Statuses: Definitions
Throughout a client's time with your program, they will go through different stages, for example from being eligible for the program to working with a CHW to completing their program. These stages are tracked through what we call "statuses" on the IMPaCT application. Client statuses help everyone quickly understand where a client is in the process of moving through their program.
Statuses are specific and important to get right. In this article we'll walk you through the different statuses a client will take on as they move through a program. Here are the statuses and what they mean:
Statuses prior to and including enrollment
Pre-Outreach: The first status that clients have is Pre-outreach. Clients who are pre-outreach have qualified for working with a CHW but haven't yet had a CHW assigned to reach out to enroll them (hence Pre-outreach). There are two ways a client gets on a list as Pre-outreach:
- They have been been referred to the program by someone like a care coordinator or clinician.
- They have the characteristics (often based on demographics and other qualifying criteria) of someone who would likely benefit from CHW support and their name came in through an eligibility list.
Clients in Pre-outreach are essentially in line to work with a CHW.
Pending: Once a client in pre-outreach and has been assigned a CHW ("picked up" by a CHW) they are considered Pending. At this point the CHW needs to reach out to them to share details of the program and to see whether they're interested in participating. Clients will respond in several ways:
- They'll say "Yes" and sign up for the program. In this case the client would be noted as "Enrolled" status which means that they are actively engaged in a program with a CHW.
- They'll say "No, thank you". They would be marked as "Declined" which means that they will stay on the eligibility list, but their status will be "Declined" to show that they had declined to join the program. (Of note, this is an update to the app as of 9/3/24 as previously "Declined" clients had their official status returned to “Pre-outreach” in the application.)
- They won't be sure whether they want to participate and need some time to consider enrollment. In this case their status should be marked as"Maybe" so that their CHW knows to follow-up with the client. If a client stays in “Maybe” status for more than 2 weeks they’re automatically converted back to “Pre-outreach” status.
- They do not want to participated and they do not want to be contacted by the program in the future. These clients are marked as "Opt out" so everyone knows not to reach out to them.
If a client cannot be reached, they should be marked as "Not Reached" so that the CHW can attempt outreach at another. time. If a client stays in Not Reached status for more than 2 weeks they’re automatically converted back to Pre-outreach status (similar to Maybe status).
Statuses after enrollment
After a client is Enrolled, they stay Enrolled for the entire time they are engaged in the program. A few things can happen that would cause a change in status: (Of note only a supervisor can make changes to the status of a client who is Enrolled)
- They complete their program! Their status is updated to “Graduated”.
- The client lets the program know that they can’t continue working together. In this case their status should be changed to “Withdrawn”.
- The client stops responding to outreach and after a CHW has tried reaching out in multiple ways (phone, a door knock), it's clear the client won’t be participating in the program any longer. Their status should be changed to “Lost to follow-up”
Terminated For Safety: Rarely a CHW may encounter a client who makes them feel unsafe. If the CHW and their manager decide that it is not possible to work with this client for safety reasons the manager would change their status to “Terminated for Safety” and the client would no longer be eligible to participate in the program.
System management of statuses: Declined, Graduated, Withdrawn, and Lost to follow-up*
Sometimes clients who are Declined, Graduated, Withdrawn, or Lost to follow-up will show up on another eligibility list. In these cases, we want to give these clients another chance to enroll, but not if it's too soon after they declined or had a recent enrollment. Therefore we keep clients in these statuses for at least 6 months. After 6 months have passed, if they show up on an eligibility list after this time they will be updated to “Pre-outreach”. We figure that after 6 months, folks should get another chance at working with a CHW again. Please see the diagram below.
During this 6-month period, if you have reason to re-enroll them or change their status, you can always change their status manually.
*Of note, this is a change as of 9/2/2024 to system management of Declined, Graduated, Withdrawn, and Lost to follow-up statuses. Previous to 9/2/2024, when a client had a Graduated, Withdrawn, or Lost to follow-up status and their name came up again on an eligibility list they would be moved back to Pre-outreach, regardless of how long it had been since they were assigned that status. And as mentioned above, Declined clients were previously immediately moved back to Pre-outreach.
Now you've gotten familiar with how client statuses work, check out the article on updating client status.