In February 2026, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the State Medicaid & CHIP Toolkit for Children’s Behavioral Health Services and the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment (EPSDT) Requirements. This toolkit serves as a resource for state Medicaid and CHIP agencies to ensure that children and youth experiencing behavioral health conditions receive the care they need.
The Toolkit includes strategies for developing a behavioral health care delivery system that can meet a range of children’s needs, promote early intervention for children’s behavioral health conditions, improve children’s access to behavioral health care through service coordination and integration, and increase workforce capacity for children’s behavioral health services.
There is close alignment between the HealthySteps model and the strategies outlined in the CMS Toolkit. The National Office has prepared a 2-page guide that outlines the alignment between strategies in the toolkit and HealthySteps, which can be downloaded below.
