Oversight commission details data warehouse, dashboards and public review plan
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Summary
Commission staff described a high-security data warehouse linking DHCS, HCAI, CDPH and other datasets (about 4 million distinct client records), public dashboards (education, overdose, fiscal) and a plan to present new dashboards in March with a 30-day public review period.
Kaylee Patterson, chief of research, evaluation and programs for the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission, outlined the commission's data framework on Feb. 24 and described the commission's data warehouse, public dashboards and planned public review process.
"We have just about 4,000,000 distinct client records in that dataset," Patterson said, explaining the warehouse contains individual-level service data from the Department of Health Care Services dating back to 2000 and that those records are linkable to other administrative datasets.
Patterson described four framework domains the commission uses to guide its data work: engagement (co-design with stakeholders), use for planning and policy, public transparency (dashboards and reports), and evaluation. The commission's warehouse currently receives data from DHCS (behavioral health services and client characteristics), HCAI (hospital and emergency department), CDPH vital records, EDD (wage data), DOJ and CDE, with plans to explore additional agreements such as with the Department of Social Services.
Public-facing products include a fiscal transparency dashboard, client services information, an education dashboard that tracks academic engagement among students receiving specialty mental health services, and population behavioral health measures with domain-specific dashboards (overdose, suicide, access, etc.). Patterson said some dashboard releases predate the Behavioral Health Services Act and that the commission will present updated dashboards to the full commission in March, followed by a proposed 30-day public review period.
Commissioners raised privacy and timeliness concerns. Patterson said the commission implements strict security practices, data-reporting thresholds to avoid small-cell disclosure, and ongoing quality-assurance steps. She and colleagues noted that state agency reporting cadence and recent platform changes at DHCS affected the completeness and timeliness of some local behavioral health service data, citing a drop in usable data reported after counties changed reporting platforms in 2023. The commission is renegotiating agreements to improve the reliability of data inputs.
On partnerships and capacity, staff said the commission uses outside evaluators where needed: Patterson cited work with WestEd to support evaluation of the Behavioral Health Student Services Act initiative. Melissa Martin clarified that the commission obtains county-reported data from state agencies (DHCS, CDPH) rather than directly from counties, and that the commission is not currently using AI analytics products.
What happens next: the commission plans to present new dashboards to the full commission in March and open them for a 30-day public review to gather feedback before final release.
Sources: Presentation and Q&A with Kaylee Patterson and Melissa Martin, Provider Advisory Committee meeting, Feb. 24, 2026.