Ohio Dept. of Mental Health and Addiction Services Expands Collaboration With Netsmart for Knowledge-Driven Care
Move to Consolidated Technology Platform Designed to Increase Clinical and Operational Efficiencies
/EINPresswire.com/ -- COLUMBUS, OH--(Marketwired - January 27, 2016) - Netsmart and the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OhioMHAS) announced today that OhioMHAS will expand its use of the Netsmart clinical and financial technology platform across its six regional psychiatric hospitals. The hospitals provide short-term, intensive treatment to patients in both inpatient and community-supported environments, and comprehensive care to patients committed by criminal courts.
The transition to a comprehensive system through an expanded collaboration with Netsmart will provide the hospitals with a single consolidated health record for each patient. Netsmart will also provide OhioMHAS with key clinical and operational capabilities currently done through multiple, fragmented systems, including computerized physician order entry (CPOE) and pharmacy, incident reporting and billing.
It will also enable OhioMHAS to standardize workflows and reports, streamline documentation and reporting, and enhance clinical and operational efficiencies.
The expanded use of Netsmart's myAvatar® CareRecord™ electronic health record (EHR) and related solutions will support integrated billing, e-prescribing and electronic medication administration records (eMar). Designed to meet the requirements of health and human services providers, the myAvatar CareRecord also supports forensic and civil processes common in state psychiatric care.
The benefits of a single unified source of health information for patients meet OhioMHAS objectives:
- Improved quality of care and outcomes through evidence-based treatments
- Increased patient safety by decreasing the possibility of medication and drug interaction errors
- Decreased costs to Ohioans by focusing key state resources on providing the best care while leveraging Netsmart services for other key functions such as application hosting
"This is an investment in the future of mental health treatment for the people who receive care in our state hospital system," said OhioMHAS Director Tracy Plouck. "The implementation of the fully-expanded EHR will improve communication, patient safety and clinical care efficiencies in our hospitals, while reducing dependence on legacy information systems that are not integrated."
All solutions will be hosted by Netsmart in its secure, state-of-the-art data center, with software maintenance and updates also provided by Netsmart, providing cost savings to OhioMHAS and reducing the burden on already overloaded staff.
Netsmart, based in Overland Park Kan., has an office in Dublin, Ohio that includes a network monitoring center, as well as client support, consulting, public sector sales, quality assurance and development staff. Netsmart provides technology solutions to nearly 100 behavioral health provider organizations in Ohio.
"The implementation of the Netsmart medical record in our Regional Psychiatric Hospitals has the potential to provide many benefits to our patients and staff by decreasing fragmentation, improving "real-time" access to important clinical data, and enhancing communication of hand-off information," explained OhioMHAS Medical Director Mark Hurst, M.D. "The improved access to clinical information within the hospital system and the ability to relay this information promptly via Netsmart CareConnect™ to those providers who are caring for the patients following their return home should be of great benefit in providing the consistent and integrated treatment which our patients benefit from and deserve."
Netsmart is the knowledge and technology partner of choice for 33 state-level mental and addiction organizations and nearly 480 county behavioral health providers nationwide, helping them deliver quality care and services and improve the health of the populations they serve. Netsmart public sector clients include mental health and addiction services agencies, public health departments, social services and child and family services agencies, and vital records offices.
"We're pleased to continue to serve as the knowledge and technology partner for OhioMHAS as it provides quality mental health and addiction treatment services," said Mike Valentine, chief executive officer, Netsmart. "Together, we will expand the level of digitization of their operations, which will be critical as OhioMHAS meets an escalating demand for services in an increasingly complex healthcare environment."
About OhioMHAS
The Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OhioMHAS) is a cabinet-level state agency that operates six regional psychiatric hospitals and provides administrative oversight for a statewide network of more than 400 community-based mental health service providers and 460 alcohol, drug and problem gambling addiction prevention, treatment and recovery service providers. The Department's mission is "to provide statewide leadership of a high-quality mental health and addiction prevention, treatment and recovery system that is effective and valued by all Ohioans."
About Netsmart
Netsmart is committed to helping health and human services providers deliver effective, outcomes-based care to more than 25 million consumers. Netsmart serves more than 20,000 clients across all 50 states, resulting in approximately 450,000 users of its software and technology solutions.
Netsmart's CareFabric®, a framework of innovative clinical and business solutions and services, supports integrated, coordinated delivery of health services across the spectrum of care.
Netsmart's HIT Value Model™, a vendor-agnostic planning and measurement system, provides a path for health and human services organizations to evaluate where on the healthcare IT spectrum they should focus their efforts, the value associated with that strategic decision and a comparison with peer organizations nationwide.
Netsmart is pleased to support the EveryDayMatters® Foundation, which was established for behavioral and public health organizations to learn from each other and share their causes and stories. For more information, visit www.everydaymatters.com.
Learn more about how Netsmart is changing the face of healthcare today. Visit www.ntst.com, call 1-800-472-5509, follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter, like us on Facebook or visit us on YouTube.
CareRecord, CareConnect and HIT Value Model are trademarks of Netsmart Technologies, Inc.
Avatar, CareFabric and EveryDayMatters are registered trademarks of Netsmart Technologies, Inc.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Kevin Allen
Netsmart
913-226-5887
kallen@ntst.com
Eric Wandersleben
Ohio Dept. of Mental Health and Addiction Services
614-728-5090
eric.wandersleben@mha.ohio.gov