Saber and Netsmart Technologies Team to Develop Enterprise Health Information System for State of North Carolina
25 July 2006 - 3:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
Comprehensive initiative would create nation's first statewide IT
solution integrating public, mental, and rural health PORTLAND,
Ore., July 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Saber Corporation announced
today it has entered into an agreement to deliver an enterprise
health system for the State of North Carolina Department of Health
and Human Services (DHHS). Saber is teamed with Netsmart
Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTST) The initial phase of the contract
with North Carolina DHHS will replace several of the state's aging
public health information systems with a statewide solution serving
all public health entities. It is valued in the amount of
approximately $19.8 million over a 19-month period, and will be
followed by 42 months of maintenance and support valued at
approximately $4.7 million. Pursuant to the agreement between
Netsmart and Saber, Netsmart will receive an estimated $10.5
million over the contract period for products and services provided
by Netsmart. The state also may exercise an option for two
additional years of maintenance and operations support valued at
$2.7 million. North Carolina DHHS has two subsequent options, which
would authorize the Saber/Netsmart team to extend the system's
coverage to North Carolina's mental and rural health communities.
The cumulative effort would create an enterprise statewide health
information system, the first of its kind in the U.S. to integrate
public, mental and rural health. The North Carolina DHHS Selection
Committee's report justifying the project award stated that the
Saber/Netsmart solution "most closely complied with the
requirements stated in the RFP," and that it is "the only true web-
based solution proposed." The committee concluded that the
Saber/Netsmart team's proposal "offers the overall best value to
the State." Currently, many of the state's public health
departments maintain independent clinical and practice management
systems, while others rely on a state-developed mainframe system
with dated technology and significant functional limitations. The
new Saber/Netsmart solution is expected to standardize and unify
all health department clinical and financial transactions by
providing an enterprise database and advanced data management and
reporting capabilities. When fully implemented, the system is
expected to improve the quality of care for the state's citizens
and save the state time and money in managing its delivery and
tracking of healthcare services. At the core of the Saber team's
secure Web-based solution is Netsmart's Avatar software, a
full-function, off-the-shelf software package designed to automate
clinical, financial and management functions for community mental
health, public health, and substance abuse providers and payers.
Saber's role will be to manage all aspects of this large-scale
project and to integrate the customized Netsmart system among the
state's public health departments. "Saber is all about delivering
technology that helps governmental agencies better serve citizens,"
said Nitin Khanna, Saber CEO. "We do this by implementing leading
commercial off-the-shelf software technologies like Netsmart's
Avatar system in a manner that uniquely serves customer needs,
providing an economical, low-risk alternative to custom software
developments." "This comprehensive initiative is designed to
replace an array of information silos with an integrated system
that will benefit not only the agencies involved, but those they
serve," said James L. Conway, chairman and CEO, Netsmart
Technologies. "We're excited to work with North Carolina on this
ground breaking initiative and to be a partner with Saber, with
their proven record of helping states increase efficiency and
reduce costs through implementation of solid enterprise information
technology." About Saber Saber, founded in 1997, is headquartered
in Portland, OR. The privately held company has deep customer
relationships with state and local government entities across the
country, providing software and services that underpin essential
functions such as voter registration, election management, public
retirement programs, human services, public health services, motor
vehicles, unemployment insurance, and forms and document
processing. For more Saber information, please visit
www.sabercorp.com. About Netsmart Technologies, Inc. Netsmart
Technologies, Inc., based in Great River, N.Y., is an established,
leading supplier of enterprise-wide software solutions for health
and human services providers, with more than 1,250 clients,
including 34 systems with state agencies. Netsmart's clients
include health and human services organizations, public health
agencies, mental health and substance abuse clinics, psychiatric
hospitals, and managed care organizations. Netsmart's products are
full-featured information systems that operate on a variety of
operating systems, hardware platforms, and mobile devices, and
offer unlimited scalability. For more Netsmart information, please
visit www.ntst.com. Statement on Behalf of Netsmart Technologies,
Inc. Statements in this press release may be "forward-looking
statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "anticipate," "believe,"
"estimate," "expect," "intend" and similar expressions, as they
relate to the company or its management, identify forward-looking
statements. These statements are based on current expectations,
estimates and projections about the company's business based, in
part, on assumptions made by management. These statements are not
guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties
and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual
outcomes and results may, and probably will, differ materially from
what is expressed or forecasted in such forward-looking statements
due to numerous factors, including those risks discussed from time
to time in Netsmart's filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. In addition, such statements could be affected by risks
and uncertainties related to product demand, market and customer
acceptance, competition, pricing and development difficulties, as
well as general industry and market conditions and growth rates,
and general economic conditions. Any forward-looking statements
speak only as of the date on which they are made, and the company
does not undertake any obligation to update any forward- looking
statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this
release. Information on Netsmart's website does not constitute a
part of this release. DATASOURCE: Saber Corporation; Netsmart
Technologies, Inc. CONTACT: For Saber Corp., Bob Patterson, MKTX,
Inc., +1-503-646-6589, ; For Netsmart Technologies, Dave Kishler,
+1-614-932-6723, Web site: http://www.sabercorp.com/
http://www.ntst.com/
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