that accuracy can be assured when sharing data.
Social Determinants Data - Prior to the COVID pandemic, efforts were underway to better document social determinants of health. This public health crisis has highlighted the fact that social determinants play a huge part in an individual's health and access to care. Efforts to codify social determinants of health are now picking up speed and we can expect to see more in this area.
Customer News - Meet the 2020 AWARDS Impact Prize Winners!
In 2015, Foothold established the AWARDS Impact Prize to recognize customers who have leveraged AWARDS to measurably impact the health and well-being of the communities they serve. We are excited to use this section of FootNotes to share their amazing work with all of you!
Sarah Kristin, Director of Mental Health Services
This month we highlight New York City-based Hudson Guild, an agency that is no stranger to AWARDS. Hudson Guild has been using AWARDS for more than 15 years, but the system had not been optimized to make the agency's processes more efficient.
Over the past 2 years, Hudson Guild's senior management identified and implemented ways to use AWARDS to create a more streamlined billing process by eliminating outdated program configuration, refining bad data, and creating a workflow for efficient and accurate billing. Additionally, they saw an opportunity to utilize AWARDS for better compliance with the New York State Office of Mental Health regulations.
Sarah Kristin, who is the Director of Mental Health Services, played a crucial role in upgrading and optimizing the agency's AWARDS configuration with an eye towards making documentation easier, improving data entry quality, ensuring programs were compliant with regulatory bodies, and increasing their billing revenue. All of this great work has allowed Hudson Guild to develop strong and efficient procedures aimed to both minimize clerical burden and reduce "click fatigue," allowing clinical staff to focus on providing mental health services to their unique population.
When asked about this important work, Sarah noted, "It's a unique opportunity to be partnered so closely with Foothold Technology, and has really helped Hudson Guild's AWARDS usage flourish." Congratulations to Sarah Kristin and Hudson Guild as a 2020 Impact Prize winner!
https://demodb.footholdtechnology.com/help/?12353
