Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2011/12/09/2011-31634/homeless-management-information-systems-requirements
Timestamp: 2015-05-26 09:32:32
Document Index: 745503100

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 580', '§ 580', '§ 580', '§ 580', '§ 580', '§ 580', '§ 580', '§ 580', '§ 580', '§ 580', '§ 580', '§ 580', '§ 580', 'art 578', '§ 580', '§ 580', '§ 580', '§ 91', 'ART 576', '§ 576', '§ 576', '§ 576', '§ 576', '§ 576', '§ 576', '§ 576', '§ 576', 'art 580', '§ 582', '§ 582', '§ 582', 'art 580', '§ 583', '§ 583', '§ 583', 'art 580', 'ART 580', '§ 580', '§ 580', '§ 580', '§ 580', '§ 580', '§ 580', '§ 580', '§ 580', '§ 580', '§ 580', '§ 580', '§ 580', '§ 580', '§ 580', '§ 580', '§ 580', '§ 580', '§ 580']

Federal Register | Homeless Management Information Systems Requirements
Dates: Comment Due Date. February 7, 2012.
-76927 (11 pages)
Shorter URL: https://federalregister.gov/a/2011-31634 Related Topics
Purpose and Scope (§ 580.1)
Definitions (§ 580.3)
Responsibilities for HMIS Administration (§ 580.5)
Duties of the Continuum of Care (§ 580.7)
Duties of the HMIS Lead (§ 580.9)
Funding for HMIS (§ 580.21)
Eligible Activities (§ 580.23)
Carrying Out HMIS Activities (§ 580.25)
HMIS Governance Standards (§ 580.31)
HMIS Technical Standards (§ 580.33), HMIS Security Standards (§ 580.35), and Data Quality Standards and Management (§ 580.37)
Maintaining and Archiving Data (§ 580.51)
Public Inspection of Public Comments. All properly submitted comments and communications submitted to HUD will be available for public inspection and copying between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., eastern time, weekdays at the above address. Due to security measures at the HUD Headquarters building, an advance appointment to review the public comments must be scheduled by calling the Regulations Division at (202) 708-3055 (this is not a toll-free number). Individuals with speech or hearing impairments may access this number through TTY by calling the Federal Information Relay Service at (800) 877- 8339. Copies of all comments submitted are available for inspection and downloading at http://www.regulations.gov.
I. Background—HEARTH Act Back to Top
Commencing in 2004, HUD has required recipients of McKinney-Vento Act funds to collect electronic data on their homeless clients through HMIS.
HMIS is a software application used to collect demographic information on people served. The purpose of HMIS is to record and store client-level information about the numbers, characteristics and needs of persons who use homeless housing and supportive services and about persons who receive assistance for persons at risk of homelessness over time, to produce an unduplicated count of homeless persons for each Continuum of Care; to understand the extent and nature of homelessness locally, regionally and nationally; and to understand patterns of service use and measure the effectiveness of programs.
This section establishes that the Continuum of Care is responsible for making decisions about HMIS management and administration. As provided in the Definition section of this rule, Continuum of Care means the group composed of representatives of organizations, including nonprofit homeless providers, faith-based organizations, governments, businesses, advocates, public housing agencies, school districts, social service providers, mental health agencies, hospitals, universities, affordable housing developers, and law enforcement, that serve homeless and formerly homeless veterans, and homeless and formerly homeless persons that carry out the responsibilities delegated to a Continuum of Care under HUD's regulations in 24 CFR part 578. The Continuum of Care is responsible for ensuring that the HMIS for the Continuum of Care is operated in accordance with the provisions of the new regulations and other applicable laws.
This section identifies the activities that are needed to administer and run an HMIS. The activities listed in § 580.23(a) may be carried out only by the HMIS Lead. This is because the HMIS Lead is the only organization given the authority by the Continuum of Care to make system-wide decisions regarding the HMIS that impact all CHOs within the Continuum and because all of these activities relate to administering the system on behalf of the Continuum and the CHOs. The activities listed in § 580.23(b) are activities that every organization that contributes data to an HMIS will need to do. If an HMIS Lead also operates a project and contributes data to the HMIS, it will carry out these activities in addition to those listed under § 580.23(a). This section also clarifies that operation of a comparable database by victim service providers and legal service providers is an eligible HMIS activity.
