Mental health screening—with CYBHI billing for California schools
California law now requires insurance plans to pay for mental health screening. Maro implements the screening and billing. Your district keeps the reimbursements.
We handle everything.
Your staff is already overworked. Let Maro handle the details of implementing a mental health screening program.
Part 1
Automatically collect parental consent
Maro sends out digital, bilingual consent forms to every family, documents who has responded, and ensures that no student is screened without the right permissions in place.
Part 2
Students complete their questionnaire online
Using any computer or device, students access validated screening tools like the PHQ-9 survey for depression. No paperwork, no documentation to worry about. It just works.
Part 3
Connect at-risk students to the right support
Instantly see which students may be struggling with mental health. We'll help your staff connect them to the right resources and support. Parent communication is built in the whole way through.
Bonus Step
We bill insurance for you
Maro handles CYBHI documentation and claim submission for your school, so your district automatically earns up to $38 for every student screened. No extra work from your staff required.
What Is CYBHI?
The Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative (CYBHI) is a California state program that requires health insurers (Medi-Cal and commercial health plans) to reimburse schools for student mental health services. This includes mental health screening.
When your school screens students for depression or other behavioral health concerns, insurance plans are required to reimburse the district. Families pay nothing. No copays, no deductibles. It doesn't even show up on their insurance statement.
"The platform itself has everything I could want as a counselor, and as a school. But the people at Maro are just beyond… with the support, the implementation, the guidance."
— Brian Patel, School Counselor
Bayshore Elementary District, San Mateo County
Everything you need to implement a screening program in California
We handle all the details for your school.
White-glove onboarding
We set up your account, configure your screeners, and get everything ready for you to start screening.
Complete library of validated screeners
Choose from a library of evidence-based mental health screening questionnaires.
Automatic parental consent forms
We handle collecting consent from parents, with full tracking and your choice of an opt-in or opt-out policy.
Bilingual family communications
All parent-facing materials and consent forms are available in English and Spanish languages.
Automatic CYBHI documentation & billing
Maro takes care of generating the proper paperwork and submitting claims. Your district keeps the money.
Easy follow-up and referral for students
We help you connect at-risk students and their families to the support they need. You'll never wonder what's next.
Full FERPA & COPPA compliance
Your student data is fully encrypted and secured. Maro meets all regulatory compliance in California.
24/7 support for your school's faculty
The Maro team is standing by to help your staff navigate the process and make screening an easy, routine task.
Frequently Asked Questions
Maro is here to support California administrators. Please reach out to our team if you have questions.
How much work is this for our staff?
Maro handles the hard stuff: parent consent collection, screening administration, and maintaining data privacy and regulatory compliance. Plus, for California schools, we also take care of the entire CYBHI billing setup so you get reimbursed from health plans for every student screened.
Your staff doesn't need to manage a billing system, chase down paperwork, or submit claims to insurers. We handle everything in the background, and keep it simple enough that a school counselor can run the whole thing without IT support. The screening itself takes students about five minutes to complete on any school device.
The bulk of the work for school staff is simply meeting with any students who may be struggling with their mental health and offering them support.
Who sees the screening results?
Results are only accessible to the school staff you designate. Maro does not share individual screening data with insurers, outside organizations, or anyone beyond your authorized team. When claims are submitted for CYBHI billing, that process uses coded claim data only. The actual screening content never leaves your school. All data is fully encrypted, our platform is FERPA compliant, and we follow HIPAA-aligned practices for handling sensitive student health information. Your students' results stay exactly where they belong.
Does California require mental health screening?
California bill AB 1120 would have made universal mental health screening a legal requirement. It failed to pass in 2024, but that doesn't mean your school is off the hook.
Every district serving grades 7-12 is required by law to have a written suicide prevention, intervention, and postvention policy (AB 2246, Education Code Section 215). The law doesn't specify how districts should identify at-risk students, but regular mental health screening is the most logical and defensible answer. For many districts, ensuring compliance with AB 2246 is reason enough to adopt screening.
The California Department of Education also steers districts toward universal mental health screening through its recommendation of MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Support) as the preferred framework for student wellness. Adopting MTSS isn't a mandate, but it's the state's official recommended playbook.
Maro helps your district build and execute a screening program that satisfies both AB 2246 and MTSS expectations, without creating excess work for your staff.
How does parent consent work?
Parents or guardians provide consent before their child is screened. Maro handles consent collection digitally — families receive a simple link, review the information, and sign off on their phone. No paper forms, no chasing down signatures.
Schools can choose between active (opt-in) consent, where parents affirmatively agree before their child is screened, or passive (opt-out), where consent is assumed unless a parent declines. We support both models depending on your district's policy. To help build trust with all families, we offer bilingual consent communications. Families who speak Spanish at home receive the same clear, accessible experience as English-speaking families.
Does CYBHI billing affect family's insurance?
No. California law prohibits health plans from passing any cost of CYBHI services to families. There are no copays, no deductibles, and no impact on premiums. On top of that, California requires insurers to suppress billing notifications for CYBHI services entirely. Families won't receive an explanation of benefits or any letter from their insurer related to the screening. This policy was put in place specifically to protect student privacy and encourage schools to participate without worrying about parent blowback.
The short version: families will never know a claim was submitted, and they will never pay a dime.
We make CYBHI billing actionable (and easy) for your school
Most California schools know CYBHI exists. Knowing about it and actually billing for it are two different things. The setup process is confusing, the documentation requirements are real, and without a clear service to bill for, most districts never get started.
Maro removes every one of those barriers. We fully implement a mental health screening program for your school/district, which means you have a legitimate, documented billing code from day one. No scrambling to create new programs or train staff on claim paperwork. We handle the billing, the documentation, and the processing automatically.
Other CYBHI billing vendors will set up your account and process claims, but they take a percentage of every reimbursement, require your staff to document services manually, and leave you to figure out what you're actually billing for. With Maro, the screening is the service, the billing is automatic, and your district keeps everything.
— ECHO Alternative School
Regional Office of Education 21
We handle screening. You keep the reimbursements.
Maro makes student mental health screening easy for California schools. Plus, we automatically set you up for CYBHI billing. Ready to launch a program at your school?
See if your district qualifies for automatic CYBHI billing.
