Washington County Human Services seeks $100,000 to upgrade behavioral health electronic record

Washington County Human Services staff told the county's Health & Human Services Committee that the department expects a one-time cost of roughly $100,000 to move its Netsmart MyAvatar electronic health record (EHR) to the vendor's NX platform.

Julie Driscoll, Human Services staff, said the county purchased a new MyAvatar EHR in 2019 and that the system improved client tracking and billing. "We were notified in 2023 that this system, MyAvatar, is moving to a new platform called NX," Driscoll said. She said counties could volunteer to move earlier but that Washington County elected to wait; she added the vendor plans to require migration by 2026 or 2027.

Driscoll described the $100,000 estimate as a high-end, one-time cost that reflects two vendor quotes: one to perform the upgrade only, and a higher-price option that includes vendor programming work. "Depending on where we are with our IT workload, then it will depend on which we choose," she said, adding routine licensing and hosting fees are already included in the department's operating budget.

Supervisors raised questions about ongoing costs and realized savings from the original 2019 implementation. Supervisor Chris asked whether the $100,000 was truly a single expenditure or the start of additional costs; Driscoll said it is a one-time upgrade cost and that the department already budgets for form changes and small programming work. Supervisor Chris also asked whether the opioid-settlement funds could cover the migration; Driscoll called that possibility "worth exploring."

Committee members pressed for measurement of the 2019 EHR's financial benefits. Driscoll said the county budgeted a 5% Medicaid revenue increase tied to the EHR and later saw a 10% increase in Medicaid revenue for 2025. She also said some recurring staff positions were reduced after implementation, and estimated, by way of example, that "if we save $200,000 in staff per year, over 5 years, that's a million dollars right there." Several supervisors asked staff to verify whether staffing reductions tied to the EHR were realized and suggested committee follow-up.

Julie Driscoll said the department plans to seek standing-committee review of the CIP request this month and that the Executive Committee will review the full CIP in March, with a full board resolution anticipated in April based on the county's established schedule.

The committee did not record a formal vote on the EHR upgrade during the discussion; the presentation functioned as a project review under the CIP schedule.