Healthcare Technology Featured Article

April 23, 2012

Netsmart Solutions Streamline Physicians' Workflow, Provide More Time for Patients


Netsmart Technologies, a provider of clinical solutions for health and human services organizations, announced a way to help clinicians upgrade and make their workflows more efficient so they can spend more time with clients, helping them “rethink” their business models, according to a press release.

"We're living and working in a speed of thought environment," said Tom Herzog, Netsmart executive vice president, solutions and operations. "Our focus on innovation is driven by our clients' desire to drive down costs, but more importantly, provide high quality care. It's no longer about agile development, but also agile design – delivering today what our clients need tomorrow."

Understanding and improving workflow in the healthcare field is paramount today, with the new laws imposed by healthcare reform. “Health care transformation requires a comprehensive vision of care delivery that understands the importance of effective workflow in delivering care,” wrote Barry P. Chaiken, M.D.

Chaiken added that proper use of IT requires workflow redesign that safely uses technology “to enhance processes and workflow while delivering higher levels of safe and efficient patient care.”

A white paper on workflow and its impact on quality of care explains that, in healthcare – as in other industries – workflows are dynamic; some are designed, while others arise organically and evolve, according to Carol Cain and Saira Haque. But a good workflow process is vital to successful healthcare practices.

And here’s where Netsmart comes in. The Netsmart Primary Care Module for Health and Human Services allows providers to issue medical care services, capture and store the associated data and integrate it directly into the consumer's electronic health record (EHR), supporting what the company calls “a holistic approach to care,” and streamlining workflow.

Netsmart’s solutions target behavioral health and addiction services providers, psychiatric hospitals, local health departments, social services and child and family health agencies, I/DD organizations, managed care organizations and vital records offices, according to the source.

Netsmart also offers Netsmart CareManager, a system where the EHR is integrated with the care coordination system.

Another Netsmart solution, Netsmart Perspectives Mobility Suite, allows clinicians to keep in touch with their offices and process work wherever they are. The Netsmart Perspectives suite provides apps for e-prescribing, kiosk check in/out, patient mHealth, learning management tools, observation recording, health device monitoring, medication adherence, IT system monitoring and dashboards.

Netsmart is also preparing to be “cloud-ready,” according to the source. "By the middle of the year we will be managing over 500 facilities with our Netsmart Plexus Cloud secure hosting environment," said Herzog. "We have tripled our investment in our hosting services, opened another data center and continue to expand our services to host most any application."

The Netsmart announcement was made in conjunction with the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare's 42nd Mental Health and Addictions Conference in Chicago and the CONNECTIONS2012 Netsmart Client Conference in New Orleans April 23-26, 2012.




Edited by Braden Becker
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