After exhaustive software research, the Worcester County Continuum of Care found ETO HMIS by Social Solutions to be the best HMIS to meet its needs now and ongoing
The Challenge
The Worcester County Continuum of Care (CoC), with the assistance of McKinney funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), provides funding to 15 different agencies and dozens of programs. These programs provide services and 378 units of transitional or permanent housing for homeless individuals and families throughout Worcester County, Massachusetts. The agencies comprising the Worcester CoC had been using incompatible, home-grown data tracking methods, which could not be shared among agencies. Furthermore, their data collection and reporting tools did not meet HMIS standards, which put continued funding at risk.
To meet their HMIS requirements, the continuum needed a Web-based information system that would collect and report accurate, non-duplicate data on the homeless from these various HUD-funded agencies. They needed to draw uniform data across the continuum, comply with HUD technical, privacy, and security standards, and meet the more than 100 pages of data format specifications set out by the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA).
The Implementation
Since March 2005 the Worcester CoC has brought 15 agencies, more than 80 programs, and 180 staff onto the ETO HMIS system. In addition to customizing the system to meet the universal and program-specific HUD data requirements, Social Solutions tailored their system to meet the extensive data specifications of DTA. To ensure the non-duplication of client data, confidential personal information about the client was required, and the ETO HMIS system was able to collect and protect this data within the safety and security guidelines detailed in the HUD Technical Standards.
The Results
Social Solutions’ ETO HMIS transformed the administrative responsibility of HMIS into a mission enhancing tool for the Worcester CoC. With the successful integration of the ETO HMIS , Worcester CoC organizations don’t just send their HMIS data to HUD, they are able
to take advantage of HMIS data, along with their own important benchmarks, as part of a powerful case management and quality assurance tool. From an efficiency standpoint, the Worcester CoC was able to replace cumbersome filing systems, spreadsheets, and databases with a comprehensive, cohesive solution that unites the continuum. The agencies are now able to report on all services delivered to a client across multiple programs and generate more than 300 standard reports at the click of a mouse.
Read more about HMIS and ETO Software.