Hello System Administrators,
We are excited to provide more detail on what to expect with this year’s HMIS Data Standards Updates. Below you'll find a summary of upcoming changes and what you need to do to prepare for October 1, 2019. Please review this information carefully. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask our friendly Technical Support Agents standing by.
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Please note: If Bitfocus provides your system administration services, your team is already planning for these changes and will work closely with you in the coming months to ensure a smooth rollout. Expect to hear more from your team this week!
Screen Updates: Bitfocus releases the 2020 screens to your system by September 15, 2019, so that you have time to customize them to your community’s data collection requirements before the October 1 go-live date. Please contact our Technical Support Agents if you have any questions about how to customize your standard screens.
Important Links
- Please be sure to review the 2020 HMIS Data Standards Resource Guide for additional information
- Please reference the material on the HUD 2020 HMIS Data Standards page, which includes the following resources (including information on backdating and mapping):
Upcoming Changes
2.01 Victim Service Provider
- Upcoming Changes: On October 1, the ‘Victim Service Provider’ field moved from the ‘Program Set Up’ page to within the ‘Agency Overview’ page.
- Next Steps for You: You won’t need to do anything; we’ve got this taken care of!
2.02 Program Setup: ‘HMIS Participating Project’ field
- Upcoming Changes: The ‘HMIS Participating Beds’ field is being mapped and moved from the ‘Bed/Unit Inventory’ records to the Program Set Up page as the ‘HMIS Participating Project’ field. For existing residential programs, if there is at least one current HMIS participating bed in the Bed/Unit Inventory, the ‘HMIS Participating Project’ field is set to ‘Yes’; otherwise, it is set to ‘No.’
- Next Steps for You: On October 1, 2019: For existing non-residential programs, the ‘HMIS Participating Project’ field is set to ‘Yes.’ It is recommended to review the program set up on October 1, and if a program is not an ‘HMIS Participating Project,’ then set the ‘HMIS Participating Project’ field to ‘No.’ This should be completed as soon as possible after October 1.
2.06 Funding Sources:
- Upcoming Changes: Three new funding sources will be added to the Funding Source dropdown:
- VA: Grant Per Diem - Case Management/Housing Retention
- HUD: CoC - Joint Component TH/RRH
- Local or Other Funding Sources
- Any existing custom funding values will be moved under ‘Local or Other Funding Sources’ from the ‘N/A’ value
- Picklist value "VA: Compensated Work Therapy Transitional Residence" will be retired and will be mapped to a new picklist item: ‘Local or Other Funding Sources.’
- Next Steps for You: On October 1: Any applicable funding sources should be updated on October 1. This should be completed as soon as possible after October 1.
2.07 Bed and Unit Inventory Information:
- Upcoming Changes: This update is essentially a full restructuring of the Bed/Unit Inventory in the system. As such, you must review the updates here .
- Next Steps for You:
- Starting Now: Review this Mapping Information Page to ensure you understand the upcoming bed/unit inventory restructure. This should be completed before October 1.
- Beginning October 1: When the mapping occurs on October 1, HUD strongly encourages System Administrators to review the Bed/Unit Inventories again and make adjustments where appropriate. This should be completed as soon as possible after October 1.
3.08 Disabling Condition:
- Upcoming Changes: When the updated system screens are released, ‘Disabling Condition’ will only appear on the Enrollment screen and no longer on ‘Status’ and ‘Exit’ screens; as per HUD guidance, this information should be collected at ‘Project Start’ and updated as necessary to reflect new information.
- Next Steps for You:
- On October 1: Update and collect ‘Disabling Condition’ on client Enrollment screens. This should be completed as soon as possible after October 1.
- On October 1: Use custom screens: Remove ‘Disabling Condition’ from custom Status and Exit screens. This should be completed as soon as possible after October 1.
3.917 Prior Living Situation - ‘Type of Residence’ Field
- Upcoming Changes:
- Interim Housing is being retired from the ‘Type of Residence’ field.
- A few picklist values are changing within the ‘Type of Residence’ picklist. On October 1, Bitfocus will map these field values automatically. You won’t need to make any updates here.
- There will be new picklist options added for the ‘Type of Residence’ field.
- Next Steps for You:
- Starting Now: Identify and backdate any clients with the Prior Living Situation ‘Type of Residence’ of (27) “Interim Housing” and update to the appropriate living situation, as of project start. This should be completed by, or shortly after, October 1.
4.06 Developmental Disability and 4.08 HIV/AIDS Data Elements:
- Upcoming Changes: For these two data elements (4.06 and 4.08), the dependent field “Substantially Impairs Independence” is no longer required and will be removed from the new System screens.
