The following new features, enhancements, and updates will be available in your AWARDS database beginning on Wednesday, September 8th!

We are excited to announce that a new Employee Identifiers feature is now available in the Human Resources module. This feature can be utilized to document and maintain records of employee IDs from systems other than AWARDS and/or those used by outside agencies.  Key highlights of this new functionality are as follows:

The AWARDS InSights analytics platform recently received a number of significant updates. While AWARDS InSights agencies received a detailed description of these changes via email, we also want to keep every agency informed about these exciting enhancements as well.  Specifically, this month we introduced both Plans and Reviews and Incidents by Episode data models and dashboards.  We also rolled out several schema and field updates, including the addition of a Vital Signs dimension to the Hospitalization dashboard and a Job History dimension to the Referral Activity and Services dashboards.  

Interested in what’s up next for InSights?  The roadmap includes:

  "Flattened" next generation data models (currently in beta - will slowly be integrated into new dashboards)

  Housing and Program Utilization models and dashboards

  Health Outcomes models

  Semi-structured data including FormBuilder and PlanBuilder data for "Builders"

Our data team is hard at work and listening to your feedback, so we'll have new content, features, and products to announce in the months ahead!

If you're an organization in New York State and are required to submit the OMH Patient Characteristics Survey, AWARDS is ready to assist!  The survey in AWARDS has been updated to reflect OMH's adjustments for 2021 and is available for your testing this month ahead of the opening of OMH's practice platform on September 23rd.  The 2021 survey week itself is October 25th through October 31st.  An updated instruction sheet will be available shortly.

As part of our ongoing efforts to make the ReportBuilders across AWARDS more comprehensive and user-friendly we've made a variety of improvements this month.  

  Agency Programs ReportBuilder - For HMIS uploading agencies the Submit NYC HMIS data variable has been relabeled Uses HMIS Upload.

  Incidents ReportBuilder - A new Comments Added By data variable is now available in the "Incidents Detail"portion of the settings page.  This variable will pull in the worker names of any users who have added a comment to the incident form.

  Various Services ReportBuilders - For agencies using the BillingBuilder, the following new procedure data variables have been added to the Progress Notes ReportBuilder, Group Notes ReportBuilder, Contact Log / Support Services Checklist ReportBuilder, and Service Contacts  ReportBuilders:

Procedure Code
Procedure ID
Procedure Name

Users can select these options to report on the procedure(s) that were billed for contacts with corresponding Invoice ID (Batch ID) values.

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!  

  October 20th

  December 1st

In addition, please note that the new HMIS Data Standards for FY2022 will be released for HMIS customers during a special release the night of September 30th, so that they are in place for the morning of October 1st. 

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.   

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. 

AWARDS File Cabinets

In this edition of Exploring the Options, we are showcasing the AWARDS Electronic File Cabinet - a document storage solution designed to collect a variety of critical organization and client paperwork.  

File Cabinet Locations

The Electronic File Cabinet allows for more robust documentation through the attachment of files to the following AWARDS locations.  With all instances of the AWARDS Electronic File Cabinet, uploaded files open in a new window, outside of AWARDS, using the software that was used to create them (i.e., Adobe Acrobat or Microsoft Word). 

Welcome, Hudson Valley Care! 

All users have the ability to change their own password in AWARDS, but what happens when you can't login because you forgot your password?  For security reasons, the Foothold Help Desk (and all other Foothold staff members) are unable to provide assistance logging into AWARDS, so where should you turn?  

Did you know you can document telehealth participation in Group Notes at the individual attendee level? This is especially helpful for programs moving back to a hybrid mix of in-person and virtual program participation, with group sessions that include both in-person and virtual attendees. 

By request, a Telehealth checkbox can be enabled in the Group Attendance section of group notes - regardless of whether the group is scheduled or unscheduled. When enabled, users will be able to check off "Telehealth" for any attendees who joined the group virtually - see screenshot below.

