🏠 FindHelp
"Meet Maria"
Maria was screened for housing needs and a referral was sent to Novum through FindHelp.
What should happen next?
The provider should accept the referral, begin outreach to Maria, start the Specialized Case Management process, and work with her to complete the UHAT and identify her housing needs.
Bonus Question: Does FindHelp approve services?
Intake receives a PAR requesting Housing Transition Supports.
What is Intake's primary responsibility?
Intake’s job is to prepare the request—not decide it.
That means:
👉 Is this ready for Review, or still missing something?
Angela meets with her Member and learns they have: Stable income, No transportation, Difficulty keeping medical appointments, An eviction notice, and No support system.
What is the provider's role during SCM?
Complete the UHAT, identify barriers and strengths, develop a Housing Support Plan, coordinate needed resources, and determine which HSS services may help the Member achieve housing stability.
A provider submits a PAR for Housing Transition Supports.
The Housing Support Plan says the Member has lived in stable housing for 10 months and only needs help maintaining housing.
What should HSS staff notice?
The documentation and requested service do not align. Based on the information provided, Housing Sustainment Services may be more appropriate than Housing Transition Supports.
Maria asks if HSS can pay the deposit for a weekly motel while she looks for permanent housing.
Would Housing-Related Deposit be appropriate?
No.
Housing-Related Deposit supports qualifying permanent housing, not temporary lodging such as hotels or weekly motels.
Maurice says, "The referral is in FindHelp, so the Member is automatically enrolled in HSS."
True or False?
False.
A FindHelp referral begins coordination. HSS services still follow the required assessment, documentation, and authorization workflow.
The Unified Housing Assessment Tool (UHAT) is completely missing.
What should Intake do?
Do not send it to Review.
Required documentation is missing → follow the RFI process.
Always ask: Can a reviewer make a decision without this?
What is the primary goal of Specialized Case Management?
To engage the Member, complete the UHAT, understand housing needs and barriers, develop the Housing Support Plan, coordinate supports, and help the Member move toward housing stability.
Bonus Question: At this stage, would the HSS team collect paperwork and build an Authorization Shell?
Maria found an apartment she wants to rent. She needs help completing paperwork, gathering required documents, and coordinating with the landlord before moving in.
Would Housing Transition Supports be appropriate?
Yes.
HTS can help Members complete activities needed to obtain housing, including housing applications, landlord coordination, and move-in planning.
A PAR requests Housing-Related Deposit.
The provider submits: UHAT, Housing Support Plan and Deposit estimate. The lease agreement is missing.
Can the request move forward?
Not yet.
The required documentation should support the deposit request before a determination can be made.
Bonus Question: What would be the appropriate next step for Intake staff to take?
Heather, operating as Review staff, documents that a request for Housing-Related Deposit was approved only in FindHelp because “everyone can see it there.”
What's wrong?
The approval doesn’t count if it’s only in FindHelp. All decisions must be documented in TruCare, the system of record. FindHelp is for referrals/communication only—not for approvals, determinations, or notices. If used, information must be documented in TruCare to support the decision.
Member and Provider should be notified through the Provider Portal following an approved authorization request.
A PAR requests Housing Sustainment Services, but the authorization was built for Housing Transition Supports.
What's the issue?
The authorization is built wrong.
The service in TruCare must match what was actually requested.
If it doesn’t:
Always ask: Does the system reflect what was actually requested?
Sophia receives a new FindHelp referral for Michael. The referral says he is experiencing housing instability, but that's all the information provided.
What should Sophia do first?
Begin outreach to the Member, engage him in SCM, complete the UHAT, identify housing needs and strengths, and begin developing the Housing Support Plan.
James has lived in his apartment for eight months. He's having trouble communicating with his landlord and worries he could lose his housing.
Would Housing Transition Supports be the best HSS service?
Probably not.
Because James is already housed, Housing Sustainment Services would likely be the more appropriate HSS service to help him remain housed.
