On July 6, DHCS released a RFI for the CYBHI, inviting vendors to provide information to DHCS to help inform the planning, design, development, and launch of the Behavioral Health Virtual Services platform by January 2024. DHCS will host a vendor conference on July 13 for prospective vendors.
Established as part of the Budget Act of 2021, the CYBHI is a multiyear, multi-department package of investments that seeks to reimagine the systems, regardless of payer, that support behavioral health for all California’s children, youth, and their families. Efforts will focus on promoting social and emotional well-being, preventing behavioral health challenges, and providing equitable, appropriate, timely, and accessible services for emerging and existing behavioral health (mental health and substance use) needs for children and youth ages 0-25. CYBHI is grounded in focusing on equity; centering efforts around children and youth voices, strengths, needs, priorities, and experiences; driving transformative systems change; and using ongoing learning as the basis for change and improvement in outcomes for children and youth.
One workstream of the CYBHI is to build and drive adoption of a Behavioral Health Virtual Services platform to support the delivery of equitable, appropriate, and timely behavioral health services, from prevention to treatment to recovery, and provide an e-consult platform for pediatric and primary care providers to e-consult with behavioral health providers.