加州 DHCS 如何基于 Databricks 构建行为健康公共县情档案

The California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) built the Behavioral Health Public County Profile on the Databricks platform, a first-of-its-kind public dashboard that brings behavioral health data from all 58 counties into one place for nearly 40 million Californians.

On October 1, 2026, Governor Gavin Newsom announced the launch of the County Profile, calling it a tool that empowers people to see how their counties plan, fund, and deliver behavioral health services and to hold government accountable for results.

"By making data accessible and in one place, we are giving people the tools to see what's working, where the gaps are, and how we can build a system that delivers care, dignity, and hope for everyone. Knowledge is power, and we are far from powerless."—Governor Gavin Newsom

Data and accountability at your fingertips

For years, behavioral health data in California was scattered across disparate systems, difficult to access, and nearly impossible for the public to interpret. County spending plans, demographic breakdowns, homelessness and housing-related services data, and performance measures lived in silos making it hard for policymakers, advocates, and everyday Californians to understand how their behavioral health system was actually performing.

The Behavioral Health Public County Profile changes that. It consolidates county-reported data that was previously fragmented into a single, intuitive dashboard where anyone can:

• Compare counties on behavioral health planning, funding, service delivery, and progress toward statewide goals
• Explore demographics and understand who is being served and who isn't
• Track homelessness and housing-related behavioral health services at the local level
• Review BHSA Integrated Plans - the three-year roadmaps counties are required to create under the new Behavioral Health Services Act (BHSA)
• Monitor performance measures that tie county investments to real outcomes

"California set out to establish one place where the public can clearly see how our behavioral health system is functioning at the local level, and this tool delivers on that vision. The profile brings together complex data in a format that's easy to understand, supporting more informed statewide and local conversations about how to advance behavioral health services."—Michelle Baass, Director, California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS)

From Proposition 1 to production: A data platform built for transformation

The release of the County Profile is not an isolated event; it is the culmination of a sweeping transformation in how California approaches behavioral health.

In 2024, California voters approved Proposition 1, transitioning the state from the Mental Health Services Act to the new Behavioral Health Services Act (BHSA). The BHSA fundamentally restructures how counties invest in behavioral health by tying funding to statewide goals for outcomes, equity, and transparency. On July 1, 2026, all 58 California counties officially began operating under this new framework, integrating planning across all behavioral health funding sources, targeting resources toward the highest-need populations, and explicitly including substance use disorder services and housing supports.

The County Profile is the accountability engine for this transformation. It is built on data that counties are required to report under the BHSA, making it not just a dashboard, but a mechanism for democratic oversight. Californians can now see whether their county's behavioral health investments are aligned with statewide goals and whether those investments are translating into better care.

The Technology Behind the Transparency

Building a statewide behavioral health dashboard that serves all 58 counties — each with different data systems, reporting cadences, and population sizes — is no small technical feat. The California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) chose Databricks to power this initiative, leveraging its capabilities for large-scale data integration, governed analytics, and public-facing data products — all running on a FedRAMP-authorized environment that meets the rigorous security and compliance standards required for government health data.

Key technical elements of the solution include:

• Unified data ingestion with Spark Declarative Pipelines and Lakeflow Connect: Bringing together behavioral health data from dozens of county-level sources into a single, governed data platform using Spark Declarative Pipelines for reliable, automated ETL and Lakeflow Connect for seamless connectivity to external systems.
• Standardized metric definitions with Semantic Views: Establishing governed, consistent metrics across all 58 counties using Semantic Views to define business logic once and reuse it everywhere, so that when a Californian compares Los Angeles County to Fresno County, they are comparing apples to apples.
• Serverless Compute: Enabling DHCS teams to process and transform data at scale without managing infrastructure, reducing operational overhead and allowing engineers to focus on the data products that matter rather than managing infrastructure
• Scalable, production-grade infrastructure: Supporting both the internal analytics needs of DHCS and the public-facing County Profile application that serves millions of potential users
• Data quality and lineage: Ensuring that every number in the dashboard can be traced back to its source, with clear documentation of how it was transformed and validated
• FedRAMP-authorized security: Operating within a compliance framework that safeguards sensitive behavioral health data, meeting federal standards for confidentiality, integrity, and availability that government agencies require when handling protected health information

This is data engineering in service of public trust. When a governor quotes your dashboard in a press release, the data has to be right, it has to be secure, and the platform has to be built to ensure it stays that way as new data flows in from counties across the state.

A model for data-driven government

California's Behavioral Health Public County Profile represents something larger than a single dashboard. It is a proof point for what happens when government agencies invest in modern data platforms and treat data transparency as a core public service.

The BHSA requires counties to create Integrated Plans: three-year roadmaps for behavioral health services, programs, and investments. These plans specify how counties will use behavioral health funding to address local mental health and substance use disorder needs, improve access to care, and strengthen services across the care continuum. The County Profile makes these plans visible and comparable, creating a feedback loop between policy intent and measurable outcomes.

This approach mirrors a broader trend in public sector data modernization: moving from static, periodic reports to living, interactive data products that empower stakeholders at every level - from state legislators to county administrators to the families seeking care for their loved ones.

"In my 25 years at the state level in the behavioral health field, the BH Public County Profile is one of California's most exciting innovations. We're bringing transparency to behavioral health data in a way that will continue to propel California's behavioral health system forward."—Marlies Perez, BHT Project Executive, DHCS

“Building a unified dashboard that harmonizes reporting across all 58 California counties required a modern, scalable architecture. By partnering with Databricks, our team was able to transform fragmented data silos into a reliable, high-performance engine for public accountability.”—Alex Luchini, BHT Product Portfolio Director, DHCS

What’s next for California’s Behavioral Health Data

The County Profile is a living tool. DHCS has indicated that additional measures will be added over time as more data becomes available and as the BHSA matures. The foundation is in place: a governed, scalable data platform that can grow with California's ambitions for behavioral health transformation.

For Databricks, this partnership with DHCS demonstrates the power of the platform in one of the most consequential domains imaginable: helping a state of nearly 40 million people build a behavioral health system grounded in data, accountability, and the belief that every person deserves access to care.

As Governor Newsom put it: Knowledge is power, and we are far from powerless.

Explore the Behavioral Health Public County Profile: county-profile.mes.dhcs.ca.gov