NJAMHAA News Spring 2021

spring 2021 18 Winter Recent Updates and the Future In 2019, the New Jersey Department of Health and Department of Human Services selected the IT Project and New Jersey Innovation Institute to manage the statewide Substance Use Disorder Promoting Interoperability Project (SUD PIP). This initiative is enabling SUD treatment providers to implement electronic health records (EHRs), and to improve healthcare coordination by sharing data through the New Jersey Health Information Network (NJHIN). The state recently decided to explore extending this project for an additional 15 months, through June 2022, and possibly change the criteria to allowmore SUD treatment providers to participate. Other recent IT Project initiatives include helping nonprofit agencies take advantage of a free offer to use Microsoft 365, which maintains e-mail systems in the cloud and facilitates development of disaster- recovery processes; and implementing Microsoft Teams with all agencies to maintain communications. “We take great pride in working with members on important statewide projects and finding solutions for individual agencies,” Noto stated, adding that the IT Project also identifies vendors of valuable products and services and creates opportunities for providers to learn about these offerings. Such companies are members of NJAMHAA’s Information Technology Council, whose newest members are Armour Cybersecurity and Eleos Health, which is investigating brand new technologies to enhance quality of care. One of the longstanding IT Council members, which is also a NJAMHAA Approved Vendor, is ComplyAssistant, which provides healthcare IT services with a major focus on strategic planning; information privacy and security, including risk reduction; and assistance in securing EHRs that meet the Meaningful Use requirements so that providers can receive federal funding. While managing all of these initiatives and providing members with technical assistance as needed, the IT Project team supports other NJAMHAA staff with technology issues. In fact, they designed NJAMHAA’s office space, worked with contractors and took care of the logistics when NJAMHAAmoved to its current and previous locations. Looking Ahead As the entire service delivery world will continue to change, largely due to the pandemic, “The IT Project is more important now than ever and will continue to be,” stated Dr. Wentz. A prime example is the increasing use of telehealth, which is anticipated to become a permanent part of providing services. Looking ahead to this increasing trend, the IT Project is conducting planning sessions with agencies to prepare for providing support for telehealth on a permanent basis, according to Gordon. “We continually strive to keep up with quickly changing technology and help agencies deal with rapid and continuous transformations. It’s a never ending cycle with technology,” Gordon stated. Noto reinforced this point, emphasizing that the IT Project will always be focused on achieving growth and sustainability for the organizations it serves. As the longest standing member of NJAMHAA’s IT Council, Maureen Williams, President and CEO of Applied Business Services, has the experience to know firsthand that the IT Project has been achieving this goal. “Over the past 15 years, the IT Project has kept up with the times with continuous new service offerings, such as webinars and training in cybersecurity andmore. The annual IT Project conferences deliver a great value packed with vital information about the industry,” she said. “They are extremely responsive with immediate alerts to notify us of any potential computer viruses or cyberattacks. Their courses and services provided are exceptional. We at Applied Business Services appreciate the opportunity to support NJAMHAA and the IT Council with our accounting software solutions designed for nonprofits,”Williams added. To discover how the IT Project can help your agency, contact Noto at jnoto@njamhaa.org o r Gordon at rgordon@njamhaa.org. [continued from page 17] to Meet Members’ Needs IT Project Constantly Evolves