Behavioral Health and Developmental Screening in Primary Care

In accordance with All Provider Bulletin 348: Updates to Developmental and Behavioral Health Screening Tools and Codes in Pediatric Primary Care, effective January 1, 2023, primary care providers must offer to screen members younger than age 21 at each periodic (well-child) or interperiodic visit using an instrument from the Instruments for Recommended Universal Screening at Specific Bright Futures Visits (Bright Futures Toolkit), published by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

In addition to general developmental screening, it is strongly recommended that providers conduct Autism screening at the 18- and 24-month well-child visits, using a standardized Autism screen following a general developmental screen. Autism screening tools must also be selected from those listed in the Bright Futures Toolkit.

For members aged six months and younger, providers must offer Maternal and Caregiver Depression Screening by administering and scoring the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) with the member’s caregiver during periodic or interperiodic visits.

These screenings fall under periodic and medically necessary interperiodic EPSDT (Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment) or PPHSD (Preventive Pediatric, Health-Care Screening and Diagnosis) screens, according to the EPSDT Services Medical Protocol and Periodicity Schedule (Appendix W of the MassHealth provider manuals).