Mental Health Services for Older Adults: Creating a System That Tells the Story.

In 2004, voters in California approved Proposition 63 for passage of the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA). From that time until 2014, over $13 billion in the state's tax revenue was allocated for public mental health services. There is very little information available to answer critical questions such as these: How much of this amount was spent in the interests of older adult mental health? What benefits were gained from services delivered to older adults? This policy brief promotes recommendations for specific age-relevant indicator utilization and for an expanded system of uniform and transparent data for all types of MHSA-funded programs.