UBHC Announces Go-live of the DSS Mental Health EHR System

More Than 800 Users at 13 Locations Utilize vxVistA and vxMental Health Suite to Enable Interdisciplinary Collaboration and Treatment

JUNO BEACH, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--DSS, Inc., the leading provider of software development and support of VistA, today announced that its vxVistA and vxMental Health Suite (MHS) have gone into production at University Behavioral Healthcare (UBHC), a division of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), with more than 800 users at 13 locations.

UBHC is one of the largest providers of behavioral health services in the country and includes an extensive network of inpatient and outpatient clinics. UBHC selected DSS’ mental health EHR to streamline and standardize its clinical documentation processes and related workflow in order to further improve the quality of care given to patients.

“We are extremely pleased by the smooth, successful launch of vxVistA and vxMHS. It can be a challenge to find software that supports efficient, quality care without putting added stress on clinicians. This successful launch reflects how the DSS system conformed to address our needs,” said Chris Kosseff, CEO of UBHC and Senior Vice President of UMDNJ. “In addition, the close collaboration between our focused team and the expertise of DSS helped to prepare our staff for the transition.”

DSS was chosen by UBHC’s review committee during an open bid process in April 2010. The Mental Health Suite was designed to meet the specialty-specific needs of mental health patients by allowing clinicians to create, edit and view interdisciplinary treatment plans while meeting governing organizational standards. In addition, the solution will allow clinicians to:

• improve patient safety through the documentation and tracking of long-term treatments and evidence-based psychotherapies;
• enhance communication across the continuum of care with real-time updates on clinical and group notes; and
• increase organizational efficiencies by customizing the system to establish UBHC standards, including preferred authorization tracking and reporting needs.

“This partnership marks the largest implementations of vxMHS in the country, and UBHC’s unique vision for safer and more robust delivery of mental and behavioral healthcare is inspiring,” said Mark Byers, President and CEO of DSS. “We feel this project further supports our ongoing dedication to deliver one-of-a-kind, customizable EHR solutions to specialists with distinct healthcare requirements such as behavioral health providers.”

As a long-term goal, UBHC plans to turn the mental health EHR integration into a statewide administrative service organization (ASO), offering hospitals and smaller behavioral health clinics a cost-effective infrastructure through which they can easily document, store and access clinical information. UBHC strives to bring greater mental health care accessibility and continuity of care to residents statewide—especially to those with severe mental illness or without the resources to afford treatment.

The vxMHS software integrates seamlessly with vxVistA, an open source platform based on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs proven VistA EHR foundation, as well as the billing software UBHC selected for the implementation, Stockell Healthcare Systems, Inc.

To learn more about the vxVistA Mental Health Suite, visit www.dssinc.com/mhswhitepaper.

About DSS

Document Storage Systems, Inc. (DSS) develops and supplies integrated enhancements to the Veterans Affairs VistA system and specializes in healthcare IT solutions that improve quality and productivity. The organization also designs applications that are compatible with the Indian Health Services RPMS and the Department of Defense’s healthcare systems.

To foster the adoption of open source in healthcare organizations, DSS is a founder and supporter of a community-driven, collaboration environment Web site, www.vxVistA.org that acts as a forum for discussion and best practices among open source vxVistA and VistA EHR users internationally. For more information on DSS, Inc., visit www.dssinc.com.

About UMDNJ

The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) is the nation's largest free-standing public health sciences university with more than 6,000 students attending the state's three medical schools, its only dental school, a graduate school of biomedical sciences, a school of health related professions, a school of nursing and its only school of public health on five campuses. UMDNJ operates University Hospital, a Level I Trauma Center in Newark, and University Behavioral HealthCare, which provides a continuum of healthcare services with multiple locations throughout the state.

About UBHC

University Behavioral HealthCare (UBHC) was established in 1971 as a division of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) and is one of the largest providers of behavioral healthcare services in the country.

In partnership with the Departments of Psychiatry at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, the School of Osteopathic Medicine and The New Jersey Medical School, UBHC provides academically-based clinical programs and services throughout the state of New Jersey. While furthering the clinical teaching, research and training missions of the University and its medical schools, UBHC provides support for New Jersey State initiatives and public sector programs as well as for employers and the corporate community.

Contacts

Dodge Communications
Leslie Kirk, 770-576-2576
[email protected]