HomeMy WebLinkAboutC22-254 COHMIS_Catholic CharitiesI.Introduction
COHMIS Agency Partnership Agreement v1.1
This Agreement is entered into on ______________ (mm/dd/yyyy) between Catholic Charities
and Community Services of the Archdiocese of Denver, Inc. (Continuum of Care name),
hereafter known as the “CoC”, and Eagle County, Colorado (Agency name), hereafter known as
“Agency,” regarding access and use of the Colorado Homeless Management Information
System, hereafter known as COHMIS. The Agency represents all employed staff and volunteers
utilizing COHMIS who work at the participating Agency.
COHMIS is a shared database and software application that allows authorized personnel at
participating agencies throughout Colorado to collect, use, and share information on common
clients.
The State of Colorado HMIS governance model is implemented by the Colorado Statewide
HMIS Collaborative. This Statewide Collaborative serves on behalf of the participating Colorado
CoCs:
●Colorado Balance of State CoC (CO BoS CoC)
●Pikes Peak CoC (PP CoC)
●Metro Denver Homeless Initiative CoC (MDHI CoC)
●Northern Colorado CoC (NoCo CoC)
Please reference the Colorado Statewide HMIS Collaborative Governance Framework for
additional information on the Statewide Governance Structure at:
https://cohmis.zendesk.com
Each CoC will designate a COHMIS Lead Agency, hereafter known as “Lead” to manage the
administration of the HMIS database. For the purposes of this Agreement, the Lead is Eagle
County, Colorado.
The Colorado Statewide HMIS Collaborative and participating Colorado CoCs have
designated BitFocus’ Clarity Human Services as the HMIS database software as a service
(SaaS) company.
II. Confidentiality
A.The Agency will use its reasonable best efforts to uphold relevant Federal and State
confidentiality regulations and laws that protect client records, and the Agency will only release
confidential client records with written consent by the client, or the client’s guardian, unless
otherwise provided for in the regulations or laws. A client is anyone who receives services from
the Agency and a guardian is one legally in charge of the affairs of a minor or of a person
deemed incompetent. For convenience of reference, future references in this Agreement to a
client include reference to any guardians of a client.
1.The Agency will use its reasonable best efforts to comply with Federal confidentiality
regulations as contained in the Code of Federal Regulations, 42 CFR Part 2, regarding
disclosure of alcohol and/or drug abuse records, as they apply to the agency or
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program. The Agency understands that Federal laws and regulations restrict any use of
the information to criminally investigate or prosecute any alcohol or drug abuse
patients.
2.The Agency will use its reasonable best efforts to comply with the Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 and corresponding regulations
adopted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
3.The Agency will use its reasonable best efforts to comply with laws of the State of
Colorado regarding substance abuse and medical records, including C.R.S.A. § 6-1-713.
4.The Agency will follow all current HUD requirements as established by rule, notice, or
other standards and manuals, including the most recent Federal guidance on HMIS
Data and Technical Standards.
5.The Agency will use its reasonable best efforts to provide a written explanation of the
HMIS to all clients.
6.The Agency will use its reasonable best efforts not to input information from clients into
the HMIS unless it is essential to provide services or to conduct de-identified evaluation
or research.
7.The Agency will use its reasonable best efforts not to divulge any confidential
information received from the COHMIS to any participating agency, outside
organizations, internal organization, or individuals without proper written consent by
the client unless otherwise permitted by relevant regulations or laws. This includes, but
is not limited to, client contact or location information and client program or service
participation.
8.In the event that a non-participating agency requests identifying confidential client
information, the agency shall direct the request to the HMIS Lead.
9.The Agency agrees that client information obtained from within the COHMIS is not to be
used for criminal investigation of clients unless required by law in compliance with court
orders, warrants, and subpoenas.
B.The Agency agrees to use its reasonable best efforts to maintain appropriate documentation
of client consent to participate in the HMIS including but not limited to the following.
1.HMIS Release of Information (ROI)
2.HMIS Client Grievance Procedures
3.HMIS Privacy Notice
C.The CoC, and the CoC HMIS Lead Agency are custodians of data and not owners of data. The
client is the owner of the data.
1.If this Agreement is terminated, the CoC and the remaining participating agencies will
maintain their right to the use of all client data previously entered by the former
participating agency, subject to all of the other provisions of this Agreement.
