Netsmart Acquires Sequest Technologies, Inc.

Netsmart, the leading provider of clinical solutions for health and human services organizations nationwide, today announced that it has acquired Sequest Technologies, Inc., based in Lisle, Illinois. Sequest provides the TIER® (Totally Integrated Electronic Record) family of clinical and practice management solutions, which will continue to be developed and supported as a Netsmart solution.

The acquisition of Sequest supports Netsmart's commitment to deliver innovative solutions to providers across the entire human services continuum of care. The Complete ARRA-certified TIER solution is designed to meet the clinical workflow of substance use treatment and social services agencies, private inpatient psychiatric hospitals, child and family services agencies and smaller behavioral health provider organizations, helping all of these providers more quickly adopt an EHR and enhance quality of care.

"Our acquisition of Sequest aligns directly with the fast-evolving shift in the overall healthcare ecosystem to collaborative, coordinated care," said Mike Valentine, Netsmart chief executive officer. "To continue to be the industry leader, we must provide our clients with leading-edge clinical and practice management solutions specifically designed for their care settings and with clinical support for those care settings."

The Sequest acquisition also helps advance Netsmart's plans for a national clinical and operational benchmarking service. The service will enable providers to benchmark themselves against best practices, their peers, and to develop patient and organization-level predictive analytics. Participation of Sequest clients will enhance the benchmarking service by expanding the range of data delivered.

"One of the key drivers for this acquisition was Netsmart's ability and willingness to invest in the resources needed to assure its clients are full participants in an exciting, evolving healthcare arena," said William Connors, MSW, president and chief executive officer of Sequest, who joins Netsmart as senior vice president and general manager of the Child and Family Services and Substance Abuse business unit. "Without Netsmart's resources and willingness to invest for the future, we would have been confronted with the dilemma faced by many other small technology companies – how to make the significant investment necessary to equip our clients in important areas like meeting the next stages of Meaningful Use criteria, becoming involved in integrated health information exchanges (HIEs) and participating in accountable care organizations (ACOs)."

"In the bigger picture, it's not just about keeping up with healthcare reform, it's about embracing exponential change in healthcare," said Valentine. "The Sequest solutions, culture and team not only align well with our strategies, I believe they will accelerate them. Given their clinical focus, this acquisition extends our ability to help our clients evolve quickly toward the new clinical world of leveraging technology to drive better outcomes and the consumer experience for those they serve," said Valentine.