CANS and ANSA Certification Requirement

Date: December 19, 2023

Attention: Mental Health Targeted Case Management and Mental Health Rehabilitation Providers

Call to action: Texas Children’s Health Plan (TCHP) asks all Mental Health Targeted Case Management and Mental Health Rehabilitation (MHTCM/MHR) providers to please send us their certification of either Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) or Adult Needs and Strengths Assessment (ANSA) training. A copy of your CANS and/or ANSA certification can been emailed to tchpnetworkmanagement@texaschildrens.org.

How this impacts providers: TCHP requires MHTCM/MHR providers serving both children and adults to have either CANS or ANSA certifications. Providers must have documentation of current certification in the CANS or ANSA, and the certification must be updated annually.

Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) issued a clarification on the CANS and ANSA training and certification requirements. The statement noted that an amendment was made that clarified that MHTCM/MHR providers serving both children and adults must be trained and certified in either the CANS or ANSA.

The Uniform Managed Care Manual (UMCM) 15.3, Mental Health Targeted Case Management and Mental Health Rehabilitative Services Training Requirements states, “Providers delivering services to children must be trained in using the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) assessment, and providers delivering services to adults must be trained in the Adult Needs and Strengths (ANSA) assessment.” Providers can disregard this requirement from UMCM 15.3, as this new amendment clarifies that either the CANS or ANSA is accepted as a way to increase the number of available providers.

Information on CANS and ANSA:

Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS): A structured assessment strategy for identifying youth and family actionable needs and useful strengths. It provides a framework for developing and communicating about a shared vision and uses youth and family information to inform planning, support decisions, and monitor outcomes. It provides a common language for multidisciplinary settings for consensus building.

Adult Needs and Strengths Assessment (ANSA): A multipurpose tool developed for adult behavioral health services. It is intended to prevent duplicate assessments by multiple parties, decrease unnecessary psychological testing, aid in identifying placement and treatment needs, and inform case planning decisions. Its assessments help support decision making, including level of care and service planning, to facilitate quality improvement initiatives, and to allow for outcomes monitoring.

Next steps for providers: Please email your CANS and/or ANSA certification to tchpnetworkmanagement@texaschildrens.org.

For information on how to complete your CANS and ANSA training, visit praedfoundation.org.

Resources: 

• ANSA (HHSC website)
• CANS (HHSC website)
• Behavioral Health and Case Management Services Handbook of the Texas Medicaid Provider Procedures Manual (TMPPM)
• Training Attestation Document

If you have any questions, please email Provider Relations at: providerrelations@texaschildrens.org.

For access to all provider alerts,log into:
www.thecheckup.org or www.texaschildrenshealthplan.org/for-providers.