Former Cerner Chief Operating Officer Joins Netsmart Technologies Board of Directors

GREAT RIVER, N.Y., Jan. 31, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Netsmart Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of software and services for health and human services organizations, today announced that Paul Black has joined the company's board of directors. Black brings significant additional healthcare and software technology expertise to the board as Netsmart positions for continued growth and development of industry-leading solutions.

Black served with publicly-traded Cerner Corporation (Nasdaq: CERN), a global supplier of healthcare information technology and services, from 1994 until his retirement as chief operating officer in 2007. He played an instrumental role in the company's double digit organic growth for 13 years. Prior to Cerner, Black was with IBM from 1982 to 1994 in a number of senior sales and professional services leadership positions.  Black also serves on the boards of Saepio, Inc., Connextions, Inc. and Haemonetics Corporation, and is the board chairman of Truman Medical Centers.

"The transformational pace of change in health information technology presents a tremendous opportunity for our customers to offer even higher quality clinical care and better serve their communities," said James L. Conway, chief executive officer, Netsmart Technologies, and also a member of the company's board of directors. "Paul's background and experience is a perfect fit for Netsmart as we help our customers effectively embrace technology for positive outcomes and consumer-directed care."

Black joins other members of the Netsmart board with significant technology or financial experience, including Mark Hanson, former senior vice president for Corporate Development and chief of staff for Siebel Systems, Inc.; Steven Mankoff, former senior vice president, Global and Technical Services at Siebel Systems, Inc.; and Roman Margolin, former associate with Willis Stein & Partners and analyst at J.P. Morgan.

"I'm pleased to join the board of Netsmart, the clear industry and visionary leader in behavioral and public health," said Black. "I look forward to involvement at this critical time when the integration of behavioral health with primary care and acute care has taken center stage, and as we work to improve upon the shorter life expectancy of this vulnerable segment of our population, which is often attributed to lack of coordination with primary care providers."

Black also serves as a volunteer with several civic and charitable organizations in the Kansas City area. He has a Bachelor of Science degree from Iowa State University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Iowa.

About Netsmart Technologies, Inc.

Netsmart Technologies is an established, leading supplier of enterprise software and software as a service (SaaS) solutions for health and human services providers. More than 18,000 customer organizations, including 350,000 care providers and 40 state systems, use Netsmart products to help improve the quality of life for millions of people each year.

Netsmart customers include mental health and substance abuse treatment agencies, psychiatric hospitals, private and group mental health practices, public health departments, vital records offices and managed care organizations. Netsmart's products are full-featured information systems that operate on a variety of operating systems, hardware platforms, and mobile devices, and offer unlimited scalability.

Netsmart provides expertise and solutions that help its customers meet all the criteria for "meaningful use" of an Electronic Health Record (EHR) under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. These include experience in electronic health record certification, the InfoScriber™ e-prescribing service, the Netsmart CareConnect™ service that enables the sharing of clinical information through health information exchanges, the Netsmart ConsumerConnect™ Web portal to provide consumer access to their care information, and a flexible platform to capture and share outcomes data. Netsmart customers can utilize Netsmart solutions to meet all Stage 1 Meaningful Use criteria, avoiding the costly and time-consuming process of integrating solutions from multiple vendors. Netsmart's Avatar™ 2011 software was the first EHR in behavioral healthcare to pass all ARRA Certification tests, earning a Certificate of EHR Compliance for Stage 1 Meaningful Use criteria and becoming fully certified for EPs and Hospitals.

Netsmart's Connected Care initiative allows behavioral and public healthcare providers to share clinical data electronically within their internal processes, externally with other providers, and with consumers via a Web-based portal, enabling high quality, consumer-directed care.

For information about Netsmart Technologies' full range of solutions for health and human services organizations, visit www.ntst.com or call 1-800-472-5509.

Avatar 2011 is 2011/2012 compliant and has been certified by the Drummond Group, an ONC-ATCB in accordance with the applicable certification criteria adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. This certification does not represent an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or guarantee the receipt of incentive payments.

Avatar, InfoScriber, Netsmart CareConnect and Netsmart ConsumerConnect are trademarks of Netsmart Technologies, Inc.

SOURCE Netsmart Technologies, Inc.