WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Netsmart continues as a strong voice on behalf of its clients and providers across the country on national legislative and policy issues impacting the delivery of behavioral health, addiction treatment and other human services.
The company is participating in visits to Capitol Hill today as part of the National Council for Behavioral Health’s annual Hill Day in Washington, D.C., and as a corporate member of the National Council, supports its extensive advocacy efforts.
“We strongly believe that with leadership comes obligation,” said Kevin Scalia, executive vice president, Netsmart. “As the knowledge and technology leader in human services, we’re committed to advocacy on key issues that impact our clients nationwide as they deliver critical services with increasingly limited resources.”
Netsmart is a founding member of the Behavioral Health IT Coalition, an advocacy group of leading behavioral health organizations, including the National Council. Coalition members are engaged in ongoing advocacy for passage of corrective legislation in Congress that would make community mental health centers, psychiatric hospitals, clinical psychologists and addiction services providers fully eligible to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement streams authorized under the HITECH Act, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Netsmart has presented at multiple Congressional briefings related to proposed legislation on this topic.
Netsmart also supports the PROTECT Act of 2014 (S. 2007) in the U.S. Senate. Introduced by Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb), this bill tailors the FDA’s regulatory tools and expertise to products that pose a risk to human health, while protecting low-risk health information technology from overregulation. Examples of low-risk health IT include EHRs, clinical decision support technology, scheduling software and mobile wellness apps.
“We will continue our advocacy efforts on selected issues that impact providers’ ability to provide critical services and coordinated, integrated care,” said Scalia.
For more information and to lend your voice to these key issues, visit www.ntst.com/legislation
About Netsmart
Netsmart is committed to helping health and human services providers deliver effective, outcomes-based care with Netsmart’s CareFabric™ solution, a tightly woven framework of innovative clinical and business solutions and services that supports integrated, coordinated delivery of health services across the spectrum of care.
More than 23,000 client organizations, including 450,000 care providers and more than 40 state systems, use Netsmart solutions to help improve the quality of life for more than 25 million people each day. Netsmart clients include mental health and addiction services agencies, health homes, psychiatric hospitals, private and group mental health practices, public health departments, social services and child and family health agencies, managed care organizations, and vital records offices.
Netsmart is pleased to support the EveryDay Matters Foundation, which was established for behavioral and public health organizations to learn from each other and share their causes and stories. Organizations can also request grants for their cause or to help fund technology that advances the way care is delivered. For more information, visit www.everydaymatters.com/foundation.
Learn more about how Netsmart and the CareFabric solution are changing the face of healthcare today. Visit www.ntst.com, call 1-800-472-5509, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook view our CareThreads blog or visit us on YouTube.
CareFabric is a trademark of Netsmart Technologies, Inc.
