State of Oregon Department of Human Services Selects Netsmart Technologies for Comprehensive Behavioral Healthcare Integration Project

GREAT RIVER, N.Y., Feb. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Netsmart Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of enterprise-wide software and services for health and human services organizations, today announced it has been selected by the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) as the technology provider for the Oregon DHS Behavioral Health Integration Project (BHIP). The initial phase of the project will connect and facilitate clinical data exchange at Oregon State Hospital and other facilities in the state's acute care behavioral health hospital system.

Netsmart's Avatar certified clinical electronic health record (EHR) and practice management software will serve as the foundation for the new system, which will integrate DHS' behavioral health clinical and administrative operations and replace the legacy mainframe-based Oregon Patient/Resident Care System (OP/RCS) and a variety of small, internally developed custom applications. The Client Process Monitoring System (CPMS), used by the community-based programs to report data to DHS, will also eventually be replaced with Netsmart's Avatar solution.

The first phase of the new EHR system will enhance the way patient information is shared within Oregon State Hospital, with planned expansion to other state behavioral health facilities and community-based behavioral health centers, making connected care a reality for behavioral health care in Oregon. It will also support a "treatment mall" recovery-based system of care delivery model. This is the centralized system of care model that has become the accepted standard of practice being implemented nationally and internationally by psychiatric hospitals. During the weekday, patients leave their living areas to attend classes and participate in leisure activities in a centrally located, school-like setting called a treatment mall.

Netsmart was selected from among three finalists for the new system. Other finalists included a Fortune 50 enterprise healthcare software provider and a consulting firm that implements an open source software solution.

"Netsmart has the unique combination of experience successfully serving behavioral health care organizations nationwide, extensive behavioral health expertise, and a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software system designed for behavioral health," said Linda Hammond, project administrator, Oregon Department of Human Services. "In addition, the Netsmart software provides us with a comprehensive, integrated EHR that will reduce data redundancy, provide a single view of patient information across the system and is expandable to integrate other facilities, including community behavioral health centers."

The comprehensive clinical and administrative components provided by Netsmart include an EHR, practice management, computerized physician order entry, pharmacy management, laboratory management and dietary management.

"We're pleased to be chosen by Oregon DHS for this critical project, and are firmly committed to supporting Oregon's vision of a comprehensive approach to the full sharing of clinical information across the spectrum of care," said James L. Conway, chief executive officer, Netsmart Technologies.

For information about Netsmart Technologies' full range of solutions for health and human services organizations, visit www.ntst.com or call 1-800-421-7503, Option 6.

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 nearly 40 state systems, use Netsmart products to help improve the quality of life for millions of people each year.

Netsmart's 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'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.

With the certification of its Avatar 2006 software, Netsmart became the first behavioral healthcare, public health, substance abuse and methadone software and services provider to have a product certified according to the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) Ambulatory EHR 2006 criteria.

Netsmart provides solutions that help its customers meet the evolving definition of "meaningful use" under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. These include a certified electronic health record, the InfoScriber e-prescribing service, the CareConnect service that enables the sharing of clinical information through health information exchanges, and a flexible platform to capture and share outcomes data.

SOURCE Netsmart Technologies, Inc.

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