The 2026-27 Budget: Department of Developmental Services

Mar 13, 2026 - Data Limitations While the department provides some data on spending drivers, publicly available data are fairly limited. This means that the Legislature ’s ability to understand spending drivers at a more nuanced level is limited.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5157

The 2021-22 Budget: Medi-Cal Enterprise System Modernization Effort

Feb 17, 2021 - To better align some Medi ‑Cal IT systems with MITA and benefit from the available enhanced federal funding, DHCS started a number of Medi ‑Cal IT system modernization initiatives, including CA ‑MMIS Modernization in 2010, the Comprehensive Behavioral Health Data System in 2015, and MEDS Modernization in 2016.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4375

The 2026-27 Budget: Medi-Cal Analysis

Mar 2, 2026 - The administration has indicated it will prioritize using administrative data to automatically identify individuals who are excluded or exempt from the community engagement requirement. For  example, the administration proposes using multiple data sources —including state wage records, Internal Revenue Service data, and third ‑party employment
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5146

An Update on the Public Health Laboratory System After the Pandemic

Jun 12, 2025 - During the COVID-19 pandemic, the state had difficulties managing the high volume of laboratory data associated with the pandemic and local public health laboratories did not have a consistent system to report COVID data.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5056

The 2025-26 Budget: Medi-Cal Pharmacy Spending

Apr 3, 2025 - We also used drug utilization data to track which drugs have driven changes in pharmacy spending. However, the data on their own are not conducive to effective trend analysis. This is because each quarter of data contains around 40,000 line items, and some drugs are spread across multiple lines.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5026

The 2025-26 Budget: CalAIM Enhanced Care Management and Community Supports Implementation Update

Mar 6, 2025 - Summary of Utilization Data and Key Trends ECM and Community Supports Quarterly Implementation Report Provides Benefit Utilization Data. DHCS publishes quarterly implementation monitoring reports that include data on the utilization of the ECM and Community Supports benefits across the state, broken down by MCP and county.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5003

Building California’s Behavioral Health Infrastructure: Progress Update and Opportunities for the Proposition 1 Bond

Feb 5, 2025 - Generally, the researchers used state licensure data to estimate the capacity (as of 2021) of adult beds in the state. RAND used three approaches for estimating the shortage of beds: (1) surveying psychiatric facilities to gather data on bed occupancy, wait list volume, and other information; (2) convening an expert panel to estimate bed need based on available
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4954

The 2025-26 Budget: Understanding Recent Increases in the Medi-Cal Senior Caseload

Mar 6, 2025 - Based on data available on the California Health and Human Services Agency (CalHHS) Open Data Portal, the increases have continued through at least December 2024 (the last month of data available as of publication of this report).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5010

The 2026-27 Budget: Medi-Cal Fiscal Outlook

Nov 19, 2025 - The cost of services to this population, however, is difficult to track with existing data sources. Moreover, data generally are not readily available to estimate monthly caseloads and costs of other UIS populations.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5092

The 2021-22 Budget: Department of Developmental Services (DDS) May Revision Budget Proposal

May 24, 2021 - Consider More Robust Data Systems Overhaul. As mentioned above, DDS ’ data/IT systems may require a major overhaul. Not only would better systemwide data/IT systems improve the performance incentive program, but it would also allow DDS and others to conduct more real-time and regular assessments to better inform policy and funding decisions.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4438