Empanelment here at Health Care for the Homeless is the assignment of clients to specific providers and care teams. Empanelment is a critical step in ensuring continuity of care. It allows our clients to know who is taking care of them, and it allows staff to know which providers are caring for which clients.

Earlier this year we began the process of empaneling clients to behavioral health, medical and psychiatric providers at our Fallsway, Baltimore County and West Baltimore sites. We had some technical challenges that put the process on hold, and now we’re ready to push forward. Over the next three to four weeks …

• We’ll be updating the panel lists for both providers and care teams by empaneling clients seen in the last six months 
• We’ll be reviewing and implementing a process to empanel new and existing clients moving forward (see process overview here)
• We’ll be tracking our data to ensure that clients are appropriately empaneled and not falling through the cracks

All providers will have the opportunity to be part of this process, whether it’s verifying and correcting panel lists, reviewing procedures or implementing new workflows. And we ask that you please share your our thoughts—and any feedback you hear from clients—with Nilesh or your clinical directors. Provider and client input will inform how we can make the process better and, ultimately, a success.