COORDINATED ENTRY IN MINNESOTA HMIS DATA ENTRY INSTRUCTIONS HOUSING PROVIDERS REFERRALS WORKFLOW

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COORDINATED ENTRY IN MINNESOTA HMIS DATA ENTRY INSTRUCTIONS HOUSING PROVIDERS REFERRALS WORKFLOW Last Updated: May 15, 2018 Primary Audience: Housing providers receiving referrals from the

If you are not sure whether these instructions apply to you, contact the HMIS Helpdesk at mnhmis@icalliances.org and/or contact your region s Priority List Manager.

1 COORDINATED ENTRY IN MINNESOTA HMIS DATA ENTRY INSTRUCTIONS HOUSING PROVIDERS REFERRALS WORKFLOW Last Updated: May 15, 2018 Primary Audience: Housing providers receiving referrals from the Coordinated Entry Priority List IMPORTANT: These instructions are specifically for housing providers within CoCs utilizing the CES Referrals Workflow. If you are not sure whether these instructions apply to you, contact the HMIS Helpdesk at and/or contact your region s Priority List Manager. Summary: Housing providers may engage in up to five actions in HMIS when it comes to Coordinated Entry: 1) Provisionally accepting a referral 2) Declining or Cancelling a referral 3) Returning a client to the Priority List 4) Tracking key dates between provisional acceptance and final outcome 5) Updating assessment data Each of these actions contains a separate set of steps that must be followed with precision. Overlooking even one step will result in gaps in the data and significant limitations in system functionality. Please help contribute to the success of CES by keeping these instructions close at hand until you are absolutely confident you know the process backwards and forwards. Contact the HMIS Helpdesk if you have questions! Note that the entity responsible for completing each action (and steps within each action) can vary by CoC. In some regions, the housing providers complete all these steps, while in other regions, the Priority List Manager may actually carry out some steps. Throughout this document, this red magnifying glass will show up if you need to refer to your local CES policies & procedures for further clarity on whether or not you are responsible. There will also be a red box for you to input your own clarifying notes. Page 1 of 13

Failure to do so means that person will remain active on the list, creating many complications and needless extra steps for Priority List Managers.

2 PROVISIONALLY ACCEPTING A REFERRAL IMPORTANT: You must complete this step for EVERY referral you receive from CES as soon as possible. Even if you suspect or know that you may ultimately decline/cancel the referral, you must still complete this step. This ensures continuity and accuracy of data entry across the system. Failure to do so means that person will remain active on the list, creating many complications and needless extra steps for Priority List Managers. Provisionally accepting the referral does not mean that you are for sure proceeding with enrollment or anything else it s primary function is to formally signal to the system that you have simply received the referral. It is the equivalent of signing for a UPS package! (aka you don t review the package s contents prior to signing for it.) Any subsequent actions are then tracked through other steps. 1. Click on Enter Data As (EDA) and select your project provider (the housing project that has an opening the client may be filling at your agency) to enter EDA mode. 2. Open the client s record for the client you are going to accept from the Priority List. 3. Do not backdate. You will use today s date as that is the day you will be removing the client from the Priority List. This may be different than the date your Priority List Manager initially contacted you with the referral information. 4. Click on the Service Transactions tab and then select View Entire History. 5. Click on the Edit Pencil to the left of the referral you want to accept. Pro-tip: If the Entire Service History has a lot of lines and it s hard to find the Priority List referral, you can click on the Referrals tab instead to get a narrowed down list of just those types of Service Transactions. 2 of 13

6. Under the Referral Data section, change the Referral Outcome dropdown to Accepted. 7. Under Need Status and Outcome: o Select Closed for Need Status. o Select Fully Met for Outcome of Need.

Under Service Information, Click on Provide Service. NOTE: DO NOT FORGET THIS STEP!!! It is very easy to miss.

