CHRIS APONICK/Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Saturday, November 20, 2004 6:00 pm
Client records at the CenterPointe treatment program are kept in locked file cabinets, inside a locked room in a locked building.
Thanks to a new computerized case management system, the basics from client records also are available on a shared database.
The implementation of the Lincoln-Lancaster County Community Service Management Information System has created a delicate dance for the nine human service agencies planning to use the system, said Topher Hansen, the executive director of CenterPointe.
CenterPointe, a substance abuse and mental illness treatment center, has chosen to keep tight reins on the information it keeps on the database, Hansen said Sunday.
"Information is never used unless there is explicit permission (from a client)," he said.
Federal privacy laws have set boundaries on what information can be shared on the database, said Jeff Chambers, the project's administrator and an employee at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The trickiest part of getting the program going was deciding how to share information without breaking those laws, Hansen said.
Once a client is in the system, case information could easily be passed on to each program that serves the person.
The case file also could better track the history of services rendered, according to a city of Lincoln press release.
The system also should help agencies make referrals.
Brian Mathers, executive director of Lincoln Action Program, said the system worked well and appeared to protect confidential information.
The database, which was mandated by the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development, focuses on programs for the homeless and nearly homeless, Chambers said.
The database, which will push agencies away from paper record keeping, should help them more accurately count the people who use their services, he said.
"We're going to have an unduplicated count of how many homeless people are using the services."
The database also could help identify service gaps in Lincoln, Chambers said.
And agencies could keep better track of how they spend their money, he said, a big help in showing donors all an agency does.
The program, which was developed during the past two years, has received about $130,000 in funding from the Lincoln and Lancaster County United Way, the Lincoln Department of Urban Development and the Nebraska Homeless Assistance Program.
Mathers said he has been pleased with the system so far. The idea for a database of shared information was 10 years in the making.
"It has enormous potential," he said. "It's been such a long-term goal for human service agencies."
Reach Chris Aponick at 473-7120 or caponick@journalstar.com.