Colorado BHA FHIR Implementation Guide
0.3.0-current - ci-build USA

Colorado BHA FHIR Implementation Guide, published by Colorado Behavioral Health Administration. This guide is not an authorized publication; it is the continuous build for version 0.3.0-current built by the FHIR (HL7® FHIR® Standard) CI Build. This version is based on the current content of https://github.com/CoBHA/CoBHRM-FHIR-IG/ and changes regularly. See the Directory of published versions

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Official URL: http://bha.colorado.gov/fhir/bha-ig/ImplementationGuide/bha-ig Version: 0.3.0-current
IG Standards status: Trial-use Maturity Level: 1 Computable Name: BHAIG

This is a draft FHIR implementation guide (IG) to enable standardized behavioral health data exchange and reduce provider administrative burden throughout Colorado’s behavioral health ecosystem.

This version is based on the CoBHRM from May 2026.

Overview

On July 1, 2026, the Colorado Behavioral Health Administration (BHA) will begin collecting client-level data according to the specifications of the Colorado Behavioral Health Reporting Model (CoBHRM), replacing two legacy reporting systems:

  • CCAR (Colorado Client Assessment Record) – mental health treatment data.
  • DACODS (Drug and Alcohol Coordinated Data System) – substance use disorder (SUD) treatment data.

This IG addresses the exchange of CoBHRM deliverables between providers, intermediaries, and the BHA. It includes the following:

  • Profiles for BHA client demographic information, admission and discharge information, diagnosis information, and other related information.
  • Terminology specifications (code systems and value sets) for BHA-specific codes.
  • Example instances of FHIR resources demonstrating how FHIR data in the formats specified here can capture the information for example BHA client criteria.

Data intermediaries who report into BHA — such as Behavioral Health Administrative Service Organizations (BHASOs) — are encouraged to build upon this specification to meet their own operational needs.

Getting Started

This implementation guide is built using HL7 FHIR Revision 4.0.1 found at http://hl7.org/fhir/R4/. An understanding of FHIR is important in knowing how to implement the data exchange patterns specified here.

This guide is broken down into sections.

  • Guidance for further guidance.
  • Profiles for the FHIR profiles needed in this IG.
  • Questionnaires for the FHIR questionnaires defined in this IG.
  • Terminology for the code systems and value sets defined in this IG.
  • Artifacts for the complete list of all artifacts defined in this IG, including profiles, value sets, code systems, and examples.
  • About for more information about this IG, including how to download the resources and view the source code.

This IG is dependent