Netsmart Technologies Offers Meaningful Use Readiness Assessment Service to Help Providers Prepare for ARRA EHR Incentive Funds

GREAT RIVER, N.Y., April 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Netsmart Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of enterprise-wide software and services for health and human services organizations, today announced that it is offering Meaningful Use readiness assessment services to help its customers prepare their organizations to meet the criteria and receive Medicaid and Medicare incentive funds for the Meaningful Use of an Electronic Health Record (EHR) under provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009.

Netsmart's partner for the readiness service is Boughtin and Orndoff Consulting, LLC, a nationally-recognized expert in process management and eligibility criteria for Meaningful Use. With the service, Netsmart is providing yet another opportunity for its behavioral healthcare provider and local health department customers to chart a path toward meeting Meaningful Use criteria and qualify for incentive funds.

"Providing the readiness services further solidifies our goal of being a complete, single-source Meaningful Use partner," said James L. Conway, chief executive officer, Netsmart Technologies. "In addition to offering a Complete ARRA-Certified EHR, we're committed to ensuring our customers have a plan to attain Meaningful Use that is organized, cost-effective and manageable."

Boughtin and Orndoff Consulting will provide organizations with a personalized Meaningful Use action plan that includes:

• Information on the final measures required for Stage 1 of Meaningful Use and draft measures for Stages 2 and 3
• A report of the organization's benchmark score for each Stage 1 measure and Stages 2 and 3 draft measures
• Their total benchmark score against all measures
• Meaningful Use Readiness Assessment Summary Report with specific recommendations on how  to move forward with Meaningful Use compliance

"While behavioral and public health providers will be able to leverage many current processes to meet Meaningful Use criteria and achieve the required clinical quality measures, it is critical to create a plan to identify gaps and a cost-effective way to address them," said Ann Boughtin, principal, Boughtin and Orndoff Consulting.

The readiness assessment service has been successfully utilized by Pathways, Inc., an  Ashland, Ky. - based Netsmart customer that provides behavioral healthcare services.

"We worked together to create a solid plan toward meeting the criteria for Meaningful Use funds," said Betsy Jackson, compliance officer, Pathways, Inc. "The readiness assessment gave us a clear perspective on process changes we need to make in order to maximize our eligibility and achieve compliance."

Netsmart and Boughtin and Orndoff Consulting will present a Web seminar, "The Behavioral Health Providers' Guide to Obtaining Meaningful Use Funds," on Wednesday, April 13 from 1:00-2:00 p.m. ET. The Web seminar, presented in conjunction with Behavioral Healthcare magazine, will provide the latest update on Meaningful Use criteria and how providers can approach the necessary changes in their internal clinical and administrative processes to meet Meaningful Use criteria. To register for Web seminar, visit www.ntst.com/BHC

Netsmart's Avatar™ 2011 software has achieved 100 percent ONC-OTCB ARRA ambulatory and inpatient certification. Netsmart was the first behavioral healthcare software provider to offer a complete ARRA-certified EHR for both Eligible Professionals (EPs) and Hospital incentives. Netsmart's CMHC/MIS 4.2 electronic health record (EHR) software successfully completed ARRA ONC-ATCB certification testing for the 21 ARRA certification tests for which it was submitted, earning a Certificate of EHR Compliance for 19 General and Ambulatory criteria. Netsmart plans to complete the 13 remaining ARRA tests in the second quarter of 2011 to make CMHC/MIS 4.2 software a Complete Ambulatory

ARRA-certified EHR. In addition to Avatar and CMHC/MIS, Netsmart also plans to attain ARRA certification of its Insight public health software product in 2011.

These three enterprise software products, in conjunction with Netsmart's order entry, e-prescribing, consumer Web portal and health information exchange (HIE) interoperability technology, will help behavioral and public health provider organizations take advantage of the significant funding provided for the Meaningful Use of EHRs.

About Netsmart Technologies, Inc.

Netsmart Technologies is an established, leading supplier of software-as-a service (SaaS) and

internally-installed software solutions for health and human services providers. More than 18,000 customer organizations, including 350,000 care providers and more than 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 the solutions and expertise 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 a Complete ARRA-Certified electronic health record and associated solutions including e-prescribing, order entry, 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 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.

About Boughtin and Orndoff Consulting, LLC

Boughtin and Orndoff Consulting, LLC provides strategic consultation to companies and organizations in health and human services.  They have a proven track record of working with organizations to develop action plans to improve operations and take advantage of market opportunities, meet business objectives and improve performance outcomes.

Customers of Boughtin and Orndoff Consulting, LLC include national health plans, managed care organizations, community mental health centers, state and local governments, trade associations and start up organizations.

Working primarily with Medicaid and Medicare health plans and providers, Boughtin and Orndoff is unique in its ability to bring years of proven executive healthcare leadership in the private sector, as well as in the non-profit and governmental arenas. In working with these organizations, Boughtin and Orndoff has worked with management teams to turn around operations, launch new products, and take advantage of regulatory changes like Meaningful Use of an Electronic Health Record.

For information about Boughtin and Orndoff, LLC go to www.boughtinandorndoff.com or call 615-498-4398.

Avatar 2011 and the CMHC/MIS 4.2 EHR Module are 2011/2012 compliant and have 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, Insight, Netsmart CareConnect and Netsmart ConsumerConnect are trademarks of Netsmart Technologies, Inc.  

SOURCE Netsmart Technologies, Inc.