Manifest MedEx (MX), California’s largest nonprofit health data network, announced that the County of Santa Cruz is implementing MX’s social health information exchange (SHIE) platform, MX Engage. The effort will help county departments across health, social services, and public safety coordinate care and services through secure, consent-based access to shared information.
Manifest MedEx designed MX Engage to be implemented by counties across California. The platform brings together social, behavioral, and clinical data into one easy-to-understand view of each person’s social care risks and needs. Authorized care teams can also use built-in tools, like intake forms, behavioral health screeners, and closed-loop referrals, to coordinate care directly without needing to track down records across separate systems.
The first use case to roll out as part of the multi-year Santa Cruz County program supports the Justice-Involved Reentry Initiative, which allows eligible Californians who are incarcerated to enroll in Medi-Cal and receive a targeted set of services in the 90 days before their release. Through MX Engage, Manifest MedEx will ultimately enable one coordinated release plan across Santa Cruz’s sheriff, probation, behavioral health, and housing departments. Authorized access to shared information supports pre-release assessments, screeners, referrals, and care plans for incarcerated individuals, with additional county teams and use cases to follow.
“This is an important opportunity for us to address a key turning point in people’s lives and it starts with better data,” said George Malachowski, Planning and Evaluation Division Director, Santa Cruz Human Services Department. “A data sharing system that incorporates multiple departments reduces bottlenecks, prevents duplicate services, and gives staff clear visibility into whether a person actually received the service they were referred to, so no one falls through the cracks, and people get support faster.”
Like many counties, Santa Cruz has faced this challenge: human services, probation, and sheriff staff spend time on manual workarounds because their systems aren’t integrated. Missing or delayed data adds to that burden. Santa Cruz is taking the lead in building a more connected system.
This implementation is funded through a California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) grant that provides capacity-building investments for organizations to expand the staffing, infrastructure, systems, and partnerships needed to strengthen coordination and improve access to services.
“Coordinating the right care and services across different departments and teams requires each authorized team member to have visibility into whole person data, not just the information their own department or program generates,” said Leslie Goodyear-Moya, Senior Advisor, Strategic Initiatives, Manifest MedEx. “Santa Cruz is putting its CalAIM grant funding toward the infrastructure needed to improve coordination today, while also creating a foundation that departments can use for public health and other priorities down the road, without the cost of building separate systems for each one.”
Santa Cruz’s implementation follows Fresno County, which became the first county to use MX Engage, launching this month as part of the Fresno County Information Exchange (FCIE), the region’s approach to community data exchange in support of public health and whole person care goals. The first use case rolled out within Fresno County is the Home Visiting Program, which provides services at home for pregnant people and families with young children. The program, administered by the Fresno Department of Public Health, offers parenting support, health education, and connections to community resources. Through MX Engage, Manifest MedEx integrates home visitation data from disparate sources and providers across Fresno County, helping community health workers identify overlaps in services and optimize care delivery.
About Manifest MedEx
As the largest nonprofit health data network in California, Manifest MedEx (MX) is an integral part of the state’s health data infrastructure, combining and delivering crucial health information for 50 million people across 140+ hospitals, 21 health plans, and more than 2,700 providers. Together, we are transforming health across the state, supporting California as a leader in equitable, affordable, proactive, and compassionate care. For more information, visit manifestmedex.org and follow us at @ManifestMedEx.
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