The importance of the integrity and security of HMIS cannot be overstated. Given such importance, it is equally important that HMIS is administered and operated under high standards of data quality and security. To strive to meet this objective, this section requires the HMIS Lead to adopt policies and procedures for the operation of its HMIS. These policies and procedures must not only meet HUD standards, but as this regulatory section specifies, the policies and procedures must meet applicable state or local governmental requirements. This section also emphasizes that the HMIS Lead and the CHOs are jointly responsible for ensuring that HMIS data processing capabilities, including the collection, maintenance, use, disclosure, transmission, and destruction of data and the maintenance privacy, security, and confidentiality protections. In particular, governing policies and procedures must allow any CHO that is also a covered entity under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to make disclosures of protected health information in a manner that fully complies with the HIPAA privacy and security rules.
III. Solicitation of Public Comment Back to Top
The burden of the information collections in this proposed rule is estimated as follows: Reporting and Recordkeeping Burden Back to Top
580.5Responsibility for HMIS administration
580.7Duties of the Continuum of Care
580.9(a)Duties of the HMIS Lead—Ensure operation and participation
580.9(b)Duties of the HMIS Lead—Develop written policies
580.9(c)Duties of the HMIS Lead—Execute participation agreements
580.9(e)Duties of the HMIS Lead—Monitor and Enforce Compliance
580.9(f)Duties of the HMIS Lead—Develop plans
580.25(d)Carrying out HMIS Activities—Standards for Comparable Database
580.31(c)Unduplicated Count
580.31(f)Implementing specifications
580.35(d)(1)Administrative Safeguards—Security Officer
580.35(d)(2)Workforce Security
580.35(d)(3)Security Awareness Training and Follow-up
580.35(d)(4)Reporting Security Incidents
580.35(d)(5)Disaster Recovery Plan
580.35(6)Annual Security Review
580.35(7)Contracts and Other Arrangements
580.37(c)Data Quality Benchmarks
2. In § 91.5, the definition of “Homeless Management Information System (HMIS)” is revised to read as follows:
PART 576—EMERGENCY SOLUTIONS GRANTS PROGRAM Back to Top
42 U.S.C. 11371 et seq., 42 U.S.C. 3535(d).
4. In § 576.2, the definition of “homeless management information system (HMIS)” is revised, and the definition of “HMIS Lead” is added, to read as follows:
§ 576.2 Definitions.
§ 576.107 HMIS component.
6. In § 576.400, paragraph (f) is revised to read as follows:
§ 576.400 Area-wide systems coordination requirements.
7. In § 576.500, paragraphs (b) and (x)(1)(i) are revised to read as follows:
§ 576.500 Recordkeeping and reporting requirements.
(b) Homeless status. The recipient must maintain and follow written intake procedures to ensure compliance with the homeless definition in § 576.2. The procedures must require documentation at intake of the evidence relied upon to establish and verify homeless status. The procedures must establish the order of priority for obtaining evidence as third-party documentation first, intake worker observations second, and certification from the person seeking assistance third. However, lack of third-party documentation must not prevent an individual or family from being immediately admitted to emergency shelter, receiving street outreach services, or being immediately admitted to shelter or receiving services provided by a victim service provider. A certificate or other appropriate service transaction recorded in an HMIS or other database that meets the standards prescribed by HUD in 24 CFR part 580 is acceptable evidence of third-party documentation and intake worker observations.
42 U.S.C. 3535(d), and 11403-11407b.
9. In § 582.301, paragraph (b) is revised to read as follows:
§ 582.301 Recordkeeping.
(b) Homeless status. The recipient must maintain and follow written intake procedures to ensure compliance with the homeless definition in § 582.5. The procedures must require documentation at intake of the evidence relied upon to establish and verify homeless status. The procedures must establish the order of priority for obtaining evidence as third-party documentation first, intake worker observations second, and certification from the person seeking assistance third. However, lack of third-party documentation must not prevent an individual or family from being immediately admitted to emergency shelter, receiving street outreach services, or being immediately admitted to shelter or receiving services provided by a victim service provider, as defined in section 401(32) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, as amended by the HEARTH Act. A certificate or other appropriate service transaction recorded in an HMIS or other database that meets the standards prescribed by HUD in 24 CFR part 580 is acceptable evidence of third-party documentation and intake worker observations.
42 U.S.C. 3535(d) and 11389.
11. In § 583.301, paragraph (b) is revised to read as follows:
§ 583.301 Recordkeeping.
