Frequently Asked Questions

Below, you can find a series of questions and answers about the CIE. We update this page on a regular basis.

Operations and Processes

  • On a winter afternoon, Jenny shows up at a food pantry seeking warm food for her and her two young children. She is asking for warm food because they are all currently living out of her car.

    She has no cash left and has almost run out of gas, so they are all getting cold. The pantry can provide her with some food and could direct her to a soup kitchen or meal center where food is offered to people experiencing food insecurity, usually for free. However, aside from the immediate food insecurity, Jenny and her family are also obviously experiencing homelessness and could also be subject to additional needs or risk factors (e.g., fleeing interpersonal violence, health needs, financial insecurity, etc.).

    Rather than simply providing a referral to other services, a CIE represents a dynamic network of data systems that can speak to each other, i.e., data-sharing provider agencies that work within a trusted framework. These agencies work to preserve dignity and reduce re-traumatization by not forcing individuals experiencing issues to have to re-tell their story and produce eligibility documentation every time they go to another provider seeking assistance.

    By providing access to a continuously updated, shared, and aggregated record, which can be mutually shared across care settings, caseworkers can better coordinate the delivery of necessary services to improve outcomes, reduce costs, improve efficiency/efficacy, and, most importantly, improve equity and reduce the risk and trauma of community members accessing needed assistance.

  • The expected design of the CIE technology model will leverage advances in data-sharing technology and data-sharing agreements. This includes the use of application programming interfaces (APIs), which provide a software intermediary that allows two applications to talk to each other. This can reduce or eliminate the need for participating providers to work outside of their existing systems, reducing the burden of reentering data.

    However, the CIE will host a platform that facilitates the use of an aggregated record for use by collaborating providers/caseworkers at participating provider organizations. The platform will also interact with the Metro Chicago 2-1-1 resource directory to provide additional screening and referral support.

Data Collection and Impact Measurement

  • The CIE design process follows an intentional process of establishing a legal framework for appropriate data use. It will implement strong data governance, advanced data literacy, and will lend a specific focus on how the role of analytics will be leveraged to further equity, efficacy, and impactful outcomes.

    However, ultimately, equity and efficiency in cross-sector data sharing can only really be attained by bringing the right people to the table, establishing effective relationships, and cultivating trust among all relevant stakeholders. This included system-level providers, future users of the CIE, service providers, and people with lived experience.

  • Launched in January 2023, 211 Metro Chicago is operated by United Way of Metro Chicago in partnership with the City of Chicago and Cook County. It is further supported by the business community and private philanthropy. While it has not completed a full year of operation, the 2-1-1 Counts dashboard can provide visitors a snapshot of 211 Metro Chicago’s current activity of service requested.

Inclusion of Services and Programs

  • While providing coordination through services for persons experiencing homelessness will be used as the initial issue to develop the CIE systems and workflow, additional issues (e.g., access to and delivery of healthcare, transportation, food security, behavioral health, etc.) will rapidly be added as the system and resources are mapped and integrated into the provider network.

  • Unlike a Health Information Exchange (HIE), a CIE’s primary role is to facilitate the exchange and coordination of social and human needs across a community of providers who share clients experiencing one or more social needs.

    That being said, as healthcare providers and organizations increasingly participate in CIE network coordination, the inclusion of a limited amount of clinical data could be securely included for specific uses.

  • Both the City of Chicago and Suburban Cook County Continuums of Care (CoCs) are included in this project. The CIE will enable a data systems design that will enable HMIS systems to share and coordinate information across both systems.

  • In future applications, the CIE could be able to be programed to recognize and score individuals’ eligibility to include state and federal programing (i.e. SNAP, disability, health insurance, etc.).

  • Several CIEs across the country have made advances in building out a robust behavioral health system. An excellent example of this work is the work of HealthierHere in King County, WA.

Funding, Staffing, and Resource Allocation

  • Funding is being provided to help select critical personnel to participate in the design and development of collaborative data-sharing systems.

  • The design and development process will be highly collaborative with community and provider organizations. Once the CIE is established, it will function as a community asset supporting the convening, aggregation, and analysis of data to support the delivery and improvement of community systems services.

Scope and Target Audience

  • The initial issue of people experiencing homelessness will be used to help develop the system. Once implemented, additional issues will be added to address the complexity of interrelated needs.

  • The ongoing governance and advisory structure of the CIE will define the scope related to service and issues related to homelessness in the initial pilot phase (and will add additional issues and workflows as it continues to expand beyond the initial homelessness workflow.)

Consent and Awareness

  • We agree that explaining the idea of a CIE to community members who will use the system, particularly people experiencing homelessness, is a core value and operational aspect of the system.

    The Governance and Legal Framework Workgroup will be working with service providers and people with lived experience to develop privacy and consent procedures. To accomplish that, we recognize that the participation of people with lived expertise/experience from the outset of the process is critical.

    Workflow development will include the participation of persons with lived expertise/experience, caseworkers, and providers to ensure that information is provided in the most appropriate and useful way to the individuals seeking help.

System Integration and Redundancy

  • The CIE expands, enhances, and creates greater access to coordinated resources beyond the current scope of the City of Chicago and Suburban Cook County Continuums of Care (CoCs).

    The CoC's inclusion in this project and their participation in the coordination of data systems that can speak to each other will support a technical and data design strategy that will help coordinate and improve broad systems integration with both existing HMIS instances.

  • The ongoing governance and advisory structure of the CIE will define and add additional issues, data types, and workflows as it continues to expand beyond the initial homelessness workflow.

  • The use of data standards will be central to the establishment and improvement of robust data systems that can speak to each other.

    Standards such as those being developed through collaboratives like the Gravity Project represent opportunities to collect social needs screening and referrals generated in clinical settings into the CIE workstream.

    However, as the source of this data is coming from a clinical setting, additional data sharing policies will have to be considered to observe privacy and security considerations.