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In this issue:
User's Conference
Impact Prize
FootholdConnect Events
Highlights from the Project Pipeline
HIPAA / Security Notes
What's New in AWARDS
This Month in HMIS
Tip of the Month - Remember to Review Your Documents Before E-Signing!
Foothold News & Blog
TICKETS NOW ON SALE!
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.
Buy your AWARDS U tickets here!
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We know our providers do outstanding work with AWARDS and that ingenuity and commitment to use the software raises Customer Success and agency operations to a higher level.
Tell us about the most impactful, inspirational things you've accomplished with AWARDS. We'll reward the most innovative achievements with a cash prize of $600 and a trip to our 2018 User’s Conference in New York City!
Submission deadline is March 31st! For more information on the Impact Prize, click here.
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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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Highlights from the Project Pipeline
Menu Fly-Outs for AWARDS Census Modules
As part of the continued redesign of AWARDS, we are currently developing menu fly-outs for the Census section of the Home screen. Along with easier data entry navigation, this will involve housing and demographics reports being moved to the Reports module. Stay tuned for more details on this change, preceding a spring deployment.
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Letter from GreyCastle Security
We use this portion of FootNotes to keep you informed about things we think it's important for you to know about the current state of the cybersecurity landscape and what you can be doing to protect yourself and your agency. We also let you know about various security initiatives we're completing here at Foothold. But have you ever wondered about the state of Foothold’s security more generally? If so, we encourage you to read this letter from Reg Harnish, CEO of GreyCastle Security. He speaks to Foothold's compliance with the strict standards we hold ourselves to in order to ensure that your data is safe and secure.
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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: 3/7/18
BillingBuilder - Additional CR BIP Billing Requirement
Based on additional billing guidance provided by OMH, Foothold has adopted stricter rules when billing for CR BIP invoices. The following rules will need to be fulfilled to generate an invoice:
Consumer must have one of the regular monthly CR procedures also being billed (4369, 4370, or 4371).
Consumer must having either the CR-BIP Congregate OR CR-BIP Apartment additional eligibility entitlement assigned to them with the Insurance/Subsidized Payments section of the Certified Entitlements page. The effective and expires date must include the invoice date being billed.
Full Month - Only consider Service Plan Linked notes AND look for 5 notes that are at least 15 minutes in length OR 4 notes where one note is more than 15 minutes in length.
Half Month - Only consider Service Plan Linked notes AND look for 3 notes that are at least 15 minutes in length OR 2 notes where one note is more than 15 minutes in length.
BillingBuilder - Configure Payers Label Updates / Reordering
There have been some organizational changes within the Configure Payers page in BillingBuilder. First, the button labeled Configure Payers is now labeled Payers. In addition to the label change, the settings within the configuration screen have been updated and reorganized. This is an effort to make the screen more intuitive for the user.
Client Identifiers - New Format
The Entitlements > Client Identifiers 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).
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 client identifier 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 field, allowing users to search the contents of "All Columns" (the default), "Unique Identifier," and "ID Number" column.
Link to ReportBuilder added - A link to the Client Identifiers ReportBuilder has been added to the index, on the left-hand menu bar.
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.
For more information on working with Client Identifier records, please click here.
Demographics ReportBuilder / Face Sheet - Updates to Last Contact Variables
Changes have been made to the label and function of these variables on the Demographics ReportBuilder and the Face Sheet:
Demographics ReportBuilder - The data variable formerly labeled Last Contact Date has been renamed Last Service Contact Date and is accompanied by a new, more inclusive Last Contact Date data variable. The difference between the two options is that the new Last Contact Date includes a client’s Admission Date as a possible last contact value. Thus, if a client has had no services provided since their Admission Date, Last Service Contact Date will be blank, whereas Last Contact Date would display the Admission Date.
Face Sheet - If a program had Last Contact Date set to show on the Face Sheet, it will now show as Last Service Contact Date and will not display a value for a client who has not received services since their Admission Date. Last Contact Date is a new field, even though it has the same label as the old, and displays the last date of service provided to the client - except for instances where the client has not received services, it will display their Admission Date.
Face Sheet - Electronic Order Address Now Indicated
For agencies using the e-prescribing or e-labs functionality, when updating the external housing address on a client's record (via the Housing module, or the Face Sheet) users can check the Electronic Order Address checkbox to indicate the address should be transmitted when electronic prescriptions or lab orders are submitted for this consumer. With this update, the face sheet display of the address will now include an "(Electronic Order Address)" notation next to the street address, if the checkbox is selected for the current address.
