In September 2017, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the National Association of Counties (NACo) and the Laura and John Arnold Foundation (LJAF) hosted the Data-Driven Justice and Behavioral Health Design Institute (Design Institute) in Rockville, Md. The Design Institute convened 13 teams committed to the Data-Driven Justice (DDJ) initiative. Teams were selected through a competitive process to work directly with expert faculty in facilitated sessions and workshops to create action plans for developing and using integrated data systems that would aid their jurisdictions in identifying high utilizers of jails and crisis services. This case study is part of a series highlighting counties that participated in the Design Institute.

Through its involvement in the DDJ initiative, Bernalillo County has deepened its commitment to using data to steer and inform its policy and programming decisions. Under the direction of the Bernalillo County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council and the county’s dedicated DDJ team, which attended the Design Institute, the county has prioritized building upon its existing data-driven efforts to improve service delivery and health outcomes for individuals with complex health and social needs. Ultimately, it wants to have a county-wide data integration strategy that includes the operational definition of frequent utilizers and uses a software program for aggregating and analyzing data.