BHSA Policy Updates

Update: On October 30th, 2025, the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) released updated versions of the Behavioral Health Services Act (BHSA) County Policy Manual (“Policy Manual”), BHSA Integrated Plan Template, County Population-Level Behavioral Health Measure Workbook, and County Population-Level Behavioral Health Measure Workbook – Measure Access Instructions & Notes.

The revised versions have been updated on the Download Resources page. The updates include the following:

Policy Manual (Version 1.3.2.):

Revisions were made to ensure a higher standard of compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), including:

»  Removing footnote text that may disrupt screen reader navigation

»  Consolidating important information directly into the main text to improve accessibility

»  Streamlining document structure for more consistent reading order

BHSA Integrated Plan Template:

»  Updated numeric fields to accept responses with decimal points.

»  Added an “N/A” option to the Statewide Behavioral Health Goals question “How does your county status compare to the statewide rate?”

»  Added question to “Medications for Addiction Treatment (MAT) Details” sub-section to Behavioral Health Service Act/Fund Programs, Full Service Partnership Program to align with County Portal.

»  Revised Integrated Plan template language to align with County Portal functionality.

»  Made other technical edits to address feedback from County Portal users.

BHSA Integrated Plan Budget Template:

»  Changes to Budget Sheet Tab 10. BHSA_Summary. Formula updated to avoid double counting of MHSA unspent carryover funds

»  Changes to Budget Sheet Tab 7. BHSS. BHSS EI Threshold calculation should exclude MHSA transferred WET and CFTN funds as they are exempt from suballocation requirements, formula revised to remove WET and CFTN.

»  Changes to Budget Sheet Tab 8. BHSA_PlanAdmin. Updated instructions to clarify DHCS will not pre-populate data for "Total Projected Annual Revenues of BHSF". Counties must enter in the data.

County Population-Level Behavioral Health Measure Workbook

»  Added county-specific rates for the California Consumer Perception Survey (CPS) and the Quality Domain Score Treatment Perception Survey (TPS) measures included in the “County Snapshot”, “Care Experience”, “Social Connection”, and “Quality of Life” (QoL) tabs.

»  Updated the “School” tab to include 2023 – 2024 county-specific rates for the Student Chronic Absenteeism Rate measure.

»  Made additional technical updates to better align the measure names with publicly available dashboards/reports.  

County Population-Level Behavioral Health Measure Workbook – Measure Access Instructions & Notes

»  Added additional notes and clarifying text to improve usability and streamline navigation to public dashboards/reports.

»  Made technical updates to better align the measure names with publicly available dashboards/reports.  

For questions, please email BHTPolicyFeedback@dhcs.ca.gov.