The behavioral health landscape in California is shifting. With the passage of Proposition 1 in March of 2024, the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) has been replaced with the Behavioral Health Services Act (BHSA). Behavioral health organizations across the state are adjusting to a transformation that is reshaping how behavioral health services are delivered, funded, and evaluated in California.
For behavioral health departments and agencies, this transition presents both challenges and opportunities. New compliance requirements, evolving service delivery models, and shifting regulatory frameworks demand immediate attention and strategic planning.
Rising to Meet the Challenge
Recognizing the critical nature of this transition, EVALCORP took proactive action in January 2025 by establishing our BHSA Compliance & Integration (C&I) Workgroup. This strategic response enables us to help our clients navigate this regulatory shift with ease.
Our workgroup includes experienced MHSA/BHSA subject matter experts, and business development professionals. We work together to navigate regulatory requirements, respond to client needs, strengthen internal capacity, and develop innovative strategies.
Providing Strategic Advantage: Core Functions of EVALCORP’s BHSA C&I Workgroup
To assist behavioral health systems in California as they adapt to this new policy landscape, our workgroup actively tracks policy changes, monitors guideline updates, anticipates programming and evaluation shifts, and translates complex regulatory language into actionable guidance.
Regulatory Intelligence Hub
As the regulatory landscape evolves, our team meets regularly to review the latest California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) guidance, analyze legislative updates, and identify emerging best practices. These discussions help us interpret policy implications for behavioral health agencies’ operations and strategic planning. In particular, we focus on how regulatory shifts impact data reporting obligations, evaluation methodologies, and performance metrics that agencies must track.
Collaborative Problem-Solving Platform
The most effective solutions emerge when potential challenges are identified early in the transition process. Our team works collaboratively to anticipate our clients’ evolving needs and develop practical tools and strategies to help client partners and our internal teams stay ahead of guideline changes.
Tangible Resources for Real-World Impact
Our workgroup creates practical resources designed to translate our collaborative analysis into actionable support. We share some resources directly with our clients to help them navigate new guidelines, while using others internally to ensure our team stays current and ready to provide informed guidance. Both approaches ultimately benefit our client partners. Our resources include:
Living BHSA Compliance Guide: This dynamic internal resource tracks policy changes in real-time, synthesizes regulatory updates, and evolves with the shifting landscape. It serves as a comprehensive roadmap through the BHSA transition and is updated continuously to reflect the latest developments. Our “Living BHSA Compliance Guide” is accessible to all team members working with behavioral health organizations in California and includes:
- Regulatory and guideline differences between MHSA and BHSA
- Summary of changes between draft and final guideline versions
- Differences between the Integrated Plan and MHSA Three-Year Program and Expenditure Plan
- MHSA vs. BHSA Community Program Planning Process (CPPP) requirements comparison
This document ensures that our consultants have the latest policy updates whether they are working with our behavioral health partners on program evaluation, needs assessment, or strategic planning projects.
Implementation Tools & Templates: We have several tools and templates to help behavioral health organizations ensure that the planning, documenting, and executing of their programs maintains compliance. These templates provide a foundation that teams customize to address unique client requirements and local contexts.
- CPPP Stakeholder Engagement Tracker Template: A structured tracking tool that helps behavioral health organizations document their CPPP activities and ensure BHSA engagement compliance. It systematically captures meaningful community involvement data in a format ready for county portal submission.
- Integrated Plan Collaborative Development Template: A framework that guides multi-agency teams through collaborative BHSA Integrated Plan development. This template breaks down complex requirements into manageable sections, assigns team roles, and ensures compliance and coordination across teams and stakeholders.
- BHSA CPPP Implementation Workflow Guide: A step-by-step process guide that informs Community Engagement and Data Collection Plans to execute Community Program Planning Processes from start to finish. This resource outlines key milestones, feedback cycles, and decision points to ensure meaningful community engagement.
- BHSA Framework Resources:
- BHSA Housing Program Requirements Overview
- BHSA Population Health Approach and Statewide Behavioral Health Goals Overview
Data & Analysis Support: We also support our clients by compiling and analyzing data from multiple sources, providing expert interpretation and contextual analysis that illuminates disparities and informs equitable decision-making. Our data services include accessible, user-friendly formats tailored to different stakeholder needs.
BHSA Transition Blog: In addition to this post, we have published two BHSA updates to keep the public informed and have more on the way. For more details on this transition check out the following:
- Recent Changes to the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA): What They Mean…
- The BHSA Transition Guide Part 2: Reporting Expectations
Proactive Support Framework: Our team has developed a proactive support framework through which we identify opportunities and challenges before they appear on our clients’ radars. This framework ensures that the organizations we partner with can stay on top of state regulatory changes.
BHSA Transition: From Surviving to Thriving
The BHSA Workgroup goes beyond helping clients navigate regulatory requirements and guidelines—we serve as strategic thought partners, helping organizations anticipate policy changes and respond with data-driven insights and robust analysis that strengthen both compliance and community impact. This proactive approach reflects our core belief: the best evaluation partners don’t just measure outcomes—they help shape them. By staying ahead of regulatory trends and understanding policy implications for diverse communities, we work with our clients to transform transition challenges into opportunities for growth.
The BHSA transition represents a significant shift for behavioral health organizations as they adapt to new requirements. While transitions of this scope naturally present implementation challenges, our team’s support can help organizations navigate these changes more effectively and identify opportunities for enhanced community impact within the new structure. Our evaluation team understands the complexity involved in implementing comprehensive policy changes and is ready to help behavioral health organizations with data analysis, strategic planning support, and practical tools to succeed within the BHSA framework.
Ready to transform challenge into opportunity?
We invite behavioral health leaders to connect with our BHSA Workgroup about your specific implementation challenges and opportunities. Whether you’re wrestling with compliance requirements, seeking strategic guidance, or looking to optimize your approach through this transition, our team is here to help.
Get in touch with our BHSA Workgroup to discuss how we can support your organization’s transition to the new regulatory landscape.