The following new features, enhancements, and updates will be available in your AWARDS database beginning on Wednesday, December 1st!  Once you've had a chance to try  them out, please let us know how they work for you!  We welcome your feedback!

Updates have been made in order to allow agencies to maintain a history  of default rendering/attending provider data within the Program Billing Info component of the BillingBuilder. Prior to this update, only one provider name was retained and was applied to invoices generated, regardless of the date of service. This update allows AWARDS to always report the correct NPI based on the date of service being invoiced. 

Previously, the Face Sheet showed only two kinds of Vital Signs records - Baseline and Most Recent - with each row displaying all Vital Signs that were gathered during the most recent data entry process even if not all of the vital signs were recorded at that time. With this enhancement, the Face Sheet will now always display the most recently recorded Vital Signs from each Vital Sign category, regardless of when it was recorded. A creation date and time stamp will display next to each vital sign.

We are very excited to introduce a new field type for use in FormBuilder forms - Dynamic Section Report Format - which is designed to not only meet needs expressed by many of our customers, but to also add an incredible new dimension of flexibility to the FormBuilder more generally.  Using this field type, saved report formats can be designed specifically for embedding in forms in the following AWARDS locations:

• Admission - as embedded form for Single-Step programs
• Charting Timetable - listed as a charting event under Services-Individual
• Discharge - as a link on the Discharge fly-out
• Discharge - as a link on the Process Discharge menu
• Discharge - to be included on the Process Discharge form
• Employment - as a link of the Jobs fly-out
• Intake/Admission - as a linked form on Intake/Admission form
• Medical - as a link on the Medical fly-out
• Medical - to be included on the Provider Appointment form
• Profile - as a link at the top of client Face Sheets
• Program Status - to be included on the Program Status form
• Progress Notes - to be included on the progress notes form
• Services - as a link on the Services -Individual fly-out
• Services - to be included on the Service Plan Coversheet 

Many of the ReportBuilders available for use in this feature cover data sets that have until now been available as dynamic sections in formbuilder forms; however, dynamic sections included in FormBuilder forms typically display all records with a certain set of fields made available and in a prescribed order and format. This new option allows you much greater flexibility in what data you display in the form and how you display it, as you have access to all the same filters, sorting, grouping, footer options and even summary tables that you can configure in ReportBuilders.

Additionally, some ReportBuilders now available with this new feature were not previously available as a dynamic section such as Client Identifiers, Client File Cabinet, Medication Administration, Medication Scheduled Times, Transportation, Cascading Authorizations, and more. 

The use cases of including a report of records in a form for the client with this new feature are endless. Examples of requests we have received that can now be met include:

• Display entitlements filtered for a particular insurer or display subscriber or copay information 
• Display certain types of lab orders or diagnostic test results within the last 30 days 
• Display self-administering medications or specific types of medications sorted by frequency 
• Display medication pharmacy orders
• Display hospitalization episodes of ER treatment within the last 6 months 
• Display information for only certain types of contacts for the client
• Display past provider appointments
• Display consent information for a client’s providers

Future enhancements to this feature will extend the ReportBuilder options to include ReportBuilders with client and program-based records such as Service Contacts and will allow for filtering records based on dynamic data that is particular to the client’s program stay or form- such as specific dates that would differ per form.  

Using This Feature - How to Add a Field of this Type to New and Existing Forms

To add a field of this type to a new or existing form in one of the locations listed above, use the FormBuilder's configuration tool along with the Dynamic Section Report Format field type.  When that field type is selected a configuration "wizard" is displayed on the page, prompting you to select the relevant ReportBuilder and then to configure the report format, telling AWARDS the specific details you want to have displayed dynamically on the form.  

As you design form fields of this type, and as you later work with forms containing dynamic section report formats, keep in mind that:

Program Name is now included in the subject line of internal audit messages sent out when new incidents are created.

Future Enhancement Release Dates

Here are the dates for the next couple of AWARDS product releases so that you can keep them on your radar!  

• January 12, 2022
• February 23, 2022

All deployments (subject to change) are scheduled for the evenings prior to the dates listed here, making the new features and functionality they provide available to users bright and early on release days.   

Transition from Support Service Contacts to Providers on a Client-by-Client Basis!

