California MHI Partners
California Department of Public Health
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) works to protect the public’s health and shape positive health outcomes for individuals, families and communities. Public health is for everyone; not just in emergencies but in everyday life — from heart health and mental wellness to food safety and the prevention of infectious and chronic diseases. Our programs and services, in collaboration with local health departments, state, federal and private partners, touch the lives of every Californian and visitor, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
OUR SHARED VISION Public health is not only the heart of California; it’s the heart of CDPH. From tracking diseases to empowering communities, we are dedicated to protecting and improving the well-being of all Californians and shaping a happy, healthy and safe state. We are dedicated public servants passionate about our work, and the people and communities we serve.
WHAT WE DO Our collective efforts contribute to shaping healthier and more resilient communities. CDPH’s fundamental responsibilities are broad and include:
- Chronic disease prevention and health promotion
- Emergency preparedness
- Environmental health
- Family health
- Food safety
- Health equity
- Infectious disease control and prevention
- Laboratory services
- Patient safety
VITAL RECORDS AND STATISTICS CDPH’s key activities and services include protecting people in California from the threat of preventable infectious diseases by educating and informing the public of effective ways to stay safe, like vaccines, masks, handwashing and other daily life choices. CDPH uses reliable and accurate public health laboratory services to inform the public about health threats.
However, public health affects daily lives in more ways than infectious disease prevention. Public health measures and services often aim to help people live longer and healthier lives. Other critical services include:
- Providing nutritional support to low-income families
- Screening newborns and pregnant women for genetic diseases
- Ensuring the safety of food and bottled water
- Eliminate tobacco-related health inequities
- Preventing chronic diseases and conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, asthma and obesity
- Protecting patient safety in hospitals and skilled nursing facilities
- Maintaining birth and death certificates
- Preparing for and responding to public health emergencies
- Reducing health and mental disparities among vulnerable and underserved communities to achieve health equity throughout California.
MISSION To advance the health and well-being of California’s diverse people and communities.
VISION Healthy communities with thriving families and individuals.
California Department of Health Care Services
The California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) is the backbone of California’s health care safety net, helping millions of Californians every day. DHCS’ purpose is to provide equitable access to quality health care leading to a healthy California for all.
To fulfill this purpose, DHCS’ Strategic Plan establishes the following high-level goals:
- Be person centered – Put people first and design programs and services for whole person care in the community.
- Increase meaningful access – Ensure individuals get care when, where, and how they need it by strengthening health care coverage, benefits, and provider and service capacity.
- Achieve excellence in health outcomes – Improve quality outcomes, reduce health disparities, and transform the delivery system.
- Be an employer of choice – Attract, develop, and retain a diverse and talented team that is empowered and impactful.
- Strengthen operations – Enhance our organizational structures, processes, and systems to improve program administration.
- Leverage data to improve outcomes – Drive better decisions and results with meaningful information.
DHCS is the federally designated single state agency responsible for financing and administering the state's Medicaid program, Medi-Cal, which provides health care services to low-income persons and families who meet defined eligibility requirements. Medi-Cal is authorized and funded through a federal-state partnership. Medi-Cal programs cover physical health, mental health, substance use disorder, services, pharmacy, dental, and long-term services and supports. DHCS is also the single state agency for Substance Abuse and the State Mental Health Authority, and administers county-operated community mental health and substance use disorder programs, together known as behavioral health.
Medi-Cal serves more than 14 million Californians. About one-third of Californians receive health care services administered by DHCS, making the Department the largest health care purchaser in California. Our success is made possible only through collaboration with the federal government, other state agencies, counties, plans, providers, and community partners as we invest more than $200 billion annually for the care of low-income families, children, pregnant women, seniors, and persons with disabilities.
DHCS is a dynamic Department with ambitious goals and talented, committed employees. We work hard every day to fulfill our vital responsibility to support the delivery of quality health care to Californians. We will continue to use tax dollars as effectively as possible while finding opportunities to improve Californians’ health and the health care delivery system of our Golden State.
The Office of the California Surgeon General
The Office of the California Surgeon General is advancing the health and well-being of all Californians by focusing on three key priorities—ACEs and toxic stress, maternal health, and reproductive health.
- ACEs, PCEs & Toxic Stress Addressing Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress is vital to improving long-term health outcomes across the lifespan.
- Maternal Health Maternal health is a critical component of overall health, ensuring the well-being of mothers before, during, and after childbirth.
- Reproductive Health Reproductive health is an essential part of well-being and a key priority for the Office of the California Surgeon General.
Visit the Office of the California Surgeon General's website
California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative
California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative (CMQCC) is a multi-stakeholder organization committed to ending preventable morbidity, mortality and racial disparities in California maternity care. CMQCC uses research, quality improvement toolkits, statewide outreach collaboratives and its innovative Maternal Data Center to improve health outcomes for mothers, birthing persons and infants.
CMQCC was founded in 2006 at Stanford School of Medicine together with the State of California in response to rising maternal mortality and morbidity rates. Since CMQCC’s inception, California has seen maternal mortality decline by 65 percent between 2006 to 2016, while the national maternal mortality rate continued to rise.
Maternal Data Center One of the keys to CMQCC’s success is its ability to provide hospitals with access to near real-time benchmarking data through its online Maternal Data Center. CMQCC uses its innovative Maternal Data Center, quality improvement initiatives and research to improve health outcomes for mothers and infants. The MDC links state birth certificate data with each hospital’s patient discharge data to generate a wide range of perinatal performance metrics and quality improvement insights. Currently there are more than 200 hospitals actively participating in the Maternal Data Center, representing approximately 95 percent of all births in California alone. Watch this video to learn more about the California MDC.
Quality Improvement Initiatives CMQCC has developed evidence-based quality improvement toolkits for the leading causes of preventable death and complications for mothers and infants, including toolkits on: Cardiovascular Disease, Early Elective Delivery, Hemorrhage (1st and 2nd editions), Maternal Venous Thromboembolism, Preeclampsia, and Supporting Vaginal Birth and Reducing Primary Cesareans.
To help California hospitals implement the evidence-based care presented in our toolkits, CMQCC launched large-scale outreach collaboratives. State-wide collaboratives for hemorrhage and preeclampsia were launched individually and then a second time together in 2013 to help CA hospitals implement both obstetric hemorrhage and preeclampsia patient safety bundles. Maternal morbidity was reduced by 20.8% between 2014 – 2016 among the 126 hospitals participating in the California Partnership for Maternal Safety, the joint hemorrhage and preeclampsia collaborative.
A six-month pilot Collaborative to Support Vaginal Birth and Reduce Primary Cesareans was launched in 2014, and the first-birth cesarean rate decreased by greater than 20 percent between the three hospitals participating. Close to 100 hospitals are now participating in the current full-scale collaborative.
Research CMQCC partners with the State of California to publish the California Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review. The first in-depth medical record review of pregnancy-related deaths occurring between 2002-2007 was published in 2011, which helped identify quality improvement opportunities in maternity care. A second in-depth medical record review focused on mental health is currently underway.
CMQCC has developed four quality measures endorsed by the National Quality Forum: Cesarean Rate for Low-Risk First Birth Women; Infants Under 1500g Delivered at Appropriate Site; Exclusive Breastfeeding at Hospital Discharge; and Unexpected Newborn Complications. We have also authored more than 60 publications in peer-reviewed journals focused on maternity care (complete list available here).