When the checkbox is enabled, it will also be available for selection in reporting, including the Group Notes ReportBuilder, Group Notes Report, Service Contacts ReportBuilder, and when merging group notes into the Progress Notes Report. Additionally, for databases using AWARDS BillingBuilder, a Telehealth (Group Notes) drop-down is available in the billing procedures setup screens, allowing agencies to determine how to bill for groups that offer both in-person and virtual attendance.

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 Odyssey House!

Based in New York City, Odyssey House is no stranger to AWARDS. Since 2004, Odyssey House has been using AWARDS to document services provided to individuals for substance use recovery, mental health, medical care, education and job training, and much more. Like so many service organizations, they faced the common challenge of maintaining paper charts, and the costly and often redundant and cumbersome workflow that comes with it.  Additionally, these challenges were compounded by the unprecedented circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, and needing remote access to their data. 

By adopting electronic signatures, customized forms, the client file cabinet, and direct messaging with Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIOs), Odyssey House was able to break down the data silos that resulted from paper charts, as well as document services remotely, which they obviously couldn't do with paper charts.

Through a collaborative effort among their clinical leadership, direct-care and administrative staff, as well support provided by the Foothold technical and user support team, Odyssey House was able to increase and improve their digital documentation, and build reports to both quantify and fully assess their services in order to continually improve the care they provide.

Congratulations to Mary Callahan, Julie Cen, Jeremy King, and Jeff Savoy of Odyssey House as a 2021 Impact Prize winner!

In this edition, David takes a break from regulations and instead reflects on a lesson from the Olympics, inviting us all to take a moment to remember the importance of compassion and helping others, and why the work you all do is so critical.

By now, most everyone knows that the most decorated gymnast of all time made it through only one vault in what was to be her crowning moment of glory at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.  For those who don't follow the Olympics or sports in general, it was not a "physical injury" that stopped her, as Simore Biles would not let a simple injury curtail her focus on greatness. Rather there was something more painful and debilitating, something beyond the stress of expectations, which alone could debilitate any person. It became clear that there was something deeper that had been brewing within her for a very long time.  

We have since learned that there were a combination of issues, including stress that most can't imagine, combined with a series of traumas she has fought throughout her whole life, which eventually became too much.  Imagine one person dealing with a history of difficult foster care situations, being bullied in school because of her appearance, having ADHD, being a victim of sexual abuse by a person of trust, and having to live through a pandemic that resulted in not being able to do the one thing that has helped so much in working to overcome these many obstacles. 

Why is it important to look at this young woman as a role model for so many who suffer PTSD as a result of abuse from so many different sources? It is important because Simone Biles is someone who survived.  Someone who was able to use a network of support from teammates, competitors and others, all of whom cared about the person and not the athlete. The details of her trauma are not as critical as the fact that she has been able to live for so long with pain, confusion, aloneness of abuse, and the stress of expectations that comes with true greatness.  

I watched as she made, for her, a well below average vault, and then heard the news that she withdrew and admitted feeling ashamed. My first thought was that she just didn't want to lose and that withdrawing is easier to swallow than losing.  However, seeing the tears in eyes and the pain on her face, it was apparent that this was more than not wanting to lose. It became clear that much more was at stake - her mental health.

All this is to remind us that we never know when we will learn something new, or when we will be reminded of something we take for granted. The story of Simone Biles reminded me of something I take for granted too often and was another refresher for the one thing I will never forget.  I was reminded of all the great work you all do, and how you selflessly help people through their journey of recovery without judgment and without fanfare.  You do it because you are good, and without you, we as a society would be lost. So thank you. Thank you, thank you for all you do every day.

I am also reminded of how important it is to not jump to judgment, and to remember that preconceived ideas of someone, based on nothing more than expected norms and without consideration for their life experiences, is unfair - even for famous people who appear fine on the surface. 

I have multiple family members who suffer war time PTSD from their service in Vietnam and Desert Storm, and see daily the pain they live with and the distress felt by those who care deeply for them.  

My ask is for all of us to be a little more compassionate to others because we really do not know what they are dealing with, and to say thank you to those who work every day to help people without recognition. May we all no longer be bystanders, and instead be proactive members of society who help when people need help.