- Next Steps for You: You won’t need to do anything; we’ve got this taken care of!
4.11 Domestic Violence:
- Upcoming Changes: Data element ‘Domestic Violence’ fields will now be collected for PATH and SSVF programs. The ‘Domestic Violence’ fields will also appear on the applicable 2020 Enrollment and Status System screens and removed from the 2020 Exit System screens, as the data collection points are ‘Project Start, Update.'
- Next Steps for You: Beginning October 1, PATH, and SSVF programs are required to collect this information.
R3 Sexual Orientation:
- Upcoming Changes:
- A new picklist value ‘Other’ will be added to the Sexual Orientation field, with a corresponding dependent text field.
- Data collection will now also be required for HUD: CoC YHDP programs.
- Next Steps for You: On October 1: Any active clients in RHY and YHDP-funded programs should be updated accordingly. This should be completed as soon as possible after October 1.
R6 Employment Status:
- Upcoming Changes: The ‘Employment Status’ fields will be available for all VA: GPD funding streams in the 2020 System VA Enrollment and Exit screens.
- Next Steps for You: You won’t need to do anything; we’ve got this taken care of!
V2 SSVF Services Provided & V3 SSVF Financial Assistance:
- Upcoming Changes:
- Extended Shallow Subsidy
- Returning Home
- Rapid Resolution
- Financial Assistance - Extended Shallow Subsidy - rental assistance
- There will be new additional SSVF service items to configure for your SSVF programs on October 1 release:
- Next Steps for You:
- On October 1: The new service items should be configured for SSVF programs (Program Types: Rapid Re-housing and Homeless Prevention) to make available client service transactions. General instructions for configuring Service Items can be found in the Help Center article Creating Services . Guidance specific to setting up the new SSVF service items can be found here: SSVF Services Provided and Financial Assistance Service Updates Guidance. This should be completed as soon as possible after October 1.
- On October 1: Any records for active clients as of October 1, 2019, should be updated to reflect any applicable service transactions in these categories. This should be completed as soon as possible after October 1.
V6 VAMC Station Number Field:
- Upcoming Changes: This field will now also be available to VA: GPD, VA: CRS Contract Residential Services, and VA: Community Contract Safe Haven programs on the new VA System Enrollment screen.
- Next Steps for You: On October 1: Any records for active clients as of October 1, 2019, should be updated. This should be completed as soon as possible after October 1.
Site Type:
- Upcoming Change: ‘Site Type’ is no longer a required Data Standards field and will be removed from the Program Set Up screens.
- Next Steps for You: Starting Now: If you are running any Looker queries that utilize the program ‘Site Type’ field, replace ‘Site Type’ with ’Program Type’ in its place. If you have any questions about this, please contact the Technical Support Agents. This should be completed by, or shortly after, October 1.
Updated Field Picklists:
- Upcoming Changes: The following fields have updated picklist values, which you will notice in the system within the next few weeks as we make the updates. Don’t worry; these won’t affect your data entry or reporting and should not impact you at all. You will notice a few new picklist items that are prefaced “(DO NOT USE)” until October 1. The following fields have updated picklist values:
- 3.12 Destination
- 3.917 Prior Living Situation - Type of Residence
- P3 PATH Status - Reason Not Enrolled
- R3 Sexual Orientation
- Next Steps for You You won’t need to do anything; we’ve got this taken care of! You will notice some new picklist items appear between now and October 1, which include preface “(DO NOT USE)” until October 1. We are updating these ahead of schedule so that we can ensure a smooth transition on October 1.
Coordinated Entry Data Elements:
As you probably know by now, HUD is implementing new Coordinated Entry guidance in the HMIS Data Standards. This is the first year these are included in the Data Dictionary, and we are excited to roll these out to you as part of our larger Coordinated Entry package. The team is actively working on updating our system to align with the new guidance, and we will be releasing your details on the update within the next few weeks, so please stay tuned!
More Information Coming Soon on:
- 4.12: Current Living Situation - This will be incorporated as a new Additional Status Screen that can be set from within the program template to record ‘Current Living Situation’ occurrences and the required data element fields from within client program enrollments and mapping from the previous Contact service transactions will take place for historical records. Stay tuned for details on this update, which we will email you at the end of July!
- 4.19: Coordinated Entry Assessment - Stay tuned for details on this update, which we will email to you at the end of July!
- 4.20: Coordinated Entry Event - Stay tuned for details on this update, which we will email to you at the end of July!
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