3 6. Under the Referral Data section, change the Referral Outcome dropdown to Accepted. 7. Under Need Status and Outcome: o Select Closed for Need Status. o Select Fully Met for Outcome of Need. NOTE: To reiterate, this does NOT mean you are committing to proceeding with the referral or enrolling the individual. This is all still just part of the provisional acceptance. 8. Under Service Information, Click on Provide Service. NOTE: DO NOT FORGET THIS STEP!!! It is very easy to miss. Again, this does NOT mean you are formally committing to proceed with services or enrollment. This is simply the name of the button in Servicepoint. The Service at this point is just receiving the referral. 9. The Add Service screen will then open. Under Referral Information, Service Provider should already be filled out as your project provider provisionally accepting the referral (notice this in the Step 10 screencap). This is critical information, as it populates the Priority List report so everyone knows which provider received the referral. 3 of 13

10. Make the End Date the same as the Start Date by simply clicking the little green-check-calendar button. 11.

Skip Provider Specific Service. 13. Click on Save & Continue. 14.

Scroll to the bottom and click on Save & Exit. 16. You have now provisionally accepted the referral!

4 10. Make the End Date the same as the Start Date by simply clicking the little green-check-calendar button. 11. For Service Type, click on Make Service same as Need, auto-populating the box below with Housing/Shelter. 12. Skip Provider Specific Service. 13. Click on Save & Continue. 14. Upon clicking Save & Continue, a new screen will load with a lot of different sections. SKIP ALL OF THESE SECTIONS. 15. Scroll to the bottom and click on Save & Exit. 16. You have now provisionally accepted the referral! The client will no longer appear on the Priority List as awaiting a referral to housing (and thus will not be referred to other housing programs simultaneously). This is what it looks like when the Provisional Acceptance steps have been successfully followed: Note the tidy trio: Need, Referral, Service! 4 of 13

DECLINING OR CANCELLING A REFERRAL When to Cancel: If your agency is not going to proceed with the referral and the client is no longer in need of homeless-specific housing options (ie they are

5 DECLINING OR CANCELLING A REFERRAL When to Cancel: If your agency is not going to proceed with the referral and the client is no longer in need of homeless-specific housing options (ie they are moving out of state, entering an institution long-term, etc), you will follow these steps to Cancel the referral. When to Decline: In contrast, if the client is not proceeding with your program, but they are still in need of homeless-specific housing options, you will follow these same steps to Decline the referral. These actions alone do NOT automatically return a person to the Priority List that step is covered in the next section. 1. Click on Enter Data As (EDA) and select your housing project provider (the one the client was originally referred to) You do not need to backdate. 3. Open the client s record for the client you are going to Decline. 4. Click on the Service Transactions tab and View Entire Service History. 5. Click on the Edit Pencil to the left of the referral you provisionally accepted to edit the referral status. 1 Note that this is a change to the workflow effective as of the date these instructions are released. Previous instructions had users complete these steps from their CES Referrals provider. If you still do that by accident, DON T WORRY! Everything will still go through appropriately. After reviewing several months of CES implementation, it was simply determined the keeping the Accept/Cancel/Decline actions all under the housing provider EDA is more consistent and intuitive. 5 of 13

6 6. Under Referral Data, change the Referral Outcome from Accepted to Declined or Cancelled, depending on the situation. 7. Select the Reason. 8. Under Need Status and Outcome: o Change the Outcome of Need to Not Met. 9. Click Save. 6 of 13

10. OPTIONAL, BUT EXTREMELY VALUABLE: Scroll back to the top of the page. Under Need Information, there is a place to enter notes. This may be useful for other providers participating in CES.

