This grant program provided incentive funds to qualified behavioral health Electronic Health Record (EHR) system vendors to develop, test, and implement an HL7 interface that automatically extracts data from the EHR system, compiles it according to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services’ (EOHHS) Children's Behavioral Health Initiative (CBHI) interface specification, and submits it to the Commonwealth’s system. The awarded vendors implemented this interface in production at three Massachusetts organizations, unaffiliated with each other, providing behavioral health services in the Commonwealth and provides support services to those organizations for at least two years following the successful submittal, in production, of patient data to CBHI.
MeHI awarded 4 EHR system vendors a total of $193,000 to development technology to improve the efficiency of submitting CANS assessment data to the state's CBHI program. A press release announcement was published in August 2017.
| Grantee EHR System Vendors | Award Amount | BH Partners |
| eHana | $54,000 | 1. Bay State Community Services 2. CHD (Center for Human Development) 3. Eliot Community Health (MSPCC) |
| Netsmart Technologies (MyEvolve) | $54,000 | 1. The Edinburg Center 2. Gosnold on Cape Cod 3. The Home for Little Wanderers |
| PsyTech Solutions | $31,000 | 1. Amesbury Psychological Center 2. Multicultural Wellness Center 3. Priority Professional Care |
| Qualifacts Systems | $54,000 | 1. Youth Opportunities Upheld, Inc. 2. Family Services Association of Fall River 3. BHN, Inc. |
“The implementation of the automatic CBHI CANS interface through our vendor has positively impacted our workflow. Not having to visit the Virtual Gateway website every time and the ability to enter the data once into one system rather than two makes life easier for our clinicians.” - Amesbury Psychological Center
“Many of the children we work with at The Home have complex behavioral healthcare needs. We serve thousands of patients annually and offer five types of CBHI services, which results in many provider hours spent on CANS assessments submitted solely through the Virtual Gateway. The CBHI CANS Interface Development Grant allowed our EHR vendor to develop and implement an automatic CANS interface at The Home. By enabling this automatic interface, our workflow has become more efficient. We no longer encounter time outs, cutting out the need for re-entry of data, and the ability to enter the data into one system rather than the previous two has streamlined our workflow. Our providers can more easily and efficiently achieve the CANS reporting requirements, allowing for more time spent on patient care.” - The Home for Little Wanderers