An important data element within HMIS is the Disabling Condition category. Disabling conditions, as defined by HUD, can contribute to a client’s potential eligibility for chronic homelessness, and may impact housing services and opportunities. It is therefore essential that these data elements are as accurate as possible.

Frequently, the fields associated with Disabling Conditions have missing data which can cause errors in the system for the agencies who entered the data. This article will cover the two main ways these errors can be found, and how to address errors when they arise.  
 

Where to Find Disabling Condition Errors 

The first and most efficient way to look for errors related to Disabling Condition is by running the HMIS Data Quality Report located in the Report Library under HUD Reports. 

In the Universal Data Elements category, the last data element listed is “Disabling Condition.” Here it will show the three types of errors that can possibly appear in this section which are: 

• Client Doesn’t Know/Prefers Not to Answer 
• Information Missing 
• Data Issues
  
  

 

The second place to look for errors related to Disabling Condition is in the monthly HMIS Health Check report sent out by the HMIS Team. HUD’s Eva tool each month to evaluate our community’s data for monthly “health checks.” In these reports Disabling Condition errors appear in the “Warnings” tab of the workbook under “Unknown Disabling Condition.”  

 

This “Issue” in the report can include any of the three error types listed in the HMIS Data Quality Report, so it is important to investigate each error individually to see what the exact issue is, whether it’s missing information, client doesn’t know, etc. 

 

How to Correct Each Type of Disabling Condition Errors

1. Client Doesn’t Know/Prefers Not to Answer  

This error type simply means the client either didn’t want to answer the question or didn’t know how to answer the question. If the information can be entered later, it should be. Otherwise, “Client doesn’t know” is appropriate only if it is the most accurate answer. This is still considered an error.  

2. Information Missing  
 

When this error type appears, it means no data was gathered and “Data not collected” was selected. This will always show up as an error because it is considered missing information. Ideally, this selection should be updated as soon as more accurate information becomes available.

3. Data Issues
This error type is a bit more involved, as there can be different factors that can cause the error to appear. Following the list of conditions there is another question titled “Disabling Condition.” Whenever “Yes” is answered for any of the conditions on the list, “Yes” or “No” must be selected for the “Disabling Condition” question.

Some conditions are automatically considered Disabling Conditions such as HIV – Aids and developmental disabilities. Other conditions are not always marked as disabling. An error box will appear anytime “yes” is the only acceptable answer.  

Examples:

In this case below, “yes” was selected for Mental Health Disorder and Substance Abuse Disorder. However, Disabling Condition was marked as “No” which caused the error.  

Additionally, the question “Long Term/Impairs Independent Living” will sometimes appear as well, in which case it is important to note if the condition is long term and severely impacts the client’s ability to live independently. 

 

Any time the “Long Term” question is marked as “Yes,” that means the condition is considered disabling.

 

Solution: Switch “Disabling Condition” answer to Yes since “Long Term/Impairs Independent Living” is marked as Yes.
  

In this case we see “yes” was selected for Developmental Disability but not for Disabling Condition. Certain conditions are automatically considered disabling conditions, two specific ones being HIV – Aids and Developmental Disabilities. For this reason, if “Yes” is selected for Developmental Disability, it will also need to be flagged for Disabling Condition. 

 

Solution: Switch “Disabling Condition” answer to Yes since Developmental Disability was marked as yes and that is automatically considered a Disabling Condition, as seen in the error message at the bottom.  

 

 
Contact 

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 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Monday-Friday (excluding holidays). 
 

When contacting HMIS Support about a particular client, please do not send personally identifiable information (PII) such as full name, social security number, or any other information used to determine a person's identity through email. Instead, please send the Clarity Unique Identifier found on the client's Clarity Profile page. You can use the messaging system in Clarity if you need to send personally identifying information.