Ensuring High Performance for the Leading Behavioral Health EHR

Netsmart is the leading provider of software and technology solutions for community-based healthcare and long-time InterSystems partner. The company has used InterSystems technology to power its popular human services electronic health record (EHR) platform for over 25 years. InterSystems solutions ensure high performance and scalability for the award-winning myAvatar™ EHR platform.

For over 50 years, Netsmart has delivered leading-edge technology and pioneering services to promote individualized care and improve outcomes. Today, Netsmart solutions positively impact over 147 million lives. Over 754,000 care providers across the United States rely on Netsmart platform technology, including 181 Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs) in 37 states.

myAvatar™ is an ONC-certified EHR platform, specifically designed for organizations that provide behavioral healthcare and addictions treatment in community-based, residential and inpatient settings. Purpose-built to enable whole-person, value-based care, the Netsmart platform includes a recovery-focused suite of solutions that leverage real-time analytics to improve decision-making and boost results. Netsmart offers myAvatar™ as a SaaS solution for ultimate convenience, simplicity and agility.

A long-time customer, Netsmart has leveraged InterSystems database management technology for years. Historically, Netsmart hosted myAvatar™ and the underlying InterSystems software in an on-premises data center. The company recently migrated the SaaS implementation to AWS to more rapidly scale, strengthen security and simplify operations.

“Moving to AWS with InterSystems technology provided Netsmart with a clear path to rapidly scale our operations in a cost-effective model to best serve our clients and the vulnerable populations they serve every day.” recalls Mike Brand, EVP, Solution Development & Delivery, Netsmart. “Our migration also gave us additional tools to reinforce our cybersecurity posture in a more cost-effective manner.”

Netsmart decided to move myAvatar™ to a public cloud to better align ongoing operational activities with evolving business demands. The public-cloud deployment model reduces infrastructure complexity and frees up resources to focus on strategic initiatives to grow the business.

Netsmart, InterSystems and AWS worked closely together to ensure a smooth transition to the cloud. “Collaboration was key,” explains Brand. “At the start of the project we had a series of working meetings to explore architectural opportunities, develop operational strategies and review implementation plans. We still meet with InterSystems weekly, if not daily to make sure our short-term plans are in sync and our long-term strategic goals are aligned.”

The tight partnership was critical to the success of the project. By combining their unique knowledge and skills, the companies developed a more effective migration strategy in less time. And by coordinating plans and sharing information, the companies avoided potential communication breakdowns, project delays and service disruptions.

InterSystems helps Netsmart boost the performance and scalability of the country’s most widely deployed behavioral health EHR solution. The intuitive myAvatar™ platform streamlines workflows, helping behavioral health organizations optimize operational, clinical, and financial processes and improve outcomes.