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D.The Agency agrees to designate a Data Partner Agency Liaison, hereafter referred to as DPAL,
responsible for:
1.Acting as a liaison between Agency and Lead for HMIS-related matters
2.Provide oversight at the agency level of COHMIS end users, data quality, report
timeliness, privacy and security compliance
3.Attending regularly scheduled DPAL meetings hosted by Lead to communicate
updates, process improvements, workflows and dialogue between Agencies and
Lead.
III.Data Entry and Sharing
A.The Agency will use its reasonable best efforts to comply with and enforce the current
COHMIS Policies and Procedures, the COHMIS End User Agreement and COHMIS Security,
Privacy and Data Quality Plan.
B.The Agency may collect client-identified information only when appropriate to the purposes
for which the information is obtained or when required by law. The Agency must collect client
information by lawful and fair means and, where appropriate, with the knowledge or consent
of the individual or posted privacy notice.
C.Clients MUST be provided a notification and consent form that explains COHMIS and why
their personal information is being collected.
D.If a client has previously given permission to multiple agencies to have access to her/his
information and then chooses to eliminate one or more of those agencies, the HMIS Lead will
review the client’s history and inform all agencies who have ever worked in the client file that
the client record will be de-identified and provide the unique ID to each agency in the event
they need to access the client record. Participating agencies understand that at no time should
they penalize or threaten to penalize clients for requesting that their information be held in
strict confidence.
E.The Agency will not condition any services upon or decline to provide any services to a Client
based upon a Client's refusal to sign the COHMIS Client Consent to Release of Information form
for the sharing of identified information or refusal to allow entry of identified information into
HMIS.
F.The Agency agrees not to release any Client identifying information received from COHMIS to
any other person or organization without written informed Client consent, or as required by
law.
G.The Agency will maintain security and confidentiality of COHMIS information and is
responsible for the actions of its users and for their training and supervision. Agencies will
follow the COHMIS Security, Privacy and Data Quality Plan, which is on the Colorado Statewide
HMIS Collaborative webpage https://cohmis.zendesk.com/hc/en-us and is incorporated into this
agreement and may be modified from time to time.
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H.The Agency will use its reasonable best efforts not to make any misrepresentations
concerning its clients in the COHMIS (i.e., the Agency will not purposefully enter inaccurate
information on a new record or on a record entered by another agency).
I.The Agency will use its reasonable best efforts to enter data into the COHMIS in a consistent
manner.
J.Agency will not alter or overwrite information entered by another Agency with the exception
of basic demographic information if that data has not been entered, or that information was
found to be incorrect.
K.Discriminatory comments based on race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, ancestry,
disability, age, gender, and sexual orientation are not permitted in the COHMIS. All
clients are expected to be treated with dignity, and their individual/shared backgrounds
and experiences should be respected at all times.
L.Offensive language and profanity are not permitted in the COHMIS.
M.Use of the COHMIS system or network to transmit any material in violation of any laws or
regulations of the United States or any constituent state or territory is prohibited. This includes,
but is not limited to, copyrighted material and threatening or obscene material.
N.The Agency will not use the COHMIS with intent to defraud any person or entity, including
any governmental agencies, or to conduct any illegal activity.
O.The Agency recognizes the Colorado Statewide HMIS Collaborative and CoC to be the
discussion and decision-making center regarding the COHMIS, including process updates,
policy and practice guidelines, data analysis, and software/hardware upgrades. The Agency
will designate a Data Partner Agency Liaison (DPAL) to attend COHMIS meetings regularly and
understands that the CoC will be responsible for coordinating COHMIS activities subject to the
direction of the Colorado Statewide Collaborative.
P.The Agency understands that when it enters information into COHMIS, such information will
be available to a CoC who may review the data for decision making purposes, for data quality
improvement, to check for compliance, to administer COHMIS, to conduct analysis, for
coordination of care, and to prepare reports which may be submitted to others in de-
identified form without individual identifying Client information. The COHMIS Lead Agencies
may also combine their aggregate data into a statewide report or dashboard for a view of
homelessness across Colorado as a whole.
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IV.Security Requirements
A.The Agency will permit access to HMIS only with use of a User ID and password, which the
user may not share with others. Written information pertaining to user access (e.g. username
and password) shall not be stored or displayed in any publicly accessible location.
B.The agency will securely store any paper records or other written forms used to collect data
from a client following the completion of HMIS data entry tasks.
V.Training Requirements
HMIS 101 Training
A.After an individual is identified as a possible HMIS end user, the end user is directed to
watch the pre-recorded HMIS 101 Training Videos posted on the COHMIS help desk website,
which provide an overview on the basics of HMIS, policies and procedures, data quality, data
standards, data collection, and any CoC specific messaging as needed. A link to the training
website can be found here: https://cohmis.zendesk.com
B.The CoC HMIS Lead Agency distributes the link to the online HMIS 101 quiz to the end user
and upon mastery of the video content, the end user completes the quiz. End users will be
allowed to take the quiz more than once if necessary.
