The VA Mental Health Checkup application (app) for Care Teams supports mental health assessments and measurement-based care for Veterans with various mental health conditions. Through the app, VA providers can engage Veterans in their own care with assessments that help evaluate levels of distress. VA staff members (i.e., mental health providers) can assign assessments to Veterans, receive notifications when Veterans complete assessments, receive alerts on assessment scores, and provide feedback to Veterans. Veterans can complete their assessments on their personal devices at their convenience and obtain the results in real time directly after they submit their responses.

To use the Mental Health Checkup app for Care Teams, you must be a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provider and be logged into the Single Sign-On Internal (SSOi) service. To log on with SSOi, you must select your credential service provider (CSP) and authenticate to that service. Available methods are PIV authentication, VA Active Directory (username/password) authentication, and Integrated Windows Authentication. More information can be found on the AccessVA website.

Main features include:

• Dashboard – Track and review completed assignments by provider panel and monitor compliance at site level.
• Assessments – Assign assessments, view results, and provide feedback to Veterans.
• Alerts – Receive alerts for assigned, missed, or completed assessments.
• Notifications – Track assignments ended by another provider.
• Tracking – View assessment results over time as a graph or view individual assessment details.

Access the Mental Health Checkup app, which will bring you to the SSOi Login Screen. Select Sign in with VA PIV Card (a list of PIV Badge Offices can be found at https://va-piv.com/Home.aspx) or View Other Sign-In Options to log in with Windows Authentication or VA Network ID. Follow the process for logging in with the chosen set of credentials.

NOTE: You can access the Mental Health Checkup app for Care Teams directly or through the VA Launchpad. The VA Launchpad contains links to all VA apps. By signing into an app once (per session), you can access multiple apps without logging into each one individually.

The Dashboard shows you all completed assessments that need your review. By default, the Dashboard will filter results where the user actively logged in is listed as the provider. Completed assessments are assigned a deadline for review based on assessment type. Results highlighted in red are overdue for review. Those displaying a critical (red triangle with an exclamation point) icon in the Severity column indicate that the patient positively responded to a suicide-related element.

By default, the Dashboard will filter to display the completed assessments that are due or overdue for review. Using the drop-down menus above the assessment list, you can filter the assessments in your Dashboard by Provider Name, Assessment Type, Severity, or Status.

You can use your Dashboard to view details of completed assessments, mark assessments as reviewed, create Progress Notes, and send feedback to patients.

Yes. You will receive alerts via email when assessments are assigned, when the due date is missed, and when assessments are completed. To adjust the notifications you’d like to receive, select your name at the top right corner of the screen, then select Preferences.

To assign an assessment(s), select Create Assessments from the home screen or select Assessments on the app’s top banner, then select Create from the drop-down menu that appears. On the next page, select Yes if you are the responsible provider. If you are assigning an assessment on behalf of someone else, select No. (Selecting No will prompt you to search for and select the responsible provider, then select Next.) Select Add Patient and enter the patient’s name(s) in the Patient Search box. Select the correct patient(s) from the list. A dialog box will open asking you to verify the patient’s contact information and notification preferences. If the patient's contact information is incorrect or is not listed, enter their email address, mobile number, or both. NOTE: Updating the patient’s contact information in Mental Health Checkup will also update the information in their VA.gov profile. Select the patient's preferred notification method(s), then choose Select Patient. Select at least one assessment to assign, then select Next. Enter the assessment frequency, response window, total number of times, clinic, start date, and any additional instructions you would like to add. Select Send to assign the assessment(s). Once you have successfully created the assessment(s), you will receive a confirmation message. Based on your patient’s preferred notification method(s), they will receive a notification via SMS text, email, or both with a link to the assessment, which they can complete and submit without logging in. If a patient has been assigned the same assessment by a different provider, you will be alerted and given the option to discontinue one or more assignments. The original provider will be alerted when they log into the app if you discontinue an assignment.

No. The patient will be sent an unauthenticated link, which only allows them to access that assessment. To access previous assessment results and personal information, the patient must log into the Patient Portal with their ID.me, DS Logon Level 2 (Premium), or My HealtheVet Premium account credentials.

No. The assessment is available via the unauthenticated link or through the Mental Health Checkup Patient Portal until the assessment completion deadline. NOTE: The patient’s responses will not be saved if they close the assessment window before completing the assessment.

Assessment details are displayed in two areas on the Assessment Selection page. When you hover over the assessment title with the curser, a dialogue box will appear providing the full title of the assessment. Select Detailed Information to open an additional dialogue box with specific information about that assessment. When you select an assessment by checking the box to the left of the assessment name, the same information will appear in the Selected Assessments column on the right side of the screen.

Yes. You can designate any commonly administered assessments as favorites in Mental Health Checkup. Upon identifying the patient, select the desired assessment(s) on the Assign Assessment(s) screen, then select Add to Favorites below the Selected Assessments box.

Select the desired patient in Mental Health Checkup, then select Next. Assessments you have added to your favorites will be listed under My Favorites at the top left of the Assign Assessment(s) screen. Once saved, they will remain under My Favorites until they are removed.

Yes. On the Assign Assessment(s) screen, select the desired assessment(s), then select Create Battery. Enter a name for the collection of assessments. Once saved, these assessments will be listed under Saved Batteries on the left of the Assign Assessment(s) screen and will remain there until removed.

