OMH PCS 2021

IMPORTANT! This portion of Online Help describes functionality specifically configured to meet requirements for programs in New York state.

The New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) is once again using an online data collection system for the 2021 Patient Characteristics Survey (PCS), with the survey week set for October 25 to October 31. The 2021 PCS tool in AWARDS has been updated to meet OMH's file upload specifications for 2021, and has been made available in your AWARDS database ahead of the opening of this year's OMH practice platform. As with previous years, programs will be able to work with the PCS in AWARDS during the practice platform period, and then complete the PCS survey using AWARDS after the survey week is complete and upload the data directly to OMH.

PCS features in AWARDS include:

Survey questions are pre-populated where it makes sense; however, all but a few key demographic fields are editable in the actual survey form.

Users can decide if the full client roster should be available for survey completion, or if AWARDS should filter the data entry roster based on actual survey week attendance/services data (as it will do for the actual data file).

PCS survey reports and error logs are available so data can be reviewed and corrected prior to uploading.

Prior to the survey week, AWARDS will reflect 9/13/21 - 9/19/21 as the survey week to allow for file generation for the practice platform. On 10/25 the survey week in AWARDS will be updated to reflect the actual survey week of 10/25/21 - 10/31/21.

The PCS 2021 - Instruction Sheet walks users through the one-time setup procedures - including activating the form for relevant programs - as well as entering, reviewing, and correcting PCS data, and generating the data file. Please reference the OMH PCS Site for details on the upload process and 2021 timeline.