Clinical Practice

Clinical Practice

CalMHSA assists counties whenever possible with clinical practice documentation, coding other timely updates and learning opportunities

New Clinical Documentation Guides Now Available

CalMHSA has updated its Clinical Documentation Guides for Specialty Mental Health Services (SMHS) and Substance Use Disorder Services (SUD) to better serve counties.

The four previous guides have been streamlined into two comprehensive, updated documents—one for SMHS and one for SUD.

These updated guides:

  • Align with current state documentation requirements
  • Simplify and clarify expectations
  • Support consistent, high-quality clinical documentation

Visit the links below to access the updated guides:

Mental Health Services

Substance Use Disorder Services

Screening Tools

Screening and Transition of Care Tools

This recorded webinar, DHCS Screening & Transition of Care Tools: Understanding Current Requirements & New Changes, was originally presented on June 5, 2025. It provides an overview of the Screening and Transition of Care Tools for Medi-Cal Mental Health Services. The session covers the purpose and content of the tools, clarifies when the tools are not required, and highlights key considerations for ensuring they are administered as required by Behavioral Health Information Notice 25-020. View slide deck

Effective Administration of Screening Tools

This recorded webinar, Effective Administration of the Standardized Screening Tools, was originally presented on June 6, 2025, and is designed to strengthen skills in administering screening tools with increased effectiveness, accuracy, and care. The webinar explores trauma-informed screening practices, communication techniques, how to recognize when concerns should be escalated during the screening process, and more. View slide deck

CPT Coding

Coming soon.

2025 Documentation Series

Coming soon.