7 10. OPTIONAL, BUT EXTREMELY VALUABLE: Scroll back to the top of the page. Under Need Information, there is a place to enter notes. This may be useful for other providers participating in CES. Click on the pencil to edit the Notes field. 11. Click on Save and Exit. 12. If the client needs to be placed back on the Priority List, proceed to the next section! RETURNING A DECLINED CLIENT TO THE PRIORITY LIST Individuals that DO NOT proceed with enrollment in your program but are still in need of a housing option must be returned to the Priority List. Depending on the CoC, this may be the responsibility of the Priority List Managers or the housing providers. Consult your local policies to determine if you must complete this step yourself or if you will instead notify the PLM of this need outside of HMIS. 1. Click on Enter Data As (EDA) and select your Coordinated Entry Referrals provider. 2. Enter the client s record and navigate to the Service Transactions tab and View Entire Service History. 3. Take note of the date the client was originally referred to the Priority List. 4. Back date to the date they were originally referred. (In this instructional example, that is 3/1/2018). NOTE: Backdating here is valuable, as it will preserve the date they were originally added to the Priority List, even though you are going to be creating a new referral to the Priority List. 7 of 13

5. Click on the Referrals tab. Then click Add Referral. 6.

Under Needs Assignment, select the service transaction type Housing/Shelter from the Service Code Quicklist, and

It will look like nothing has happened, but if you scroll to bottom, you will see the service transaction type

Under Referral Provider Quicklist, select the Priority List provider for your CoC and click Add Provider.

8 5. Click on the Referrals tab. Then click Add Referral. 6. Under Household Members, make sure ONLY the Head of Household is selected. DO NOT select the entire household! 7. Under Needs Assignment, select the service transaction type Housing/Shelter from the Service Code Quicklist, and then click Add Terms. It will look like nothing has happened, but if you scroll to bottom, you will see the service transaction type listed under Selected Needs. 8. Under Referral Provider Quicklist, select the Priority List provider for your CoC and click Add Provider. Again, it will appear that nothing has happened, but if you scroll down to Selected Providers, you ll see your Priority List provider was added. 9. The Needs Referral Date under Referral Data will be pre-populated with the system date, which should be set to the referral date. (Meaning you don t have to change it.) 10. Do not use the Referral Ranking drop down list. 8 of 13

11. Add the appropriate VI-SPDAT score by clicking on Search, then click the green plus next to their entry from your region s CES Assessment.

If there s no override score (which most clients will not have), then it will show up as MISSING on the priority list and they will not be prioritized appropriately

Under Selected Needs, set the Need Status/Outcome column to Identified in first drop-down and Service Pending in second drop-down. 14. Click Save All. 15.

9 11. Add the appropriate VI-SPDAT score by clicking on Search, then click the green plus next to their entry from your region s CES Assessment. IMPORTANT: This is a critical step! If you do not attach a VI-SPDAT score, the system will search for an override score from the assessment. If there s no override score (which most clients will not have), then it will show up as MISSING on the priority list and they will not be prioritized appropriately for future referrals. Here is what you will then see: 12. Date of Need should be the same as Referral Date (Needs Referral Date). 13. Under Selected Needs, set the Need Status/Outcome column to Identified in first drop-down and Service Pending in second drop-down. 14. Click Save All. 15. Under the Entire Service History tab, you should now see a Need and Referral. The client will now appear on your Priority List report. (For illustration purposes only: below old referral series is highlighted in red and new series is highlighted in green). 9 of 13

TRACKING KEY DATES BETWEEN PROVISIONAL ACCEPTANCE AND FINAL OUTCOME Your CoC may wish to track certain key dates between being provisionally accepted to actually being housed, utilizing the CES Date

Refer to your local policies and procedures for clarification. 1.

10 TRACKING KEY DATES BETWEEN PROVISIONAL ACCEPTANCE AND FINAL OUTCOME Your CoC may wish to track certain key dates between being provisionally accepted to actually being housed, utilizing the CES Date Tracking Subassessment. This information will be tracked within your CoC s CES Assessment under the Assessments tab. This step may not apply to all CoCs and/or each CoC may track different dates. Refer to your local policies and procedures for clarification. 1. Click on Enter Data As (EDA) and select your housing project provider (the project that has an opening the client may be filling at your agency) to enter EDA mode. 2. Enter the client s record. 3. If you are not doing live or same day data entry, backdate to the information date (in pop-up or by clicking on Back Date ). 4. In the Assessments tab, open your CoC s CES Assessment. NOTE: If you do not have this assessment as an option in the drop-down, contact Helpdesk to have it added. 5. Navigate to the CES Date Tracking sub-assessment. This may be at the top or the bottom of the page. 6. Add a record by answering the data elements in the pop-up. 7. Click on Save in pop-up. 10 of 13

