There’s no doubt about it. Today’s healthcare landscape is ever changing, and that presents both challenges and opportunities. Two recently-released Netsmart white papers outline how health and human services providers can improve clinical practices and impact care quality by taking advantage of current trends and innovative resources.

The Recovery Movement, co-authored by Roy Starks, M.A., vice president, Rehabilitation Services & Reaching Recovery at the Mental Health Center of Denver, and Dennis Morrison, Ph.D., Netsmart chief clinical officer examines patient engagement in behavioral health.

The paper discusses innovative strategies for making the shift toward greater patient engagement. It also outlines the critical links between quality provider/patient engagement on outcomes and quality of care, including research that indicates:

  • The quality of a therapeutic relationship is directly associated with patient outcomes
  • Lack of patient engagement is a major contributor to preventable deaths
  • Medication adherence increases with patient engagement
  • Hospital readmission rates decrease with collaboration

“The traditional model of healthcare was paternalistic,” Morrison explains. “The power resided with the staff. The model of the all-knowing clinician and the passive patient is coming to an end.” The Recovery Movement outlines new evidence-based ways providers are successfully empowering and engaging with their clients.

A second white paper, In Transition: How Electronic Data Sharing Enables Improved Health Outcomes and Reduced Costs looks at how health information sharing is key to reducing clinical errors as patients move from one care or services environment to another.

In Transition offers real-life examples of the many benefits associated with seamless, coordinated transitions of care including:

  • Expedited treatment
  • Reduced stress on patients
  • Significant cost and time savings

Netsmart Senior Vice President Bill Connors, MSW, notes, “Improved transitions of care and coordinated care can reduce hospital readmission rates by more than 30 percent, according to some studies. The benefits to patients of providing these services far outweigh the challenges.”

“Our passion is to help providers not simply digitize care, but provide integrated care that results in better accessibility to services, improved outcomes and overall improvement in health,” says Netsmart CEO Mike Valentine. “Our white papers offer providers a roadmap to navigate the landscape while enhancing quality of care.”

Netsmart white papers are available free of charge, and cover topics ranging from medication management to electronic health record selection, health homes in the era of accountable care and more. Click to Tweet

About Netsmart

Netsmart is committed to helping health and human services providers deliver effective, outcomes-based care with Netsmart’s CareFabric™ solution, a tightly woven framework of innovative clinical and business solutions and services that supports integrated, coordinated delivery of health services across the spectrum of care.

More than 23,000 client organizations, including 450,000 care providers and more than 40 state systems use Netsmart solutions to help improve the quality of life for more than 25 million people each day. Netsmart clients include mental health and addiction services agencies, health homes, psychiatric hospitals, private and group mental health practices, public health departments, social services and child and family services agencies, managed care organizations, and vital records offices.

Netsmart is pleased to support the EveryDay Matters Foundation, which was established for behavioral and public health organizations to learn from each other and share their causes and stories. For more information, visit www.everydaymatters.com.

Learn more about how Netsmart and the CareFabric solution are changing the face of health care today. Visit www.ntst.com, call 1-800-472-5509, follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter, like us on Facebook or visit us on Google+ and YouTube.

CareFabric is a trademark of Netsmart Technologies, Inc.