HMIS Discharge Policy

The HMIS Discharge Policy tip sheet has been developed to give some baseline guidance on when to exit clients in HMIS. To determine when to exit a client/household from HMIS, consideration must be given to the project type and services provided. In addition, each individual client in a household will have their own Project Exit Date. If one member of a household leaves the project before the rest of the household, the leaver’s exit date should reflect the actual day that client left the project.

Residential Projects

For residential projects, this date represents the last day of a continuous stay in the project before the client transfers to another residential project or otherwise stops residing in the project. For example, if a person checked into an overnight shelter on October 30, 2018, stayed overnight and left in the morning, the exit date for that shelter stay would be October 31, 2018.

Clients in rapid re-housing projects are to be exited after the last RRH service is provided. If eligible RRH case management services are provided past the final date of receiving rental assistance, for example, the client must not be exited until those services cease.

Non-Residential Projects

For non-residential projects, the exit date must represent the last day a contact was made, or a service was provided. The exit date should coincide with the date the client is no longer considered a participant in the project. Projects must have a clear and consistently applied procedure for determining when a client who is receiving supportive services is no longer considered to be participating in the project. For example, if a person has been receiving weekly counseling as part of an ongoing treatment project and either formally terminates their involvement or fails to return for counseling, the last date of service is the date of the last counseling session.

In a street outreach services project, similarly, clients may be exited when the outreach worker has been unable to locate the client for an extended period of time (typically 90 days) and there are no recorded contacts. In addition, the client may be exited upon entering another project type, finding housing, engaging with another outreach project, or passing away. Under those circumstances the Project Exit Date would be the date the “qualifying” event occurred.

If a client uses a service for just one day (i.e., starts and stops before midnight of same day), then the Project Exit Date may be the same as the Project Start Date.

Data Monitoring Plan

Monitoring exits as part of your Data Monitoring Plan

In addition, there are reports in WellSky Community Services that can identify clients that need to be exited and/or used as data monitoring tools to ensure all clients/household members were exited appropriately. The frequency at which you should run these reports depends mainly on client turnover, so keeping up with data entry needs is manageable for each of your projects. Please find the links to tip sheets for these reports below.

Program Roster: Basic information about clients with an entry/exit for the selected provider during the report date range.

Services Provided Report: Basic information about clients with service transactions recorded for the selected provider during the report date range.

Last Contact Report for Street Outreach and Supportive Services Projects: Shows clients with a current entry in the selected Street Outreach or Supportive Services project and contacts recorded.

Sample Discharge Policy

Given this guidance, a simple discharge policy could look like this:

Clients in residential projects (facility-based ES/TH/PSH) are exited in HMIS with a Project Exit Date that reflects the client’s last day of occupancy in that project. Clients in non-residential projects (voucher-based ES/RRH/PSH, Street Outreach and Prevention) are exited with a Project Exit Date that reflects the last date of service or, for Street Outreach only, the last date of contact.

To ensure all leavers have been properly exited in HMIS, our agency runs the (specify report name) on a (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly) basis for review and comparison to internal documentation.