The Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) has released the
Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Act Data
Dictionary Version 2.0. The CARE Act Data Dictionary V2.0 was
developed to guide county behavioral health agencies and other
state or local governmental entities in fulfilling the reporting
requirements as outlined in California Welfare and Institutions
Code (W&I Code) sections
5985 and
5986. The CARE Act Data Dictionary defines, standardizes, and
provides structured guidance for all required data points.
Effective January 1, 2025, counties are expected to report on the
expanded data requirements included in the Data Dictionary V2.0.
DHCS has indicated that there may be data quality issues specific
to the measures included in
Senate Bill 1400 (Chapter 647, Statues of 2024). DHCS has
stated that they will work with county partners to address and
work through these issues, but counties are expected to begin
collecting this data to the extent they are administratively
available. Additional resources on the CARE Act Data Dictionary,
including training and technical assistance, is available on the
CARE Act Resource Center Data Collection page.
