BoS Coordinated Entry: Managing Housing Referrals

All HMIS PSH and RRH providers in the BoS CoC are expected to participate in coordinated entry, and serve only clients on the Prioritization List through referrals received from the Level 4 Access Point in the region where the housing opportunity exists.

As such, you will need to manage these referrals in HMIS in two ways: 1) Set up an Outstanding Incoming Referrals Counts Report, and 2) Close PSH/RHH referrals. The first part of this tip sheet demonstrates how to set up the Counts Report on your Community Services Home Page Dashboard. The second part will cover how to close referrals received.

Counts Report: Outstanding Incoming Referrals

From your Home Page Dashboard, you will open the customization options by clicking to the left of Customize Home Page Dashboard as indicated by the red arrow below.

Next, you will click on the Add Counts Report tile as shown.

The Counts Report dashlet now appears on your Home Page Dashboard. Click on the pencil icon to the left of Counts Report to open the Edit Dashlet window. Note: There are four quadrants available, so up to four count reports can be displayed on your Home Page Dashboard using this feature.

Follow these five steps to add the Outstanding Incoming Referrals Counts Report to the Top-Left quadrant.

1) Select Outstanding Incoming Referrals from the Report Name dropdown menu.
2) Set Select Dates to All Dates.
3) Set Provider Type to Provider.
4) Select your agency from the Provider dropdown menu. Do not select a specific project for your agency and leave Including Subordinates unchecked.
5) Click OK.

The blue number in the Outstanding Incoming Referrals Counts Report represents the number of open referrals sent to your agency and serves as a hyperlink to the Count Details.

In this window, you can see the Client ID, Referral Date and Need Type. If you scroll to the right, you will also see the Referred By Provider and Referred To Provider. Click on Client ID to view the client’s record and enrollment information recorded by the CES Access Point that placed the client on the PL.

In the client’s record, you can view information recorded at Project Start Date or Interims. To ensure you are reviewing the most current data, select Interims if any are recorded.

Closing PSH/RRH Referrals

HMIS PSH/RRH providers will close housing referrals made to them. The Level 4 access point will be responsible for closing housing referrals made to non-HMIS providers.

You can access the client’s record by using the Client ID hyperlink in the Outstanding Incoming Referrals Count Details window, or by searching for the client in the Clients tab. In the client’s record, click on the View Entire Service History tile from the Service Transactions tab.

In the All Service Transactions window, carefully identify the open “Homeless Permanent Supportive Housing” or “Rapid Re-Housing Programs” referral to your agency. The service transaction record includes two rows, one for Need information and one for the Referral information as indicated by the red outline below. The Need line will show the Level 4 Access Point that made the referral as the Provider, and the Need Status/Outcome should be “In Progress/Service Pending”. The Referral line will show your agency as the Provider. Click on the pencil icon to the left of the Referral. Note: The “Need” Provider may or may not be a project of the agency listed as the “Referral” Provider.

In the Edit Referral window, scroll all the way down to the Need Status and Outcome section. Change Need Status to Closed and Outcome to Fully Met or Not Met, whichever is appropriate for the client served. If Not Met is chosen, select one of the four following reasons: Could Not Contact Client, Client Not Eligible, Client Refused Service or Service Not Accessible. Note: The options All Services Full and Service Does Not Exist will never be selected. Click Save & Exit.

You will exit to the Referrals tab where you can see the referral is now Closed/Not Met.

Once the referral has been closed, the "Referred To" housing provider needs to follow up with the Level 4 Access Point that made the referral to let them know the outcome. If the client was housed, the Level 4 Access Point will exit the client from the appropriate MO BoS CoC CES provider to remove the client from the Prioritization List. If the client was not housed through this referral, the Level 4 Access Points needs to know this information to ensure the client is referred to the next housing opportunity.