Energized by Digging Into the Data
At CalMHSA, we have a clear vision of how data can, or should be, made available to county behavioral health: as a way of seeing into your communities, deciding how to respond, and measuring the results of those decisions. We’ve built a team of, epidemiologists, data pros and other subject matter experts who are eyeing that vision at every turn – and who recently wrapped up our most robust data initiative so far, the BHSA Data Explainer Series.
From late July through the end of September, we hosted a webinar and follow-up office hours session every week, focused on one or a related grouping population health goals and measures from the BHSA. More than 700 different individuals from county teams across the state attended, many of them showing up to more than one webinar.
The series was crafted to help you incorporate the statewide BHSA goals and population-level measures into your Integrated Plans. Our priority was to strengthen your data-informed strategies, to help you improve those population health outcomes.
Together, we made a lot of progress. Each week, we had 300-400 people at webinars and an average of 100 people on the office hours calls in what proved to be a truly collaborative experience.
Your teams came prepared with questions, insights, suggestions – and a partnership willingness to learn from and with each other. Their feedback helped us, too, as we refined and deepened each week’s webinar content so it spoke directly to your needs and challenges.
We also developed a library of data dashboards for each of the measures addressed. Those dashboards – along with webinar and office hours recordings, as well as printable resources – are available on our website. So far, more than 300 people have viewed the recorded webinars. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to spend some time looking through these materials.
Next up? We’re taking on behavioral health financing with a brand new training series, which we’re calling our Behavioral Health Fiscal Academy. Each two-hour session in the Fiscal Academy will cover a much-needed area of financing specific to county behavioral health, starting with a basic overview and moving through BHSA budgets, Medi-Cal revenue forecasting, Prop. 30, and so much more. Scroll down the newsletter for more details.
The end of the year is fast approaching, but please know we have not taken our foot off the gas pedal. There’s much to do, and we remain committed to evolving with you in these particularly challenging times.
October 24, 2025