Netsmart and the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention partner to improve suicide risk assessment tools

Netsmart and the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention (Action Alliance) today announced a partnership designed to significantly advance the suicide prevention field’s risk reduction technologies.

Netsmart and the Action Alliance will initially collaborate to provide suicide risk-related clinical decision support tools that can be incorporated into electronic health records (EHRs).

The partnership’s long-term goals are to implement known suicide reduction technologies into EHRs to guide clinical decision making and help clinicians and counselors as they work to save the lives of thousands each year, and to develop and promote standards that can be used across the industry.

The two organizations will also develop and deliver suicide prevention alerts and reminders. These tools will help to disseminate strategic suicide prevention communications via clinical social media and e-learning channels to Netsmart clients and Action Alliance partners nationwide.

“We are pleased to work with the Action Alliance in a concerted, pragmatic effort to provide clinicians and counselors with tools and information as they strive to reduce the incidence of suicides,” said Michael Valentine, chief executive officer, Netsmart. “The Alliance’s view of suicide as a public health issue and development of a national strategy for suicide prevention demonstrate its passion and commitment to addressing our nation’s tenth leading cause of death, and which has a significant ripple effect on families, friends and entire communities.”

In addition, Netsmart will use its benchmarking and analytics expertise to develop advanced measures to look at the impact of organizations who have adopted the Action Alliance’s Zero Suicide approach to care, an approach which aims to improve care and outcomes for individuals at risk of suicide in health care systems.