Intake - Nightly Emergency Shelter Data Element Change
A minor change was made to which data elements display at intake for Nightly Emergency Shelter projects. Previously the list of fields was hard-coded, but now clients can use Configure Data Elements (for HMIS projects) or Foothold-based preferences (via contacting your Customer Success representative) to hide or display fields.
Providers - Updates
The following updates have been made to the Providers feature:
The Face Sheet displays the Agency/Practice name in the Providers section, if the provider is associated with an agency.
Previously when adding the Providers dynamic section onto a FormBuilder form, you could not have the contact methods display on the form. This enhancement allows you to include Contact Methods by selecting that option under the Modify Fields link.
When creating a new provider record with the Administration > Providers Directory feature, the First Name of the provider is no longer a required field.
Reports Module - New Reports Available
As we continue to enhance the new Reports feature, accessed from the AWARDS navigation bar, the following reports have been added. Clicking the star icon next to each report will save it as a Bookmarked report, for easy access.
MU Objectives Report
MU Quality Measure Report
Service Plans Report (viewing one service plan at time with different views)
Toxicology Report
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PATH Programs Auto Discharge
We are releasing a new feature which will enable PATH projects to automatically discharge clients nightly based on criteria chosen by the CoC or HMIS Administrator. In the near future we hope to make this functionality available to other types of projects. The most common usage will be for Outreach projects to automatically discharge clients who have had no contacts in 60 or 90 days. Administrators can choose whether to use today’s date or the date of Last Contact as the discharge date. When auto-discharge is used, Destination will be set to "Data Not Collected," and all other values will be left blank. Please contact your Foothold Customer Success representative to turn on and configure this functionality.
Disabling Condition Changes
Disabling Condition is now an auto-calculated drop-down in all HMIS programs. The 2017 Data Standards require that software vendors allow users the ability to overwrite auto-calculated values, so we've changed the way this field works. At Intake/Admission AWARDS will now auto-calculate the value in this field based on the answers you give to the Special Needs fields as well as the Income fields. If a client answers Yes to the follow-up question next to any Special Needs field, or the client says they have SSI, SSDI, or any other Disability-related Income source, then AWARDS will put "Yes" in the Disabling Condition field. The auto-calculated value will not be read-only as it was previously, and the user can change the value. If the user changes the value from "Yes" to "No," a warning will be displayed indicating that AWARDS believes the answer should be "Yes."
Engagement Date
Some changes are being made to how Engagement Date works for different programs. In PATH projects, you will not be able to mark someone as Enrolled In Path until they have an Engagement Date entered. In addition, we are adding this field to more places, including the HMIS Info Update section. The value is only saved once per enrollment regardless of where it's entered.
System Performance Measures Changes
An updated version of the System Performances Measures report was released March 1st. The new report is mostly the same as the old one, with a few minor logic tweaks. The logic changes from March 1st are:
Measure 1b will include persons with "pre-housing" time in PH.
Additional exit destinations are added to Measures 2a and 2b. Safe Haven has been added as a positive destination for Street Outreach projects.
Measures 7b.1 and 7b.2 will filter PH clients with / without housing move-in dates.
In April we will also be adding inline details, as well as the ability to run the report for a single project or a group of projects.
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Tip of the Month - Remember to Review Your Documents Before E-Signing!
Did you know...
...that an electronic signature in AWARDS constitutes a legally binding symbol that authenticates the document to which it is attached? As such, placing an electronic signature on a document signifies that you've reviewed that document and are certifying that is complete and correct. Not only that, but e-signing locks the document from any additional changes moving forward.
Because an electronic signature is such a powerful way of authenticating a document, it is very import that any document to be signed is carefully reviewed ahead of time, and that any corrections needed are made before signing. Unfortunately, many users run into headaches by forgetting to complete this vital document review step prior to placing their signature on something in AWARDS; only later do they realize that what they've signed is in fact inaccurate in some way, requiring intervention from their supervisor or AWARDS administrators.
If your agency utilizes electronic signatures in AWARDS, make sure you're completing all four of the steps to e-signing success:
1. Double-check your work.
2. Make any corrections or additions.
3. Triple-check just to be sure.
4. And now sign away!
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Navigating the World of Medicaid for Supportive Housing Services
Foothold is heading to Denver for the Housing First Partners Conference. On April 11th, Director of Customer Success Paul Rossi will present alongside Foothold client Lindsay Casale, Housing First Program Director at Pathways Vermont, in the session "Navigating the World of Medicaid in Support of Housing First." If you'll be at the conference, we encourage you to stop by our session. If not, be sure to check out our webinar recording featuring Paul, Lindsay, Foothold client Steve Coe, Executive Director of Community Access, and Kevin Martone, Director of Technical Assistance Collaborative, sharing their thoughts on the same topic. Click here to listen.
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