California Continues Statewide Mental Health System Reform: County-Based Systems of Care Remain Cornerstone in Treating Severely Ill

OPEN MINDS, The Behavioral Health & Social Service Industry Analyst Cover Story It has been almost a decade since California's legislature enacted sweeping reforms to state mental health services, commonly known as "Realignment." These reforms included programmatic, governance, and fiscal changes that laid the groundwork for the future reforms under the Medi-Cal Managed Mental Health Plan. The fundamental funding change of realignment was that mental health services were no longer funded as part of the state's General Fund. The state's purpose in this effort was to provide a stable funding source with predictable growth, based on . . .