Inside AWARDS | Successfully Implementing an Electronic Record

At Foothold Technology, we understand that our responsibility as a vendor is to provide software that is easy-to-use, and nimble enough to seamlessly adapt to the constant changes in requirements that service providers must meet. You work hard to keep your programs and services running smoothly; your software shouldn’t add another layer of stress. 

Our software, AWARDS, is constantly being developed with that in mind. AWARDS can be configured to meet your needs, and will always be ready to adapt as regulations change. One of the first and most significant ways you will experience the flexibility of AWARDS is during your implementation process. 

Onboarding with Experts

When you become a Foothold Technology customer, you are immediately assigned an Implementation Consultant who specializes in the project management of agency-wide Electronic Health Record (EHR) implementations. Foothold Implementation Consultants have extensive backgrounds in human services and longstanding tenure with Foothold. In fact, all together, our Client Services team boasts more than 130 years of supporting agencies through implementation and beyond. This means that Foothold clients are supported not just by talented project managers, but by individuals with wisdom and awareness that comes from supporting clients over time, and through significant changes. 

Once you are connected with your Implementation Consultant, and they’ve taken the time to recognize your priorities, they will craft an implementation and training plan that works for you. The first phase of implementation is mainly comprised of database configuration. This is when you will truly start to understand the capabilities and flexibility of AWARDS. Does your intake process include a specific form that needs to be completed for each consumer? Your Implementation Consultant can help you build that form electronically, to be embedded within your workflow. Perhaps a governing authority has instituted a new reporting requirement that involves making changes to the data you need to collect. Your Implementation Consultant can help you modify the data capture fields within AWARDS so you can easily meet your new requirements.

Tools That Make Everything Easier

AWARDS includes several “builder” tools such as FormBuilder – a custom form building tool, PlanBuilder – a personalized service plan building tool, and ReportBuilder – a robust reporting tool. All of these tools were developed with the purpose of offering our clients more flexibility to configure the software to your specific processes, and to keep the software nimble enough to adapt as requirements change over time. On each weekly call with your Implementation Consultant, you’ll review these different builders, and discuss how they can be beneficial to your agency.

“With other systems, you had to work around static forms and fields. We love the data collection flexibility and wide range of options FormBuilder provides us.”

– Frank Ziccone, EHR Coordinator and HIPAA Compliance, Keystone Community Resources

An EHR implementation is a two-way learning process. While your Implementation Consultant  teaches you about AWARDS, you will also be teaching your Implementation Consultant about the data you need to collect. You are the experts in your services and know best what you need from your software. Your Implementation Consultant will help you take your first steps in learning how to configure AWARDS, and will empower you with the tools and understanding to continually adjust the software as your services evolve.