Projects and Grants per year
Grants and Contracts Details
Description
ABSTRACT
Project: CANS Project for Colorado Departments of Health Care Policy &
Financing / Behavioral Health Administration
Purpose
This proposal is to provide technical assistance and consultation to Colorado
Departments of Health Care Policy & Financing (HCPF) and Behavioral Health
Administration (BHA) in order to develop a customized Child and Adolescent Needs and
Strengths (CANS) universal assessment tool within a Transformational Collaborative
Outcomes Management (TCOM) framework. The CANS is a communimetric
assessment that organizes information and operationalizes the TCOM framework which
is rooted in the following guiding principles:
• The belief that all interventions and assessments should be culturally
responsive and respectful.
• People should have a voice and choice with regard to participating in any
assessments and interventions.
• All interventions should be personalized, respectful and have demonstrable
value to the people they serve.
• Collaborative processes inclusive of children and families, should be used for
all decisions at all levels of the system.
• Consensus on action is the primarcy outcome of all collaborative processes.
• Information about the people served and their personal change should always
inform decision making at all levels of the system.
• All of our work should be accomplished with respect to the earth and our
impact on it.
Qualifications
The CANS is a functional assessment tool that has been in use in child welfare,
children’s behavioral health, educational and juvenile justice systems since the late
1990s. Developed by John S. Lyons, PhD while at Northwestern University, the CANS
is now used across the United States, Canada and over 10 countries internationally. It
is estimated that 80% of children served in public behavioral health and child welfare
systems in the United States have had a CANS. Since the development of the CANS,
other similar tools have been created including the Adult Needs and Strengths
Assessment (ANSA), Family Advocacy and Support Tool (FAST), Crisis Assessment
Tool (CAT), and the Readiness Inventory for Successful Employment (RISE).
During the last 30+ years Dr. Lyons’ work has received support from the organizations
that he has worked in which contributed to the development of his team and the
evolution of the Transformational Collaborative Outcomes Management (TCOM)
approach: University of Ottawa, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, and most
recently at the Center for Innovation in Population Health (IPH Center) at the University
of Kentucky. Established in 2019, the IPH Center provides a platform for the TCOM
approach to flourish in a research setting that can draw multi-sector collaborative
1
relationships with key partners in the academy as well as throughout the human
service sectors. Within the context of the IPH Center, TCOM and its tools, such as the
CANS, broadens the strategy of personal transformation to addressing population
health improvement.
Methods
1. TCOM Implementation, Development, and Educational Support
a. TCOM implementation, technical assistance, consultation
b. Customized CANS reference guide development and editing
c. Customized CANS certification course on TCOMtraining.com
2. CANS Training
a. TCOM Overview
b. CANS Orientation
c. CANS Training of Trainers (TOT)
d. CANS Certified Trainer Coaching and Support
3. Precision Analytics
a. Decision Support Model Development – CANS
b. Clinical Case Review – CANS
c. CANS Data Analytsis, Reporting (incl. latent class analysis)
d. CANS Advanced Analytics (incl. LASSO)
Qualifications of Key Staff
April D. Fernando, PhD is an Associate Director of the IPH Center and an Associate
Professor, Health Management and Policy, College of Public Health at the University of
Kentucky. She leads the TCOM Implementation, Development, and Educational
Support (TIDES) program at the IPH Center. As the Principle Investigator (PI) she will
provide overall project leadership and provide clinical insight and support, ensuring that
the workforce is properly trained and supported in the TCOM approach and the use of
TCOM tools.
John S. Lyons, PhD is the founding Director of the IPH Center, and Professor, Health
Management and Policy, College of Public Health, University of Kentucky. He is the
original developer of TCOM and its tools (CANS/ANSA/FAST/CAT). As a Co-
Investigator, Dr. Lyons will develop customized decision support models based on the
CANS for Colorado HCPF/BHA.
Olga Vsevolozhskaya, PhD is an Assistant Director at the IPH Center at the University
of Kentucky and a faculty member in the Department of Biostatistics within the College
of Public Health. Dr. Vsevolozhskaya leads the Precision Analytics program at the IPH
Center and will oversee the data management and analyses aspects of the work. Her
team will be responsible for providing technical assistance and consultation to Colorado
HCPF/BHA on the design, development and production of CANS reports.
2
Status | Active |
---|---|
Effective start/end date | 10/21/24 → 6/30/25 |
Funding
- Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing
Fingerprint
Explore the research topics touched on by this project. These labels are generated based on the underlying awards/grants. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Projects
- 1 Active
-
Colorado CANS Project
Lyons, J. (PI), Tong, X. (CoI), Vsevolozhskaya, O. (CoI) & Fernando, A. (Former PI)
Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing
10/21/24 → 6/30/25
Project: Research project