Netsmart Technologies Selected as Software Provider by Five Florida Behavioral Healthcare Provider Organizations

GREAT RIVER, N.Y., Oct. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Netsmart Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of software and services for health and human services organizations, today announced agreements with five private, not-for-profit behavioral healthcare organizations in Florida for implementation of Netsmart's Avatar™ electronic health record (EHR) and practice management software solutions.

Three of the contracts are with organizations new to Netsmart, and the other two organizations are transitioning from their current Netsmart software solution. 

"We're pleased to be the technology partner of choice for behavioral healthcare in Florida," said James L. Conway, chief executive officer, Netsmart Technologies. "We appreciate the confidence this demonstrates in our expertise and solutions, and the level of trust these providers place in us to help them deliver outstanding care to the thousands of clients they serve."

Circles of Care in Melbourne, Child Guidance Center in Jacksonville, Henderson Mental Health Center in Fort Lauderdale, Northside Mental Health Center in Tampa, and Solutions for Administrative Services, Inc., in Pinellas Park each selected Netsmart's Avatar CWS (Clinician Workstation), Avatar PM (Practice Management) and other Netsmart products. Avatar CWS is comprehensive EHR software that integrates the clinical tools necessary for an interdisciplinary approach to the delivery of care. Avatar PM is a modular, customizable practice management software solution that efficiently manages key processes, including scheduling, billing and treatment planning.

Circles of Care is implementing Netsmart's Avatar CWS, Avatar PM, Order Entry, Electronic Medication Administration Record (eMAR) software. In addition, Circles of Care has a significant inpatient population, and is the first Netsmart customer in Florida to implement Netsmart's RxConnect™ pharmacy management solution to better manage its pharmacy and ensure the highest levels of patient safety and quality of care. Circles of Care is a private, not-for-profit community mental health center that provides high quality mental health, substance abuse and related services to 15,000 customers through hospital, residential, outpatient and outreach programs.

Child Guidance Center is implementing Avatar PM, Avatar CWS, and Netsmart MobileConnect™. Netsmart MobileConnect enables clinicians to securely enter data from the field and have it automatically populate into an EHR. These solutions allow Child Guidance Center's staff to work more efficiently and continue providing quality care to consumers. The Child Guidance Center is a private, not-for-profit organization that has served children, adolescents and their families in Northeast Florida since 1951.

Henderson Mental Health Center will transition its clinical and practice management processes from Netsmart's CMHC/MIS software to Avatar PM and Avatar CWS. Henderson will also enhance quality of care and operational efficiencies by using Netsmart MobileConnect to enable clinicians who travel within Broward County to collect data in the field. Henderson serves its clients from multiple office locations and chose these Netsmart solutions to support its geographically-dispersed client base. Henderson Mental Health Center is a private, not-for-profit behavioral healthcare system providing comprehensive, recovery-focused services to more than 20,000 people of all ages.

Like Henderson, Northside Mental Health Center is also transitioning its clinical and practice management processes from Netsmart's CMHC/MIS software to the company's Avatar PM and Avatar CWS software.  Northside provides affordable, high quality behavioral health services that promote prevention and support role recovery and resiliency for more than 8,000 people per year at multiple sites throughout Hillsborough County.

Solutions for Administrative Services, Inc., is a newly-formed management services organization (MSO) created through an alliance between Operation PAR, Inc., and Boley Centers, Inc., both of St. Petersburg, Fla. The MSO combines the two organization's finance, human resources, IT, property management and transportation services for increased efficiencies. Solutions for Administrative Services will implement Netsmart's Avatar PM, Avatar CWS and Order Entry solutions. Boley Centers and Operation PAR currently use Netsmart software solutions within their own organizations. Netsmart was selected as the technology partner for Solutions for Administrative Services, Inc., based on its previous experience and familiarity with each organization and the confidence that each has in Netsmart products.

The provider organizations cited the outstanding level of service provided by Netsmart staff, from development to customer support to implementation, the strength of the company, its collaborative approach to customer relationships, and the widespread adoption of Netsmart's Avatar product as significant factors in their selection of the Avatar solution. In addition, Netsmart solutions enable its customers to meet the criteria for Medicaid and Medicare incentive funds for the "meaningful use" of an EHR.

Included in Netsmart's collaborative approach to its customer community is the opportunity to participate in Netsmart Community, a  professional networking  Web site exclusively for Netsmart users to share ideas, best practices, and peer-to-peer tips on how to get the most out of their Netsmart software. Netsmart's user groups, online customer support and knowledge base also offer each organization resources to help them get the most out of their Netsmart solutions.

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 will enable 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 recently completed the first phase of Certificate of EHR Compliance for Stage 1 Meaningful Use criteria.

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.

This EHR Module (Avatar 2011) is 2011/2012 compliant and has been certified by 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, RxConnect, Netsmart MobileConnect, Netsmart CareConnect and Netsmart ConsumerConnect are trademarks of Netsmart Technologies, Inc.

SOURCE Netsmart Technologies, Inc.