Rationale
To determine whether clients are accessing all mainstream medical assistance benefits for which they may be eligible and to ascertain a more complete picture of changes to economic circumstances between project start and exit.
Data Entry Instructions
Health Insurance data collected at project start and project exit are to reflect the information as of the date of project start and the date of project exit. 'Information Date' for those records must reflect the date of project start and the date of project exit, respectively.
If the response to 'Covered by Health Insurance' is ‘No,’ no further data collection is required. If the response is 'Yes,' record whether or not the client is covered by each of the listed insurance types. If required by a funder, enter the reason why such insurance is not being received for each health insurance source.
Applying for coverage through a healthcare exchange could result in a person receiving subsidized private health insurance or it could result in the person receiving Medicaid. If the client's health coverage is through a private provider (even if it is heavily subsidized), record it as Private Pay Health Insurance.
If the client's health coverage is through Medicaid (even if it was accessed through a healthcare exchange website), record it as Medicaid.
Health Insurance is intended to identify actual health insurance sources. Indigent care received by a medical provider or hospital to cover a health care costs does not constitute health insurance coverage and should not be recorded as health insurance.
Medical and dental health coverage provided through Ryan White funding is not considered health insurance. If this is the only health coverage a client has, record ‘No’ in the field 'Covered by Health Insurance.' Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA) providers record Ryan White health services in data element W3 Medical Assistance (see HOPWA Program HMIS Manual).
Recording Health Insurance Changes During a Project Stay
Status Update Assessment
Changes in a client's Health Insurance must be recorded at any time during a project stay by entering the new information in a Status Update available from the 'Assessment' tab.
If a client's health insurance information was recorded incorrectly at project start, update, assessment, or exit, correct the existing record.
Annual Update
A Health Insurance record must be created as part of an annual assessment for all clients residing in a project one year or more, even if there is no change in coverage. 'Information Date' for those records must reflect the date of the data collection, which must be no more than 30 days before or after the anniversary of the head of household's Project Start Date. The annual assessment must include updating both the head of household's record and any other family members at the same time.
More Resources
For more detailed and the most up-to-date information regarding HUD required HMIS Program Data Elements, please find the Data Standards Manual here: HMIS Data Standards - HUD Exchange.
Contact Us
If you need help, or wish to offer suggestions or feedback, please contact the Cincinnati/Hamilton County HMIS support team at HMISsupport@end-homelessness.org or by calling 513-263-2790 9:00am - 3:00pm Monday-Friday (excluding holidays).
When contacting HMIS Support, please do not include any Personal Identifiable Information (PII) such as names, social security numbers, birth dates, etc. Please only use the Clarity Unique Identifier found on the Clarity client profile page.