(b) Homeless status. The recipient must maintain and follow written intake procedures to ensure compliance with the homeless definition in § 583.5. The procedures must require documentation at intake of the evidence relied upon to establish and verify homeless status. The procedures must establish the order of priority for obtaining evidence as third-party documentation first, intake worker observations second, and certification from the person seeking assistance third. However, lack of third-party documentation must not prevent an individual or family from being immediately admitted to emergency shelter, receiving street outreach services, or being immediately admitted to shelter or receiving services provided by a victim service provider, as defined in section 401(32) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, as amended by the HEARTH Act. A certificate or other appropriate service transaction recorded in an HMIS or other database that meets the standards prescribed by HUD in 24 CFR part 580 is acceptable evidence of third-party documentation and intake worker observations.
PART 580—HOMELESS MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM Back to Top
580.1 Purpose and scope.
580.3 Definitions.
580.5 Responsibility for HMIS administration.
580.7 Duties of the Continuum of Care.
580.9 Duties of the HMIS Lead.
580.21 Funding for HMIS.
580.23 Eligible Activities.
580.25 Carrying out eligible activities.
580.31 HMIS governance standards.
580.33 HMIS technical standards.
580.35 HMIS security standards.
580.37 Data quality standards and management.
580.41 Maintaining and archiving data.
580.51 Sanctions.
42 U.S.C. 11301, 42 U.S.C. 3535(d).
§ 580.1 Purpose and scope.
(iii) May be made available to the public to raise awareness and enhance local planning processes. (b) Scope. (1) Every Continuum of Care must have an HMIS that is operated in compliance with the requirements of this part.
(2) All recipients of grants from the programs authorized by Title IV of the McKinney-Vento Act are required to use HMIS, except as provided in § 580.25(d).
Subpart B—HMIS Administration Back to Top
§ 580.5 Responsibility for HMIS administration.
§ 580.7 Duties of the Continuum of Care.
§ 580.9 Duties of the HMIS Lead.
(a) Ensure the operation of and consistent participation by recipients of funds from the Emergency Solutions Grants Program and from the other programs authorized by Title IV of the McKinney-Vento Act. Duties include establishing the HMIS; conducting oversight of the HMIS; and taking corrective action, if needed, to ensure that the HMIS is compliant with the requirements of this part;
(b) Develop written HMIS policies and procedures in accordance with § 580.31 for all CHOs;
(f) The HMIS Lead must submit a security plan (see § 580.35), a data quality plan (see § 580.37), and a privacy policy (see § 580.31(g)) to the Continuum of Care for approval within [the date that is 6 months after the effective date of the final rule to be inserted at final rule stage] and within 6 months after the date that any change is made to the local HMIS. The HMIS Lead must review and update the plans and policy at least annually. During this process, the HMIS Lead must seek and incorporate feedback from the Continuum of Care and CHO. The HMIS Lead must implement the plans and policy within 6 months of the date of approval by the Continuum of Care.
§ 580.21 Funding for HMIS.
§ 580.23 Eligible activities.
§ 580.25 Carrying out HMIS activities.
Subpart D—HMIS Governance, Technical, Security, and Data Quality Standards Back to Top
§ 580.31 HMIS governance standards.
(c) Unduplicated count. An HMIS Lead must, at least once annually, or upon request from HUD, submit to the Continuum of Care an unduplicated count of clients served and an analysis of unduplicated counts, when requested by HUD.
§ 580.33 HMIS technical standards.
§ 580.35 HMIS security standards.
(7) Contracts and other arrangements. The HMIS Lead must retain copies of all contracts and agreements executed as part of the administration and management of the HMIS or required to comply with the requirements of this part.
§ 580.37 Data quality standards and management.
Subpart E—Maintaining and Archiving Data Back to Top
§ 580.41 Maintaining and archiving data.
Subpart F—Sanctions Back to Top
§ 580.51 Sanctions
Assistant Secretary for Community, Planningand Development.
1. HUD's “Third Progress Report on HUD's Strategy for Improving Homeless Data Collection, Reporting and Analysis,” dated March 2004, described HUD's efforts, commencing in 2001 and in collaboration with recipients and subrecipients to develop an effective data collection system on the homeless, at both the national and local levels. See http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/homeless/hmis/strategy/reporttocongress2004.pdf. These efforts concluded with a notice that HUD published in the Federal Register on July 30, 2004 (69 FR 45888) that provided final data and technical standards for HMIS.