C.End users that score 80% or higher are then considered to have passed HMIS 101 Training
and may proceed to the HMIS 201 Training.
HMIS 201 Training
A.The CoC HMIS Lead Agency sends a registration link to the end user for the next available
HMIS 201 end user training, which is a more hands-on walkthrough of entering client data
into Clarity.
B.After the end users completes HMIS 201 training, the CoC HMIS Lead Agency will then
setup the end user account in Clarity, distributing the username and temporary password to
the end user.
C.The end user logs in to Clarity for the first time using the login information provided from
the CoC HMIS Lead Agency, at which time the end user will be prompted to digitally sign their
HMIS End User Agreement within Clarity and change their temporary password.
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VI.Reports
A.The Agency understands that it will have access to all identifying and statistical data on the
clients it serves.
B.The Agency understands that access to data on those it does not serve will be limited or not
available depending on the sharing policies and/or additional sharing agreement(s) maintained
with other participating agencies.
C.Reports containing information about clients not served by the Agency are limited to
statistical and frequency reports and reports that assist with the coordination of care as
outlined in Section III.P of this document.
VII.Liability and Insurance
A.Except as otherwise expressly provided in this Agreement, neither the Agency nor the CoC
make any representations or warranties, express or implied. Each of the parties will obtain and
keep in force insurance in such amounts and covering such risks for the benefit of the Working
Group, the CoC, Bitfocus, Inc., and participating agencies. Neither of the parties shall be liable
to the other or to any other person or entity for damages, losses, or injuries other than if and to
the extent the same are the result of gross negligence or willful misconduct by the
management of the Agency or the CoC.
B.To the extent permitted by law, Agency and the CoC each agree to defend, indemnify and
hold each other harmless for any claims or liability arising from the acts and omissions of the
other, including any third-party claims arising from the acts and omissions of any officers,
employees, agents, representatives, licensees or clients of the other.
VIII.Terms and Conditions
A.The parties hereto agree that this agreement is the complete and exclusive statement of the
agreement between parties and supersedes all prior proposals and understandings, oral and
written, relating to the subject matter of this agreement.
B.Neither party shall have the right to transfer or assign any rights or obligations under this
Agreement without the written consent of the other party.
C.This Agreement shall remain in force until revoked in writing by either party, with 30 days
advance written notice. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if there is credible evidence regarding
possible or actual breach of this Agreement and the nature of the breach threatens the
integrity of the COHMIS, the CoC will have the right to suspend or limit access to the COHMIS
by the alleged wrongdoer pending investigation and resolution of the matter to the extent
reasonably required to protect the integrity of the system.
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D.This Agreement may be modified or amended only by a written agreement executed by both
parties.
E.The qualifications and meetings of members of the Colorado Statewide HMIS Collaborative
and all other matters relating to the Colorado Statewide HMIS Collaborative shall be provided
in the Governance Framework.
F.This Agreement is made for the purpose of defining and setting forth certain obligations,
rights and duties of the Colorado Statewide HMIS Collaborative, the CoC, and the Participating
Agency. It is made solely for the protection of the Colorado Statewide HMIS Collaborative, the
CoC, and the Participating Agency and their respective heirs, personal representatives,
successors and assigns. No other person or entity shall have any rights of any nature under this
Agreement or by reason hereof. Without limiting the generality of the preceding sentence, no
user of the HMIS system in his or her capacity as such and no current, former or prospective
client of any agency shall have any rights of any nature under this Agreement or by reason
hereof.
IX.Type of Consent
Agencies must formally decide by program which method will be used to obtain client consent.
Agencies shall identify which method(s) they are using and submit changes in writing to the
HMIS Lead Agency.
Written Consent
Implied Consent
Verbal Consent
X
X
X
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Name and Address of Participating Agency:
Authorized Representative Signature Date (mm/dd/yyyy)
Authorized Representative Printed Name Title
CoC Authorized Representative
CoC Authorized Representative Signature Date (mm/dd/yyyy)
CoC Authorized Representative Printed Name Title
Eagle County, Colorado
500 Broadway, PO Box 850
Eagle, CO 81631
Kim Williams Executive Director, ECHDA
Darren Walsh CEO
DocuSign Envelope ID: 4036DF98-6361-4508-BEB6-B13A3AFEDA85
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