Everything looks complete except the deposit amount listed on the PAR doesn't match the landlord's documentation.
What's the biggest concern?
The documentation contains conflicting information that should be resolved before a determination is made.
Rebecca's UHAT (Unified Housing Assessment Tool) identifies transportation, food insecurity, utility assistance, and housing instability.
Can FindHelp help with more than housing?
Yes.
FindHelp can support referrals to community resources while the provider also addresses HSS needs through the appropriate HSS workflow.
The provider uploaded five documents named "Scan001," "Document," and "Image."
What should Intake do?
Fix the document names so they clearly show what each document is.
Use the approved format:
LastName_FirstName_YYYYMMDD_DocumentType
Avoid vague names like “Scan,” “Document,” or “Image.”
Reviewers must be able to identify the document without opening it, and the exact file name must match what is cited in notes.
A provider is billing SCM because they completed outreach, the UHAT, housing planning, and coordination. Does that automatically approve Housing Transition Supports, Deposit, or Sustainment?
No. SCM helps identify and support the Member’s needs, but each additional HSS service must follow its own request, documentation, and review process.
Novum completed the Member's UHAT and Housing Support Plan.
The Housing Support Plan identifies that the Member needs: Help searching for housing, Assistance completing rental applications, Landlord communication, Move-in planning
The provider believes Housing Transition Supports are appropriate.
What should happen next?
The provider should submit a PAR requesting Housing Transition Supports with the required supporting documentation. Once received, Intake creates the authorization, and the request moves through the HSS review process for determination.
A provider calls Intake and says:
"The landlord needs the deposit by 5:00 p.m. today or the Member will lose the apartment. All of the paperwork isn't ready yet, but we'll send it tomorrow. Can you just push this through?"
What should staff do?
Follow the established HSS workflow. Required documentation and review requirements cannot be skipped because of urgency. Staff should process the request according to program requirements and avoid making exceptions outside the approved workflow.
Alex receives a FindHelp referral today. Put these steps in the correct order:
1. Receive the referral
2. Engage the Member
3. Complete the UHAT
4. Develop the Housing Support Plan
5. Identify the appropriate HSS services
Bonus Question: If you skipped Step 2 and went straight to Step 4, what problems could that create?
Heather asks Jesie, operating as an Intake staff, to deny the request because she knows the Member isn't eligible.
Should Jesie deny it?
No. Intake never makes decisions. Only Review staff can administratively approve or deny an HSS request.
Jesie would build the authorization shell, link all supporting documentation and route to Review staff for determination.
Renee says: "I don't care where I live. I just don't want to sleep in my car anymore."
During the UHAT, the provider learns she has: Income, Transportation, No identification, Two eviction judgments, and no support network.
What should the provider focus on first?
Use SCM to understand Maria's priorities, identify barriers, develop a Housing Support Plan, coordinate resources, and determine the appropriate next steps based on her needs.
Emily completes the UHAT and Housing Support Plan. The Member needs help finding housing, completing rental applications, and communicating with landlords.
Emily says, "Great! I'll start providing Housing Transition Supports tomorrow."
What's missing?
The provider must submit a PAR requesting Housing Transition Supports with the required supporting documentation. The request must move through the HSS authorization workflow before HTS begins.
Marcus has found a safe apartment that allows him to live close to his doctors and ongoing medical care, while also being near his work. The provider submits a Housing-Related Deposit request.
Everything looks complete: UHAT, Housing Support Plan, Lease, and Deposit documentation.
The Housing Support Plan notes that proximity to medical providers is important for Marcus’ stability and ability to maintain treatment.
While reviewing the request, staff notice the monthly rent is above the applicable Fair Market Rent (FMR) for the area.
Should staff automatically approve or deny the request because the rent is above FMR?
No — do not automatically approve or deny.
FMR above range is a flag, not the decision.
The key question is: Is the rent within allowable limits AND clearly justified in the record?
Above limit (> 2x FMR): → escalate or deny