This section of FootNotes is dedicated to bringing you up to speed on great AWARDS add-ons, features and functionality you may not be aware of. 

Coding Diagnoses and Procedures with AWARDS IMO

In this edition of Exploring the Options we are showcasing the AWARDS IMO option - which provides a cutting edge tool for coding diagnoses and procedures within AWARDS.

It’s a time of growth for FCM!  Not only is our customer base expanding, but so is our team, and we're excited to share some of the highlights with you:

Did you know that when you are logged into AWARDS in a Chrome browser window, you can duplicate tabs to have multiple screens open under the same login session? This can come in very handy for all kinds of reasons when working in AWARDS!

Once logged into AWARDS using Chrome, right-click your mouse on the browser tab and select the "Duplicate" option. This will open a second tab of AWARDS at the same screen as the original tab you clicked from, using the same login session. Note that this action is different from attempting to start a new tab and creating a second login instance of AWARDS while one is already active. Trying to create a new, second instance will result in closing out the original login session and work from that tab will be timed out and potentially lost. The "Duplicate" option, on the other hand, simply extends the current login session to the duplicated tab and both can be open and running at the same time.

There are many ways in which this "Duplicate" action can be useful; for example, if you need to complete data entry while referencing information from elsewhere in AWARDS, like reports or the Face Sheet. In this scenario, you can open the report or Face Sheet screen in one tab, duplicate that tab, and then navigate to the fresh data entry screen in the newly duplicated tab.  Another example would be if you need to copy permissions settings from one user or layer to another. Here you can have two tabs open and toggle back and forth to easily compare and ensure you are making the right selections. Further, if you have dual monitors, you can have one tab open on each monitor so no toggling is needed!

Now that you know about this "Duplicate" option, you'll never need to abandon a screen in AWARDS again so that you can navigate to a different one. Simply right-click on the browser tab and duplicate away!

We've been paying close attention to the CORE Services rollout plans and will be providing transition information before the end of the year.  We've developed a CORE transition instruction document, enhancement request form, and billing type configuration that we'll be ready to share in the next month, and we're planning a transition webinar in January.  Stay tuned for more details! 

We're excited to announce that Foothold Technology's podcast, Sharing In Our Caring, has officially launched its first episode!  Click here to check out the podcast as a whole, or here to access the first episode on Apple Podcasts.  (You can also find it on most other podcast platforms.)  We can't wait to hear what you think!  If you're a podcast listener please subscribe, rate, review, and help us spread the word!

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 share their stories with you here! This month let's meet our final 2021 winner - Alliance for Positive Health!

When our 1st winner Albany-based agency Alliance for Positive Health embarked on implementing AWARDS in 2018, they were still working with paper charts.  Their reliance on physical files created many problems: the inability to access the files concurrently, lost documents, time consuming documentation processes, increased cost, space-intensive storage and organization, duplicate data entry, and inefficient and inaccurate reporting.  The move to AWARDS finally gave them their own centralized agency-wide database, eliminating many of these challenges.

Using Foothold's Administrative and Configuration Services, the team at Alliance for Positive Health was able to transition from focusing on implementation to developing and executing a plan for reviewing and improving the staff experience within AWARDS.  During this process, one thing that became apparent is that during implementation, there had been a heavy focus on replicating their old paper process in a new digital environment.  Although there were some advantages to this, the combination of continued feedback from staff, as well as funders, convinced them they could still streamline a lot of their processes if they moved away from the "make it look like paper" mentality.  

With a heavy focus on expanding and refining their use of FormBuilder and ReportBuilder functionality, the team was able to take long forms that were a major pain point for many users and create shorter, more efficient forms.  This resulted in fewer clicks and redundant data entry, and even identifying data points that didn't need to be manually entered into the forms because the program itself was already logging this information.

Congratulations to Christiana Booker, Jeff Hotaling, and Brad Morgan of Alliance for Positive Health as a 2021 Impact Prize winner!

In this edition, David shares his thoughts about the concept of a "Return to Normalcy," and what this might mean in the world of behavioral and physical health care moving forward. 

I will admittedly state that I have always disliked the word normalcy. I find it very difficult to separate acceptability or expectations from normalcy. As we all know, normalcy is as much in the eye of the beholder as it is in the individual whose "normalcy" is being judged. 

