CANS Program has Expanded and is Now PIPS!

The Shriver Center is pleased to announce that the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) program has expanded and is now known as the Program for Improving Public Health Systems (PIPS)! The newly named initiative represents an expansion and continuing evolution of CANS, which originally launched in 2009 when the Commonwealth was required to implement a single assessment tool for all young people receiving outpatient and in home behavioral health care.  

The CANS program at the Shriver Center began as a contract with the Commonwealth to help Medicaid implement their assessment tool. Initially, the Shriver Center’s role was to train and certify clinicians to use the tool, but the Center’s engagement expanded over the years to both test and improve the tool’s basic properties.  When other key state agencies saw the work the CANS team had done with this particular tool, they asked for help in developing and testing other tools.  One such project involves testing a screening tool for long term services and supports for those with chronic health needs.

As the team grew, it created a powerful synergy at the intersection of policy, practice, and research. Led by Sarah Rulnick, MPH, and Hannah Karpman, MSW, PhD, the PIPS team is uniquely positioned to help policymakers think critically about implementing changes in health and behavioral health systems, test those changes prior to implementation, and tailor interventions to ensure that preset goals are achieved. 

PIPS primarily focuses on 3 key areas: 

• The Karpman Lab uses simulation methodologies to support the validation and implementation of public sector behavioral health initiatives. 

• Providing training and technical support for the assessment of health and behavioral health conditions in the public sector system    

•  Studying interventions to improve the quality of health and behavioral health services.  

According to Dr. Karpman, PIPS hopes to play a key role in future innovations: “Health care leaders are often trying to do the right thing by implementing strategies that have worked well in other locations, but they don't have a way of seeing how it might work or not work in their particular setting. Now, we are able to see and use research methodology to show how a new initiative will impact the entire system, from the patient to the director of Medicaid.”  

The team hopes to continue to grow their work through grant and contract funded opportunities alongside health care leaders and policy makers. Doing so will improve the systems they manage by utilizing research-based methodologies to anticipate and predict implementation challenges.