Using PSYCKES
The Psychiatric Services and Clinical Knowledge Enhancement System (PSYCKES) is a web-based portfolio of tools designed to support quality improvement and clinical decision-making in the New York State (NYS) Medicaid population. PSYCKES uses administrative data from the Medicaid claims database to generate information about quality indicators and to summarize treatment histories. This administrative data is collected when providers bill Medicaid for services, and no data entry by providers is required.
PSYCKES can be used to track performance on quality indicators, manage quality improvement projects, and obtain client-level information for use in clinical decision-making. PSYCKES is compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). Quality reports in PSYCKES are updated monthly, and clinical information is updated weekly.
Access to PSYCKES is managed internally in the agency or hospital through the Office of Mental Health (OMH) on-line Security Management System (SMS). The SMS/Security Management System Reference Manual provides information about accessing and using SMS.
The PSYCKES User's Guide 
(5.7mb) is a training and reference resource for all users. Users can also learn about using PSYCKES by viewing a live Using PSYCKES Webinar which is offered monthly (see calendar) or by watching a recorded version of the Using PSYCKES Webinar which is available to view anytime.
Brief Instructions for Using PSYCKES in Clinical/Emergency Settings (90kb) is a concise and user-friendly guide developed to meet the needs of clinicians using PSYCKES. It provides step-by-step instructions for documenting client consent or emergency status and accessing the Clinical Summary.
Technical support for users of the PSYCKES application is provided by PSYCKES-Help.
Comments or questions about the information on this page can be directed to the PSYCKES Team.