If you spent a late Sunday afternoon at my grandmother’s house throughout my childhood and most of my adulthood, you wouldn't think to use any derivative of the word "normal" to describe the 3 plus hours of chaos, shouting, abnormal amounts of food and drink, and yelling at the TV while the Giants or Yankees were playing. You might think only my grandpa was normal, sitting in his recliner, smiling at the chaos, with a jelly jar full of wine. That is until you realized that his glass never emptied, regardless of how much he drank, because he had a gallon of wine sitting next to him. But to our family, anything different than this scene was pretty abnormal.  

So in thinking about the current misused phrase of "it is time to return to normalcy," I thought - really? Is that what we are going to do? We are going to return to the ways that got us into this situation? For those of us who lost loved ones to the horrors of COVID, or those whose life savings were wiped out, or those businesses that folded, or to those children who spent nearly 2 year trying to learn in a newly designed world of hybrid learning, what does normal even mean anymore? I would instead like to incorporate a new phrase to describe where are going and that would be a "better normal." 

The pandemic taught us a lot about ourselves, about others, about our way of life, and in many cases, our priorities. From a health care perspective, it taught us how unprepared we were for an emergency response this large. However, it also taught us that things can change, adapt and be better than before. I wanted to take a moment here to reflect not on what went wrong, but on how we can take the lessons learned and make a better world because of them. I know these lessons could fill years worth of blogs and writings, so let me focus on a few key areas that we all live with every day.

• Information - One area that may not be as well covered in the press, or spoken about outside of the world of research and public health, is the lack of accessible and accurate information. All levels of government, and in many cases large and small providers, were unable to meet the demand for information due to antiquated data infrastructures, a lack of standardization, inflexible reporting structures and patient identification issues. Some of these issues are being dealt with through various pieces of legislation and federal and state initiatives, but if we are going to be prepared for the next world wide or national health disaster, we need to have a focused effort on creating the infrastructure, as well as consistency in what data is necessary, and how it can be collected and shared with the least amount of disruption to the delivery of care.
• Health Equity - Another lesson learned from the pandemic was that there are vast discrepancies in health equity. Differences in access to care, quality of care and culturally competent  communication were magnified during the pandemic. A significant issue in its own right, this also brought more to forefront the importance of social determinants of health, and the importance of addressing these social issues with an integrated focus, rather than in a haphazard way. The need for social information to be made available to the entire health care system is critical, and we need to find ways that consent data can be rapidly accessible to all facets of healthcare in a manner that does not interfere with efficient workflow.
• Care Settings - By the end of the first month of COVID, we saw an impact on the healthcare system. Service delivery, and the settings where care takes place, saw an enormous change. Almost overnight, we went from a place based service delivery system to a virtual settings/ non traditional community service delivery environment.  Phone calls and video conferencing soon became the norm and office visits became very limited, if available at all. Those in residential settings, for example, had to incorporate safety measures and care delivery models that vastly changed the way services were provided. In the case of service delivery, this afforded an opportunity to  rethink the how, what and where of delivering services. For many, there was a realization that services could be provided in a more efficient, and in many cases, no less effective manner than they were before. Now armed with this new information, real flexibility should be possible to meet the needs of individuals in ways we never thought possible less than 2 years ago.
• Staff Inequities - One final, but clearly not the last lesson learned, was something not new to the pandemic, but it put a spotlight on it - and that is the inequities that workers involved in direct care face. The shortage of workers, lack of adequate resources to train staff, often-times below poverty level wages, and difficult working conditions that people delivering services face, were magnified in the pandemic. It is incredible when you look back and think about how the direct support workers and those who supported them were able to keep providing the services and support necessary to individuals, who are at times our most vulnerable populations. There must be a recognition of the problems in staffing that were uncovered in the pandemic, and in turn, real solutions that can be rapidly executed to ensure quality care.

No one would ever say the lessons learned from the pandemic were worth the pain, suffering and sorrow.  However, what we can say and do is not let that pain, suffering and sorrow go on without using these lessons and opportunities to improve the system. Each of us should act upon these lessons that personally or professionally impacted us, and make sure we are prepared for the next disaster, and better as a result of this disaster.