GREAT RIVER, N.Y., July 12 /PRNewswire/ -- The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) has selected Alan Tillinghast, Jr., executive vice president, operations, Netsmart Technologies, to serve as a member of its Privacy and Compliance Expert Panel for 2007-2008. The panel is tasked with advising and supporting a variety of CCHIT work groups in the development of the criteria surrounding privacy and compliance requirements governing the use of electronic health record (EHR) products. "Privacy considerations are critical to the secure and effective management of electronic health records," said Tillinghast. "I'm pleased to be selected to serve the Commission on the expert panel and look forward to providing a behavioral healthcare perspective in this vital area." With the certification of its Avatar 2006 software, Netsmart became the first behavioral healthcare, public health, substance abuse and methadone software and services provider to have a product certified according to the Commission's Ambulatory EHR 2006 criteria. Netsmart committed resources to meet these first baseline criteria as soon as EHR certification became available. The Commission plans to develop a certification program specifically for behavioral health products in 2009. 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 1,300 clients, including more than 30 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. About CCHIT The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT(SM)) is an independent, nonprofit organization that has been officially named by the federal government as a "recognized certification body" for electronic health record products. Its mission is to accelerate the adoption of health information technology by creating a credible, sustainable product certification program. The certification requirements are based on widely accepted industry standards and involve the work of hundreds of expert volunteers and input from a variety of stakeholders throughout the health care industry. More information on the Commission and CCHIT Certified(SM) products is available at http://www.cchit.org/. CCHIT(SM) is a service mark of the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology. CCHIT Certified(SM) is a service mark of the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology. DATASOURCE: Netsmart Technologies, Inc. CONTACT: Dave Kishler of Netsmart Technologies, +1-614-932-6723, Web site: http://www.ntst.com/ http://www.cchit.org/

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