DHCS Mandatory Incident Reporting: What BHIN 26-007 Changed

Author: A. Ant, CADC-II, Licensing & Accreditation Expert.

Disclaimer: This content is provided for general informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical, clinical, legal, financial, tax, accounting, insurance, licensing, accreditation, regulatory, billing, employment, or compliance advice. Requirements change often. Consult qualified professionals or contact Continued Compliance, Inc. at (213) 864-8554 for guidance specific to your situation.

Photo: A behavioral health compliance officer completes an incident report form at a desk, with a phone and clock visible to represent reporting deadlines.

California licensed SUD recovery and treatment facilities have a firm, ongoing DHCS incident reporting duty — and that duty just got a new step. On February 9, 2026, DHCS issued Behavioral Health Information Notice No. 26-007, updating the mandatory reporting requirements for a resident’s death following the enactment of Assembly Bill 1356, known as “John’s Law.” Programs that only know the original 1-day/7-day reporting timeline are now missing a required third step.

DHCS Incident Reporting: The Baseline Requirement

Under existing law, a licensed SUD recovery or treatment facility must submit a telephonic report to DHCS within one working day of a resident’s death, followed by a written report within seven calendar days. Both reports must include everything known to the facility at the time: a description of the event (time, location, and nature of the incident), a list of immediate actions taken (including who was contacted), and a description of planned follow-up action, including steps to prevent a future death.

This baseline requirement is not limited to deaths. DHCS Form 5079, Incident, Injury or Death Report, requires a facility to report to the Licensing and Certification Division within one working day — by phone at (916) 322-2911 or electronically — for any of the following:

• Death of any resident of the licensed facility from any cause, even if the death did not occur at the facility.
• Death of any person that occurs at the licensed facility or certified program.
• Injury of any resident or client at the facility that requires emergency medical treatment.
• Cases of communicable disease reportable under Title 17, California Code of Regulations, Sections 2500 and 2502 (also reportable to the local health officer).
• Poisonings.
• Catastrophes such as flooding, tornado, earthquake, or any other natural disaster.
• Fires or explosions occurring in or on the premises.

You can find the current version of DHCS Form 5079 on DHCS’s official Applications, Forms, and Fees page, listed as “Incident, Injury or Death Report (DHCS 5079).”

What BHIN 26-007 Actually Changed

BHIN 26-007 implements AB 1356 (Dixon, Chapter 189, Statutes of 2025), which amended Health and Safety Code Section 11830.01 — now officially cited as “John’s Law.” The notice adds two requirements that did not exist under the prior framework:

1. A mandatory 30-day supplemental report. Within 30 days of a resident’s death, the facility must submit to DHCS any relevant information about the death that it did not know at the time of the initial (1-day/7-day) report. If DHCS determines a facility failed to submit this supplemental information within the 30-day window, DHCS will issue the facility a written notice of deficiency.
2. Deficiency findings tied to the death investigation itself. If DHCS identifies any violation of Health and Safety Code Chapter 7.5 (commencing with Section 11834.01), or any regulation adopted under it, during its investigation of a resident’s death, DHCS will issue a written notice of deficiency specifying instructions to address the violation, including a response timeframe.

In either case, the facility must then provide a corrective action plan or verification of correction, consistent with Health and Safety Code Section 11834.34 and California Code of Regulations, Title 9, Section 10545. DHCS has stated it will continue to relay this process through death investigative reports, compliance reviews, and other reporting formats.

Why the 30-Day Step Is Easy to Miss

The original reporting duty is built around what a facility knows in the first hours and days after a death — which is often incomplete. Cause of death, toxicology findings, and details that only emerge from a coroner’s investigation, family disclosures, or internal review frequently surface well after the seven-day written report is filed. Before BHIN 26-007, there was no explicit, standalone regulatory deadline forcing a facility to circle back and report that later-discovered information. Now there is: 30 days from the date of death, not 30 days from whenever the new information happens to surface.

A facility that treats the seven-day written report as the end of its reporting obligation on a death is not accounting for this. Build a 30-day follow-up checkpoint into your incident response workflow itself — assigned to a specific owner, calendared from the date of death, not left to memory.

What This Means for Your Program

Confirm your incident reporting policy reflects three distinct steps, not two: the one-working-day telephonic report, the seven-calendar-day written report, and the 30-day supplemental report of anything not known at the time of the original filing. Make sure whoever owns incident reporting at your facility knows to watch for a written notice of deficiency following any death investigation, and has a process ready to produce a corrective action plan or verification of correction on the timeframe DHCS specifies. Questions about a specific case should go to DHCS’s Complaints Section at SUDComplaints@DHCS.CA.gov, per BHIN 26-007 itself.

This DHCS incident reporting duty is separate from, and does not replace, any sentinel event reporting obligations your program may have under CARF or Joint Commission accreditation standards — see How to Report a Sentinel Event Correctly for that distinct process. For the underlying facility licensing framework, see Title 9 vs. Title 22 California.

Continued Compliance helps California SUD recovery and treatment facilities build DHCS incident reporting policies that hold up under eview, including the updated timelines under BHIN 26-007. If we partner, we will guarantee in writing to get your facility licensed, accredited, or certified, or your money back. Period. For a free consultation, contact Continued Compliance through our website or call (213) 864-8554.

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