Announcements

CBHI CANS Provider Conference Call

The next CBHI CANS Provider Conference Call is scheduled for Friday,
February 5, 2010 from noon – 1:50 pm.  Material for this call can be downloaded below.

Virtual Gateway: Updated Login and Manage My Account Pages
PPT (1.33MB)  | PDF  | RTF (142 MB)  

Conference Call Access Information
Phone: 866-565-6580
Pass code: 9593452

Massachusetts School Personnel Are Invited To Attend

Children's Behavioral Health Initiative (CBHI) School Personnel Information Briefing 

Learn about new behavioral health services available to MassHealth-eligible Students!

MassHealth recently added six new community-based Behavioral Health services for children and youth under age 21. These services offer new resources to support school personnel in helping students with behavioral health needs

Join these special Regional Educators Briefing with:

• Emily Sherwood, Director of the Children's Behavioral Health Initiative for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services
  and 
• Marcia Mittnacht, Director of Special Education for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

CBHI Information briefings will be held at the following locations

Briefings are open to all interested school personnel.

Behavioral Health Screening Tool Updates

Effective November 1, 2009, EOHHS is making the following changes to the list of approved behavioral health screening tools as a result of consultation with clinical experts.

• Although the Achenbach System Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), Youth Self-Report (YSR), and Adult Self-Report (ASR) were  originally included on the list because of their wide age range (they can be used with youth 18 to 21 years of age), they have now been removed from the list because they:
  • go beyond the scope of the tools on the menu by performing more than a behavioral health screen;
  • are lengthy and cumbersome to administer, requiring data to be entered into a computer system for subscale scores; an
  • are relatively expensive.
    
    
• The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) has been added to the list because:
  
  • it is supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics;
  • it can be used for children and youth  3-16 years of age;
  • numerous publications support its validity as a mental health screening tool;
  • it has been translated into more than 65 languages; and
  • it is available free of charge.
    

Please note: 

• Guidance on how to use the SDQ will be added to the CBHI website and included in the screening toolkit in the near future.
  • Primary Care Behavioral Health Screening Toolkit (PDF) | RTF
    
• EOHHS understands the challenges to primary care providers of using the currently available screening tools for infants under the age of 6 months.  However, at this time, no more appropriate tools for this age group are available. Because each behavioral health screen must be administered using a standardized screening tool, and because it is important to screen all children for behavioral health issues, EOHHS, in consultation with the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and other experts, has decided to continue requiring that primary care providers use one of the standardized screening tools at each EPSDT visit. 

Stay Up to Date

Subscribe to the CBHI Update, the Children’s Behavioral Health Initiative’s monthly e newsletter, and stay current on the latest CBHI news and activities.   To subscribe, send an email with your contact information to: CBHI@state.ma.us

Now available on line for downloading

CANS FAQ

• Frequently asked questions (PDF) | TEXT about CANS for clinic administrators, behavioral health providers and others using the CANS.

CANS User Guides

 An essential reference that provides detailed guidance on the scoring of each CAN item.

• CANS Birth through Four User Guide (PDF) | RTF
• CANS Five through Twenty User Guide (PDF) | RTF

Information on using CANS Application on the Virtual Gateway

• Virtual Gateway Log in Assistance
• Reference Guide: CBHI Certified Assessor (PDF) | RTF
• Reference Guide: CBHI Organization (PDF) | RTF
• Reference Guide: CBHI Data Entry Operator (PDF) | RTF
• Reference Guide: CBHI Managed Care Entity (PDF) | RTF
• Reference Guide: Faxing CBHI Consent Forms (PDF) | RTF
• Reference Guide: Export/File Import to MS Excel (PDF) I RTF
  This guide provides information on how to copy your CANS data.
• Virtual Gateway Customer Service (PDF) | RTF
• Learn how a CBHI Data Entry Operator adds a SED/CANS Assessment
  This link provides Data Entry Operator’s with an easy, interactive online lesson that steps them through adding a CBHI SED/CANS Assessment.
• Learn how a CBHI Certified Assessor edits a SED/CANS Assessment
  This link provides Certified Assessor’s with an easy, interactive online lesson that steps them through activating their Certification Key and how to edit a CBHI SED/CANS Assessment.