Behavioral Healthcare recently surveyed information technology vendors in the mental health and substance use markets about their products and services. We wanted to know more than just if they offer particular features, so we asked vendors to indicate if they are included in their core products; offered, but not included in their core products; or available through a third party. This information may be useful to your organization as it makes IT purchasing decisions, but because vendors continuously update their products and services, check with them for the most up-to-date details. We aim to present more information later this year.

We also asked vendors to share with us their news and plans for the coming year. Below, we profile what four companies have in the works.

Provider-created software

 

Richard L. Doucet, MA

The Community Reach Center had a “painful” experience with an off-the-shelf electronic medical record (EMR) product. “When we first went to an electronic record in 2001, when we ‘flipped the switch,’ we broke it,” says Richard L. Doucet, MA, CEO of the Denver-area behavioral healthcare organization. Thus, the Center decided to develop its own EMR software. This month it is converting all of its operations to the new program, named Cync, and the Center plans on marketing it to other providers.

“The intention was not to get into the IT business, but to develop something for ourselves and then start selling it,” Doucet explains, adding, “We will not deliver a product until we are comfortable that it is rock solid.”

The software includes a full EMR along with billing, accounts receivable, scheduling, intake, and call-center functionalities. Doucet and Project Manager Dewayne Wilfong point out that the software was developed with clinicians' input and by Center programmers who understand the clinical process.

Developing the software also was part of the Center's plan to diversify its revenue stream. Says Doucet: “Our goal as a center is to be less than 50% dependent on the state and feds for our revenues. In order to do that, we have to develop nontraditional revenue streams, and this is one of them.”

For more on the Center's decision to create its own software, visithttp://behavioral.net/doucet0907.

Growing operation

William R. Connors, MSW

Sequest Technologies President/CEO William R. Connors, MSW, has big plans for his software company and its customers. This past July, Connors led a management buyout of the company's founder and brought in private equity partners. With new resources at hand, Connors aims to grow Sequest's market presence. In fact, the company just signed Betty Ford Center and Gateway Rehabilitation Center as new clients.

To guide Sequest's growth, Connors recruited a board of directors, which includes the CEO of a large health and human services organization that is a Sequest customer. In addition, Sequest created a market advisory board that counts Ronald J. Hunsicker, DMin, president/CEO of the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers, among its members. “We're building out an idea that the company will be extremely closely aligned and partnered with our markets that we serve,” Connors explains, noting that Sequest provides software for the wide range of human service providers.

A research focus

NextStep Solutions, Inc., sees its mission as to “advance the state of the art, not to just increase our subscription base,” according to Chief Technology Officer Darrin Hanna, PhD. To that end, for the past five years NextStep has conducted or co-conducted four clinical research studies, partnering with provider organizations subscribing to its Web-based software.

A broader vision

JJ Farook

InfoMC, Inc., CEO JJ Farook has been traveling around the country highlighting new business opportunities he sees for organizations in the company's core markets: EAPs, health plans/managed behavioral healthcare organizations, and organizations managing public-sector programs (e.g., Medicaid). This might not be the typical role for the head of an IT software vendor, but as Farook points out, “Today's CEOs aren't worried about technology and paying claims. They're worried about growth and expansion, survival, the economy, mental health parity, and new trends like medical homes, collaborative healthcare, and population management…. What we're doing is building our practice around making sure we have a keen eye to those needs and then bringing technology around those to help these organizations.”

As part of that strategy, InfoMC recently published a white paper on the new federal parity law (available at http://www.infomc.com), for which Farook interviewed about 20 CEOs, CMOs, and COOs, from customers and noncustomers, for their views on opportunities parity creates for payers.

In addition, the company has organized a behavioral healthcare payer summit. At the invitation-only event in Scottsdale, Arizona, next month, public and private payer organization executives will network, learn about innovations, and analyze case studies. Farook says the event could become an annual or semiannual meeting.

InfoMC also has new software in the works. This spring it is launching Incedo, a disease management/population healthcare management application. Incedo is Latin for “moving forward,” Farook notes, emphasizing that progressive organizations are embracing disease management models. The company says the program will allow customers to track members' medical and pharmacy claims data, support coordinated care, integrate third-party clinical guidelines, exchange real-time information between providers online, and identify consumers overdue for tests or appointments or not responding to treatment.

Behavioral Healthcare 2009 January;29(1):20-23