The California Behavioral Systems (CBS) Coalition Project, which includes 21 counties, has been working together since 2003 to evaluate, select and implement behavioral health information systems to meet the administrative, billing, clinical, managed care and reporting requirements of their counties.

Recently the CiMH-organized California Behavioral Systems (CBS) Coalition completed their Phase 2 Software Vendor Analysis Report that was completed for 21 counties in the coalition. This report describes the project and summarizes the Phase 2 results, including descriptions of finalist vendor capabilities and the criteria coalition members are using to make final selections. The report also describes a methodology for working together to negotiate a software contract with a given vendor.

Chapter 3 of the report addresses "Non-CBS County Involvement” as the coalition counties proceed with vendor contracting:

Members of the CBS Coalition have expressed an interest and willingness to include other California counties in the Next Steps process, should they be interested in joining a Vendor Workgroup. Interested counties should contact Bill Carter at CiMH, (916) 556-3480 ext 130; or Dale Jarvis, project consultant, at (206) 613-3339; .