Calif. taps Netsmart for health software

Netsmart Technologies Inc. won a contract with a California regional mental health authority to deliver a system to manage processes such as scheduling and clinical assessments.

The five-year deal calls for the use of Netsmart's Avatar Practice Management and Clinician Workstation software by nine county mental health organizations.

The counties will use Avatar to facilitate processes, including client scheduling and tracking, clinical assessment, treatment planning and claims authorizations.

The contract with the California Regional Mental Health System Coalition Joint Powers Authority is worth about $1.9 million, the company said.

The Avatar software will be provided in an application service provider environment, eliminating the need for the counties to maintain hardware and IT infrastructure related to the Netsmart software.

Netsmart Technologies of Great River, N.Y., makes software for health and human services organizations. The company has more than 1,300 customers, including more than 30 systems with state agencies.