No. Currently, a saved battery cannot be edited. To create a new battery, follow the steps listed in “Can I save a battery of assessments?” To delete an unwanted battery, select the delete (trash can) icon to the right of the battery.

To view an assigned assessment, select Assessments in the top right corner of the screen, then select Assigned from the drop-down menu that appears. You can view assigned assessments by patient or assessment type.

To search for a specific patient, select Patient Search, and type in the patient’s last name, last and first name, or last name initial and last four digits of the Social Security Number (SSN) into the search field. Select the patient you would like to view from the search results. To view by assessment type, use the Select an Assessment button and choose the assessment type you would like to view from the drop-down menu that appears.

Regardless of whether you are viewing a specific patient or a type of assessment, you will see the patient name, frequency, total number of times, remaining assessments, start/next due date, and assigned by fields. You can sort by any of these fields by selecting the header.

To view assessments for another patient or to view another type of assessment, select the Showing Assignments drop-down. The option to search for a patient or select a type of assessment will appear.

To change details of assigned assessments, such as frequency, total number of times, or instructions, select Assessments in the top right corner of the screen, then select Assigned from the drop-down menu that appears. Select the assigned assessment you would like to edit by using the Patient Search or filtering by assessment type.

To update the frequency you want your patient to complete an assessment, go to the drop-down menu under Frequency and select Once, Daily, Weekly, Biweekly, Monthly, Quarterly, or Annually.

To update the response window, go to the drop-down menu under Response Window and select One Day, One Week, or One Month (30 days).

To update the total number of times you’d like the patient to complete an assessment, select the text field under Total Number of Times, and enter the updated number.

To update the clinic, select the edit (white square with a pencil) icon and type a clinic name into the pop-up search box. Select the name of the clinic to update it.

To edit the instructions, select View/Edit under Instructions and edit the instructions in the text box that appears in the pop-up instructions box.

Select Save Changes to update the assigned assessment(s).

To end an assigned assessment, select Assessments in the top right corner of the screen, then select Assigned from the drop-down menu that appears. You can view assigned assessments by patient or assessment type. From the list of assigned assessments, select the X (white ‘x’ in a blue circle) icon under the End column to discontinue the assessment, and a pop-up warning box will appear. Select Yes to end the assessment.

If a patient has completed multiple assessments of the same type, you can view the results as a graph. To view assessments as a graph, select Assessments in the top right corner of the screen, then select Results from the drop-down menu that appears. Search for and select a patient to view all completed assessments for that patient, regardless of who assigned it. Select View Assessment Score Historical Graph(s) and select an assessment to expand. Once you expand an assessment, you will see the results displayed as a line graph. To view the data as a table, select View as Table.

Completed assignments that have related notifications or alerts will show on the Dashboard. To view details, select View Details in the Action column for an assignment.

Alternatively, you can select Assessments in the top right corner of the screen, then select Results from the drop-down menu that appears. You can search for assigned assessments by patient or assessment type. Select View on a specific assessment to view details of that assessment, including the score, severity, and answers to the questions. The patient’s name, SSN, date of birth (DOB), and sex will be visible at the top of the screen. Select Previous Assessment to go to the assessment completed just before or select Next Assessment to proceed to the following assessment.

To send feedback to a patient on a completed assignment, choose an assignment from the Dashboard and select View Details in the Action column. In the text box under Feedback for Patient, enter any comments you would like to send to the patient, then select Send.

Alternatively, you can select Assessments in the top right corner of the screen, then select Results from the drop-down menu that appears. You can view assigned assessments by patient or assessment type. Select View to the right of the assessment you want to send feedback on to display details of that assessment. In the text box under Feedback for Patient, enter any comments you would like to send to the patient, then select Send.

To create Progress Notes with the results of a completed assessment, choose an assignment from the Dashboard and select View Details in the Action column. Select Create Progress Note on the Completed Assessment Details page. Search for and select the note title associated with the VistA, then select Submit. You can also batch process Progress Notes from the Dashboard by selecting the white square to the left of each assignment, then selecting Create Progress Notes. Choose a note title, then select Submit.

Alternatively, you can select Assessments in the top right corner, then select Results. After searching for results by patient or filtering by assessment, select Create Progress Notes above the list of Completed Assessments. Under the Progress Notes column, select the assessment(s) you wish to create Progress Notes for, then select Submit Progress Notes at the bottom of the screen. To create a Progress Note for an individual assessment, select View in the Action column, then select Create Progress Note under the results.

A site-level report will display the results of all completed assessments within your local healthcare system. While the process may differ from site to site, the expectation is for each facility to oversee reviews compliance. This feature allows the user to nudge the responsible provider, if needed, directly from the app using Microsoft Outlook or Teams to ensure results are reviewed promptly. Select View Site-Level Report from the Dashboard page to view this information.

If you would only like to view results under a specific provider(s), use the Provider Name filter on the Dashboard.

Additional information about other VA apps can be found at mobile.va.gov/appstore as well as on mobile.va.gov.

More resources, such as an At A Glance and a Slideshow, can be found on mobile.va.gov/app/mh-checkup-care-teams.

If you need any help or technical assistance using the Mental Health Checkup app, dial 1-866-651-3180 to speak with a VA representative. For TTY assistance, dial 711.