SENATE, No. 1140

SECTION 1. (a) There shall be a Children’s Behavioral Health Research and Evaluation Institute within the executive office of health and human services.  The Institute shall be responsible for creating and sustaining the capacity within the executive office and its constituent agencies for annually determining the demand, delivery, cost, and effectiveness of the behavioral health services for children and adolescents across state agencies.  The work of the Institute shall be designed to promote high-quality, safe, effective, timely, efficient, equitable and family-centered behavioral health care for children through research and reporting and other related activities, including identification of effective, evidence-based practices for children, adolescents, and families; training in those practices; ensuring accountability through monitoring of outcomes; and design and implementation of procedures for program evaluation and quality improvement.  The Institute shall be assigned staff by the Secretary of Health and Human Services who may, subject to appropriation, employ such additional staff or consultants as s/he may deem necessary.  The Institute Director, appointed by the secretary of health and human services, shall create an advisory board consisting of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Commissioners of the Departments of Mental Health, Public Health, Social Services, Youth Services, and such other persons, both within state government and in private life as s/he deems appropriate.  The Advisory Board shall be chaired by the secretary of health and human services.

(b) The Institute shall develop and coordinate the implementation of evidence-based procedures for effective children’s behavioral health services.  For this purpose, the Institute shall identify the steps needed to achieve this goal; estimate the cost of implementation; project the anticipated short-term or long-term financial savings achievable to the commonwealth, and document changes in the behavioral health status of children in the commonwealth.

(c)  The Institute may, subject to chapter 30B, contract with an independent child and adolescent research and training organization to provide the Institute with technical assistance related to its duties including, but not limited to, identification, design, and implementation of effective, evidence-based behavioral health interventions for children and adolescents; training of program leaders and providers in those intervention procedures; ensuring accountability through monitoring of intervention outcomes; design and implementation of research programs, including those for performance measurement and program evaluation; and the preparation of reports, including any reports as required by this section.  The independent research and training organization shall have a history of demonstrating the skill and expertise necessary to:  (i) conduct rigorous systematic reviews of the scientific evidence base, to identify effective, evidence-based behavioral health interventions for children and adolescents; (ii) design and implement training for program leaders and  behavioral health providers in the use of those effective interventions; (iii) design and implement procedures for monitoring child and adolescent progress during and after behavioral health interventions; (iv) collect, analyze and aggregate data related to  the effectiveness and impact of interventions; (v) identify, through data analysis, quality improvement areas; (vi) work with and interpret data and clinical performance measures from provider organizations, including those serving Medicaid-eligible children and adolescents; (vii) establish and maintain security measures necessary to maintain confidentiality and preserve the integrity of the data; and (vii) design and implement behavioral health care quality improvement interventions with behavioral health care service providers and their organizations.  To the extent possible, the independent organization shall collaborate with other organizations that develop, collect and publicly report data on behavioral health care procedures and outcomes.

(d)  Any independent organization under contract with the Institute shall develop and update on an annual basis a reporting plan.  The reporting plan shall be consistent with the requirements of subsections (b) and (c).  

(e)  The Institute shall prepare and file a report, not less than annually, with the Joint Committee on Children and Families, the Joint Committee on Mental Health and Substance Abuse, and the clerks of the house and senate on its progress in achieving the goals of identifying and disseminating effective child and adolescent  behavioral health programs, filling gaps in the availability of such programs for children who qualify for and need such services, and providing research and evaluation of behavioral health programs for children and adolescents.