Homeless Management Information Systems HMIS

1
Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS)

• Sponsored by
• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
  (HUD)
• Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs
  (SNAPS)

2
What is an HMIS?Homeless Management Information
System

• A computerized data collection tool specifically
  designed to capture client level system-wide
  information over time on the characteristics and
  service needs of men, women, and children
  experiencing homelessness
• An HMIS is either a vendor developed software
  product or a communities homegrown software
  system
• An HMIS is NOT a stand alone, program specific
  database

3
Components of an HMIS

• Case Management
• Service Tracking
• Information and Referral (I R)
• Client Intake

4
Components of an HMIS

• Case Management
• client specific intake and tracking system
• ability to capture change over time
• goals and outcomes tracking
• Service Tracking
• services delivered by provider
• services received by clients
• ability to plan, schedule, and follow-up on
  delivery of services assess gaps across continuum

5
Congressional Directive

• Congress has directed HUD on the need for data
  and analysis on the extent of homelessness and
  the effectiveness of the McKinney Act Programs
  including
• developing unduplicated counts of clients served
  at the local level
• analyzing patterns of use of people entering and
  exiting the homeless assistance system and
• evaluating the effectiveness of these systems.

6
Congressional Directive

• HUD has been directed to analyze jurisdictional
  level data within 3 years
• The McKinney Act now allows SHP funds to pay for
  the costs of implementing and operating HMIS
  systems to meet the goals of this directive.

7
What is required and by when?

• Every Continuum of Care will implement an HMIS
  designed to collect
• Unduplicated counts
• Client level data
• By September, 2004

8
How SHP funds can be used

• SHP funds can be used to
• Implement a system
• Operate a system
• Analyze and report data
• Purchase hardware and software
• Cover staffing costs
• Types of applications funding options
• New or Expansion Project
• Dedicated or Shared SSO Projects
• Required 25 supportive services match

9
How SHP funds cannot be used

• Ineligible costs
• Planning a system
• Developing a new software

10
Non-SHP funding options

• ESG
• (CDBG)
• HOPWA
• Other Federal, State, Local, or Private Funds

11
Visioning the System

• To meet HUDs new requirement?
• To develop new regional collaboration
• To ensure continuity of care
• To speedy access to needed resources?
• All of the above?

12
Benefits of HMIS Implementation

• Decrease duplicative intakes
• Coordinate case management referrals
• Track client outcomes
• Prepare financial and program reports
• Understand scope of homelessness
• Identifying service gaps
• Inform program policy decisions

13
Stakeholder Participation

• Broad-based representation from the community is
  an essential component in the planning process
• Obtaining buy in from community partners is the
  key element to a successful implementation
• Who will be involved in the planning and
  operation of the HMIS?
• What is role of consumers in planning
  implementation of the HMIS?

14
Stakeholder Roles/Responsibilities

• What is the structure and organization of the
  planning group?
• How is consensus going to be reached on policies,
  agreements and procedures?
• How can technical expertise be added to a
  traditionally non technical group?
• How is the Project Management going to be
  determined and/or structured?

15
System Requirements Design

• Privacy/Confidentiality
• Minimal data elements
• Implementation Strategies
• System design/software selection
• Other (funding, proposal writing,etc.)

16
Privacy/Confidentiality

• What are the federal and state laws that affect
  the release and/or sharing of client level data?
• What is the community stakeholder position on
  sharing of client level data?
• Is written consent required to have information
  entered into the system?
• Will client level data be stored with or without
  identifying information?

17
Minimal Data Elements

• Unduplicated Count/Lengths of Stay
• Demographic Characteristics
• Income Levels and Sources
• Benefit Utilization and History
• Educational Status and History
• Employment Status and History
• Residential History
• Geographic Mapping of Last Residence
• Health Status
• Referral Sources and Eligibility
• Service Needs and Utilization
• Duration of Homelessness
• Outcomes Housing, Income, Employment, Other

18
Implementation Challenges

• Ownership and use of data
• Privacy issues
• Participating agency workloads and staff turnover
• Shifting resources from direct services to HMIS
• Concerns regarding support and cooperation
• Sustainability concerns
• Tech capacity skills of participating agencies

19
Assessment of Current Technical Capacity

• Identification of all existing systems in
  continuum or geographic area to be covered. For
  each system identify
• What data is included in each system?
• What platform is each system written in?
• Is there a common client identifier approach
  where data can be merged with or without name or
  social security number?

20
Articulating Community Needs

• The statement of requirements should include but
  not be limited to the following
• The core functions of the system
• The level of data in the system
  (aggregate/policy, case management, client
  access, I R, etc)
• The major categories of data (from reporting
  requirements)
• The technology to implement it
• The mechanisms by which the various stakeholders
  will participate in the daily use and operation
  of the system

21
Design Process

• Option 1 Merging or Upgrading existing systems
• Existing data systems can be aggregated in a
  centralized location to produce aggregate reports
  and unduplicated counts
• Option 2 Developing or purchasing a new system
  including vendor developed product
• Fully understand how the vendors system will fit
  requirements of your community by performing an
  assessment

22
Hardware

• Central server(s)
• Backup equipment
• Communications equipment
• Personal computers
• Printers

23
Data Hosting

• Data hosting refers to the location of the
  communitys data
• Options
• Local
• Central
• Through the communitys selected central server
  organization
• Through the HMIS vendors hosting services
• Hybrid (Parts local and Parts Central)

24
Security

• Decide on the levels of security for the system
• Issues to consider
• Physical access security
• Authentication security
• Data transmission security
• Record-level security
• Data element security

25
Required Central Skills

• Technical Support
• Analytical Capabilities
• Database Management Capabilities
• Networking/Connectivity Capabilities
• Project Management Approach

26
Systems Maintenance

• Technical Maintenance
• System Updates and Upgrades
• Database maintenance
• Handled by central staff coordinating the updates
  throughout the network
• Operational Maintenance
• New procedures, controls and features implemented
  locally by agencies
• In house or contracted out

27
Confidentiality Security

• Mechanisms for user authentication
• Passwords, Certificates
• Mechanisms to ensure continuity of service
• Backup and recovery infrastructure
• Mirroring
• Mechanisms to ensure data protection
• Encryption
• Mechanisms to prevent unauthorized access to
  resources
• Firewall

28
Technical Considerations

• Server Setup
• Firewall architecture
• Encryption and key management
• User access controls
• Password authentication
• Certificate management
• Penetration testing
• Audit trail

29
Lessons

• 1. Technology is the tool, not the goal
• 2. Work to strike a balance between
• The need to achieve proper security
• and
• The need to maintain operational efficiency