The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) and the American Association for Community Psychiatry (AACP) are pleased to announce their renewed partnership. Together, we will focus on providing solutions for healthcare providers, payers, and agencies seeking evidence-based, professionally-developed tools for determining the appropriate level of service intensity needed for children and adolescents and their families.

AACAP and AACP have unified the Child and Adolescent Level of Care Utilization System (CALOCUS) and the Child and Adolescent Service Intensity Instrument (CASII) into a single instrument, the Child and Adolescent Level of Care/Service Intensity Utilization System (CALOCUS-CASII) for ages 6-18.  Moving forward, AACP and AACAP will continue development, improvement, and joint distribution of CALOCUS-CASII and its associated training materials, with the goal of delineating and continually improving the evidence-based standard for assessment of service intensity needs by providers and payers.

The CALOCUS-CASII is a standardized assessment tool that provides determination of the appropriate intensity of services needed by a child or adolescent and their family, and guides provision of ongoing service planning and treatment outcome monitoring in all clinical and community-based settings.  Training in utilization of the CALOCUS-CASII is available both in person and online.

The CALOCUS-CASII will also be part of the “Level of Care Utilization System (LOCUS) Family of Tools,” a suite of tools that covers the lifespan, including the Level of Care Utilization System (LOCUS) for those over 18 as well as the Early Childhood Service Intensity Instrument (ECSII) for those 0-5 years of age.

New CALOCUS-CASII Users

Online training for the CALOCUS-CASII tool may be purchased through AACAP’s online store. Once purchased, access to training modules will be provided via Pathways, AACAP’s learning management system.  Online access to the CALOCUS-CASII criteria as well as an electronic scoring tool can be obtained through Deerfield Solutions. 

Current Users of Either CALOCUS and/or CASII

Though the new CALOCUS-CASII has harmonized descriptive language within the tools to merge the two instruments into one, the dimensions, service intensity levels, scoring, and scoring algorithm are fundamentally unchanged.

Current users of the CASII and the CASII on-line training can continue to use the existing materials, pending the release of the new tool and the updated online training that incorporates the new language.

Current users of the CALOCUS, including the Deerfield online platforms and scoring algorithms, may continue to use those materials as well. The CALOCUS-CASII tool is compatible with scoring using the Deerfield online scoring software.

Though AACAP and AACP will phase out the use of each individual instrument in favor of the “merged” CALOCUS-CASII instrument, this process will not take place until the last quarter of 2021.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the difference between the CALOCUS, CASII, and CALOCUS-CASII?
A: The CALOCUS-CASII the result of the merger between the CASII and CALOCUS.  This new instrument contains streamlined language and updated descriptions of anchor points, dimensions, and service intensity levels.  The CALOCUS-CASII User’s Manual and asynchronous online training are both compatible with the current Deerfield electronic scoring software for the CALOCUS.

Q: I’ve already been trained in either the CALOCUS or CASII, do I need to undergo new or additional training?
A: No, current users of either CALOCUS and/or CASII who have been trained in either/or instrument do not need to undergo new training.

Q: Will the CALOCUS and CASII become obsolete?  If so, when?
A: For the time being, the CALOCUS and CASII will continue to be available for use and agencies will be permitted to be trained in the instruments.  Eventually, AACAP and AACP will phase out each individual instrument and promote the adoption of the merged CALOCUS-CASII tool.  This phase out of the individual CALOCUS and CASII tools will be methodical and will involve a variety of factors.  For the most up to date information on this timeline please keep referring this webpage.

Q: My agency currently has a licensing and/or training agreement with Deerfield Solutions (CALOCUS) or AACAP (CASII), will there need to be a renewals of contracts?  When will this need to happen by?
A: Yes, we will reach out to each individual agency with details on this process.  Our intention is not to cause undue burden for any agency in the process and we will do our best to work with each of them individually on terms. The implementation of updated licensing contracts will be methodical and will involve a variety of factors.  For the most up to date information on this timeline please keep referring this webpage

Contact Information

For more information or questions regarding current and future training of the LOCUS, CALOCUS-CASII, or the ECSII, please contact the corresponding office below:

Level of Care Utilization System (LOCUS®)
and/or Deerfield Solutions products and services
projectcoordinator@communitypsychiatry.org

Child and Adolescent Level of Care/Service Intensity Utilization System (CALOCUS-CASII®)
clinical@aacap.org

Early Childhood Service Intensity Instrument (ECSII®)
clinical@aacap.org