FSU developing statewide data system to improve mental health care in Florida

For years, critical data about Florida’s behavioral healthcare system has been scattered among state agencies, making it difficult to assess how well the system serves patients and where improvements are needed.  

Now, Florida State University is working to bring that information together to give policymakers and researchers a clearer picture of mental health and substance use treatment across the state.  

The effort is part of the Tristin Murphy Act, which became Florida law in 2025. Under the legislation, FSU is building and hosting the Florida Behavioral Health Care Data Repository, a secure, statewide resource that will bring together data from multiple agencies. The project combines expertise from the FSU College of Medicine’s Center for Behavioral Health Integration, the Northwest Regional Data Center (NWRDC) and FSU Information Technology Services (ITS). 

“Right now, we cannot say whether or not people who enter into care systems in Florida get better,” said Heather Flynn, professor and chair of the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine at FSU’s College of Medicine and director of the FSU Center for Behavioral Health Integration. “We don’t know if the right resources are being targeted to the right geographic areas or populations.” 

Creating a repository that brings together data from multiple state agencies is a complex undertaking. The repository grew out of the work of Florida’s Commission on Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder. 

After consulting with other states that have developed similar systems, FSU researchers identified several challenges, including staff turnover, limited technical expertise and the need for independent oversight. FSU brings together specialists in data science, biostatistics, public and behavioral health to help address those challenges. 

Access, quality, outcomes. That’s really what this whole program is about, improving access, quality and outcomes for mental health and substance use in the state.”

– Heather Flynn, FSU professor

The project also relies on FSU’s existing technology infrastructure. The Northwest Regional Data Center (NWRDC), which already supports state agencies, provides the secure environment needed to house the repository.  

Tim Brown, assistant vice president of NWRDC, said those existing relationships with state agencies helped lay the groundwork for the project.  

“FSU’s NWRDC is built to handle massive, complex public-sector datasets with the highest levels of security,” Brown said. “Because our infrastructure already supports state agency data, building this repository at FSU was a seamless fit. It allows us to maximize existing state investments while ensuring Florida’s data remains safe, centralized and highly available.” 

While NWRDC provides the infrastructure, the Data and Analytics team within FSU ITS is developing the technology to combine data from five state agencies into a single system. 

The five agencies are the Department of Children and Families, the Agency for Health Care Administration, the Department of Juvenile Justice, the Department of Corrections, and the Office of the State Courts Administrator. Each uses different methods and formats to collect and share information. 

The ITS team is developing a system to standardize that data so researchers can analyze it securely and consistently.  

“Our main priority is protecting patient privacy while integrating data from disconnected systems,” said Jorge Vidal, senior director of Data and Analytics at FSU ITS. “Identifying information will be kept in a highly secure environment, separate from the anonymized data researchers will use to study trends across the state.” 

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The FSU Center for Behavioral Health Integration is guiding the research. Roderick Harris, the repository’s program director, said combining information from different agencies will help with better understanding patients’ experiences and evaluate treatment outcomes over time. 

“If the outcome is reduced hospitalizations or fewer trips to the crisis stabilization unit or detox center, what does that success look like?” Harris said. “And what services were delivered to get to that successful outcome? Was it peer support services? Building that integrated model is what this is all about.” 

During the project’s initial phase, FSU researchers will analyze the data and submit annual reports to the Florida Legislature. A governance structure that includes representatives from participating state agencies will help guide the work. In later phases, qualified researchers at FSU and other institutions, including the University of South Florida, may apply for access to deidentified datasets. 

By bringing together information that has long been separated across state agencies, FSU hopes to give policymakers and researchers the evidence they need to identify gaps in care, evaluate treatment outcomes and improve mental health and substance use services for Floridians. 

“Access, quality, outcomes,” Flynn said. “That’s really what this whole program is about, improving access, quality and outcomes for mental health and substance use in the state.”