IATP

Beginning August 1, 2018, the Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) plans to introduce the service of Integrated Assessment and Treatment Planning (IATP) into the community behavioral health service array.  IATP is an integrated service that ensures an individual’s assessment of needs and strengths are clearly documented and lead to specific treatment recommendations.  Providers must minimally review and update clients’ IATPs every 180 days.  In order to be reimbursed for IATP services, providers must utilize an HFS-approved instrument.  

Providers can find additional information regarding IATP services on this page.

• IM+CANS – Core Form (Word version)
• IM+CANS – Core Form (PDF)
• IM+CANS -- Core Form - Spanish (PDF)
  
• IM+CANS – Personal Health Survey (PDF)
• IM+CANS Addendum 1 – Health Risk Assessment (Word version)
• IM+CANS Addendum 1 – Health Risk Assessment (PDF)
• IM+CANS Addendum 1 - Health Risk Assessment - Spanish (coming soon)
• IM+CANS Addendum 2 – Caregiver Resources and Needs (Word version)
• IM+CANS Addendum 2 – Caregiver Resources and Needs (PDF)
• IM+CANS Addendum 2 -- Caregiver Resources and Needs - Spanish (PDF)
  
• IM+CANS Addendum 3 – DCFS Involved Youth (Word version)
• IM+CANS Addendum 3 – DCFS Involved Youth (PDF)
• IM+CANS Addendum 3 -- DCFS Involved Youth - Spanish (PDF)
  
• Illinois Medicaid Crisis Assessment Tool (Word version)
• Illinois Medicaid Crisis Assessment Tool (PDF)
• Illinois Medicaid Crisis Assessment Tool - Spanish (Word version)
• Illinois Medicaid Crisis Assessment Tool - Spanish (PDF)

HFS has designated the Illinois Medicaid Comprehensive Assessment of Needs and Strengths (IM+CANS) as the approved IATP instrument.  HFS has partnered with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s School of Social Work (UIUC-SSW) to provide training and technical assistance to providers delivering IATP services.  Please note that staff must attend a one-day, in-person training, coordinated through the UIUC-SSW, and complete annual certification in order to utilize the IM+CANS.  

The IM+CANS serves as the foundation of Illinois’ efforts to transform its publicly funded behavioral health service delivery system. It was developed as the result of a collaborative effort between the Illinois Departments of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS), Human Services-Division of Mental Health (DHS-DMH), and Children and Family Services (DCFS). The comprehensive IM+CANS assessment provides a standardized, modular framework for assessing the global needs and strengths of individuals who require mental health treatment in Illinois. Today, the IM+CANS incorporates: 

• A complete set of core and modular CANS items, addressing domains such as Risk Behaviors, Trauma Exposure/Adverse Childhood Experiences, Behavioral/Emotional Needs, Life Functioning, Substance Use, Developmental Disabilities, and Cultural Factors; 
• A fully integrated assessment and treatment plan;
• A physical Health Risk Assessment (HRA); and,
• A population-specific addendum for youth involved with the child welfare system. 
  

At the core of the IM+CANS is the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) and the Adult Needs and Strengths Assessment (ANSA); communimetric tools containing a set of core and modular items that identify a client’s strengths and needs using a ‘0’ to ‘3’ scale. These items support care planning and level of care decision-making, facilitate quality improvement initiatives, and monitor the outcomes of services. Additional data fields were added to the CANS items to support a fully Integrated Assessment and Treatment Plan (IATP), placing mental health treatment in Illinois on a new pathway built around a client-centered, data-driven approach. 

The IM+CANS also includes a Health Risk Assessment (HRA), developed to support a holistic, wellness approach to assessment and treatment planning by integrating physical health and behavioral health in the assessment process. The HRA is a series of physical health questions for the individual that is designed to: 1) assess general health; 2) identify any modifiable health risks that can be addressed with a primary health care provider; 3) facilitate appropriate health care referrals, as needed; and 4) ensure the incorporation of both physical and behavioral health needs directly into care planning.

Looking for the IM+CANS or IM-CAT training schedule? All courses are now open for registration in Adobe.  If you haven't already set up your Adobe account, please navigate to https://go.uillinois.edu/MTAC to create your account with Medicaid Technical Assistance (MTAC) Virtual Training Platform and register for a class.

The Illinois Medicaid - Crisis Assessment Tool (IM-CAT) is a decision support and communication tool to allow for the rapid and consistent communication of the needs of individuals experiencing a crisis that threatens their safety or well-being or the safety of the community.  It is intended to be completed by those who are directly involved with the individual.  The form serves as both a decision support tool and as documentation of the identified needs of the individual served along with the decisions made with regard to treatment and placement at the time of the crisis.  

The IM-CAT is composed of a crisis subset of items from the IM+CANS assessment.  The IM-CAT and the IM+CANS together comprise a broader toolkit of linked assessments that are designed to meet the unique needs of multiple public payer systems, while also breaking down barriers to accessing behavioral health treatment. This suite of assessments is designed to reduce the duplicate collection of administrative and clinical data points needed to appropriately assess a client’s needs and strengths while establishing a commonality of language between clients, families, providers, and payer systems. 

Providers delivering Mobile Crisis Response (MCR) services are required to utilize the IM-CAT as a component of service delivery.  In order to utilize the IM-CAT, staff must be certified annually in either the IM-CAT or the IM+CANS. Training and technical assistance for the IM-CAT is also coordinated with the UIUC-SSW. 

Effective for dates of service on and after August 1, 2018, IATP replaces the two previously existing services of Mental Health Assessment (MHA) and Treatment Plan Development, Review, and Modification.  In support of this transition, HFS has developed the following interim guidance for community-mental health providers transitioning to the usage of the IM+CANS under IATP: 

1.     HFS shall accept all MHAs and Individual Treatment Plans (ITPs) that meet the existing requirements of each respective service outlined in the current version of the Service Definition and Reimbursement Guide (SDRG) as acceptable instruments for the provision of IATP services through December 31, 2018. 

2.     Providers must transition to utilizing the IM+CANS in the provision of IATP services within thirty (30) days of staff receiving in-person IM+CANS training.  Providers shall utilize the IM+CANS in the provision of IATP services by no later than January 1, 2019.  Providers not utilizing the IM+CANS as of January 1, 2019 may not be reimbursed for the provision of IATP services. 

3.     Providers serving recipients with active MHA and ITPs may continue to serve recipients under the documentation in these MHA and ITPs. Providers are required to complete the IM+CANS when the following are true: 

• The provider has been trained and certified in the IM+CANS, consistent with the timelines outlined in item 2; and
• The recipient’s active MHA or ITP is expiring and needs re-authorized consistent with the timeframes for the completion of MHAs and ITPs currently identified in the SDRG, or the recipient’s needs are identified to change so significantly that an update to the recipient’s MHA or ITP is deemed medically necessary to ensure appropriate clinical intervention.
  

IM+CANS Workgroup