State Homeless Prevention Workflow 2024 – Helpdesk - Homeless Management Information System (HMIS)

The following workflow outlines the steps that State Homeless Prevention providers will take, from receiving the referral from HPCC to enrolling in the State Homeless Prevention project and updating the referral to reflect the outcome.

Step 1: Receiving Referrals from HPCC

Case Managers or ATAs (may) receive an email from HPCC about a referral to the State Homeless Prevention project. Incoming Referrals can be viewed through creating a Counts Report via the home dashboard in HMIS. Please review our Counts Report Helpdesk article for details on configuring this for your project.

Below is an example of how the count report should be configured so that referrals for State Homeless Prevention can be reviewed. The count report allows for a date filter to be added, be sure to set this for This Quarter or All Dates. (Count reports included all referrals sent to the agency no matter if the referral is closed or has an end date. Ensure that the dates include the time for the referral not yet proceeded)

Once the Counts Report is configured, referred clients can be viewed by clicking the number in the corresponding cell. A window will populate all referred clients based on the date filter selected. Clients can then be selected by clicking on the client ID number. This will take the user to the client profile where the referral can be viewed via Service Transactions.

Step 2: Reviewing Client Contact Information

Prior to accessing the client record, make sure you are not in any EDA mode as this will limit visibility to the sub-assessment. This can be verified by ensuring that the "Enter Data As" field at the top right of the window is blank and does not contain a specific project.

Once on the Client Summary Tab, contact information for the referred client can be viewed in the Contact Information Sub assessment located in the Clients Profile tab. The sub-assessment can be found in the 3rd table from the top. Please note the contact information sub-assessment might take a few seconds to appear after clicking the Client Profile tab.

Clients who are unable to be contacted and will not participate in the project/services will not receive an enrollment into the project. The referral need status will need to be updated to indicate an unsuccessful referral. Skip to Step 4 for Updating Referral Need Status.

Client Profile

The Contact Information sub-assessment Should Not be accessed through the HPCC (644) enrollment.

Client Contact Information Subassessment Webinar - November 27th, 2023

Step 3: Enrollment into State HP Project

Clients who have been determined will not participate in the State Homeless Prevention project/services, meaning they will not receive an enrollment, should have their referral need status updated to indicate the referral was unsuccessful. Skip to Step 4 for Updating Referral Need Status.

Prior to enrolling the client into the project, a Release of Information needs to be added to the client record. Please review our helpdesk article on Documenting the client's consent through the ROI tab in HMIS.

A client can be entered into the State Homeless Prevention project through the Entry/Exit tab in HMIS. Only the Head of Household should be enrolled in the project. Additional household members will be included within the assessment of the Head of Household.

The assessment itself has two portions - one for the case management staff, and another section where All Chicago staff will approve or deny the request. All bold questions are required and will prevent the assessment from saving if not completed.

Additional Household Members

Additional household members can be added via the Additional Household Members Demographic Information sub-assessment. A separate entry should be created into this subassessment for every additional household member. Each member should be identified by the Relationship to Head of Household question.

Additional Preventive Services Provided

All services provided to the client should be included in the Additional Preventive Services Provided sub-assessment. Additional services can be added to the sub-assessment by clicking Add or Save and Add Another. It is encouraged that all services provided to the client be added to this section.

Sections in red should ONLY be filled out by All Chicago staff. This is only for All Chicago staff to approve or deny the case.

Once the assessment is complete, click Save.

Once approved or denied, exit the client from the project. This can be done by clicking the pencil next to the Exit Date column of the Entry/Exit. Only the Exit date and Destination questions will need to be completed. No Exit assessment will need to be done.

Step 4: Updating Referral Need Status

Need Statuses are the primary communication mechanism to understand referrals for State HP resources. Need Status allows everyone to understand the current status and the ultimate outcome of referrals. Providers are expected to update the need status to reflect whether the referral was successful, whether the client was ineligible, or whether they could not contact the client. Clients who are successful should also have an enrollment in the provider’s State Homeless Prevention project.

Updating the referral can be done by first clicking on the Service Transaction Tab under the client profile. Then click on Entire Service History. This will display the Need and Referral allowing the user to verify that the correct referral is being updated. Next, click on the pencil next to the Referral, this will then open a window that will allow the need status to be updated. (clicking on the pencil next to the Need will not allow the need status to be updated correctly)

Once open, at the bottom of the window is where the Need Status questions are located. Completing the required Need Status question should be one of the four statuses applicable for State Homeless Prevention. Below is a list of those Needs Statuses:

Applicable Need Statuses for State Homeless Prevention

SHP: Client Declined (for clients who were contacted but the client chose not to proceed)
SHP: Not Able to Contact Client (for instances where clients could not be contacted)
SHP: Client Ineligible
SHP: Client Enrolled

The Outcome of Need question should also be updated to indicate if the need was Met or Not Met.

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