11 UPDATING ASSESSMENT DATA Housing providers may have a role to play in keeping Assessment data up-to-date, depending on their local CoC policies. Please refer to local documents for clarification. 1. Click on Enter Data As (EDA) and select your Coordinated Entry Referrals provider. 2. Enter the client s record. 3. If you are not doing live or same day data entry, backdate to the information date (in pop-up or by clicking on Back Date ). 4. In the Assessments tab, make select your region s CES Assessment and make any needed updates. NOTE: If you are missing your region s CES Assessment, first make sure you are EDA ed properly. If you still can t see it, contact Helpdesk ASAP. This is a very quick fix! UPDATING TEXT BOXES OR DROP-DOWN MENUS Simply overwrite the previous answer in order to update the response. Drop-Down Text Box UPDATING SUB-ASSESSMENTS For some sub-assessments (tables throughout the assessment), it is important to END previous answers that are no longer accurate so that they do not appear on the Priority List Report. You do NOT, however, need to update all sub-assessments with an end date as some entries won t change. Sub-assessments with responses you do NOT need to END Housing Summary CES Date Tracking Vi-SPDAT Sub-assessments with responses you DO need to END (as available) Assessor Info Step 1 Assessor Info Step 2 CoC Preferences Housing Preferences Current Case Manager Legal Involvement Barriers to Housing Monthly Household Income Demographic Information of Children in Household Household Disability Information 11 of 13

a. Click on the Edit Pencil for the line item you want to end. b. Add an End Date and cl

If the record set was entered by another agency you will most likely not be able to delete that record.

Please consult with your region s Priority List Manager prior to engaging in this kind of update. a. If you re-assessed a client, you ll create a NEW VI-SPDAT on your region s CES Assessment.

12 a. Click on the Edit Pencil for the line item you want to end. b. Add an End Date and click Save. c. In order to delete a sub-assessment entry that was created in error, you need to have created or entered the data in order to delete the record set. If the record set was entered by another agency you will most likely not be able to delete that record. UPDATING A VI-SPDAT In very specific circumstances, a housing provider may update a VI-SPDAT or add a new score. This is not a common action for housing providers to take. Please consult with your region s Priority List Manager prior to engaging in this kind of update. a. If you re-assessed a client, you ll create a NEW VI-SPDAT on your region s CES Assessment. You then will need to update the referral VI-SPDAT score you previously entered. Go to the Service Transaction tab and click on the tile for Entire Service History. Find the correct referral and click on the Edit Pencil on the left. Under the Referral Data section, find the VI-SPDAT score. Click on search, then click on the green plus sign to add the new score. Then click Save and Exit to update the referral. b. If you need to update an existing VI-SPDAT due to error, click the edit pencil next to the VI-SPDAT. Make the necessary changes and click on Save at the bottom. The new score will automatically update on the referral, so you do not need to re-attach the VI-SPDAT if you only edited the previously attached VI-SPDAT. 12 of 13

13 ENROLLING A CLIENT IN YOUR PROGRAM (SEPARATE FROM CES WORKFLOW) 1. Follow the data entry instructions for enrolling the client/household in your housing provider (these are typically funder-specific). These are all available at 13 of 13

COORDINATED ENTRY WORKFLOW HMIS DATA ENTRY INSTRUCTIONS

COORDINATED ENTRY WORKFLOW HMIS DATA ENTRY INSTRUCTIONS Access Points Data Entry Steps Page 1 4 Housing Agencies Data Entry Steps Page 5 10 ACCESS POINTS DATA ENTRY STEPS ( STEP 2 ) Access Points have