NJAMHAA News Winter 2023

25 Winter 2023 “My staff highly value the IT conferences and attend every year. They provide a lot of useful information, give them ideas for IT strategic planning and introduce them to a network of vendors and different organizations that can support our growth,” said Susan Loughery, MBA, Associate Executive Director, Catholic Charities, Diocese of Trenton and NJAMHAA’s Immediate Past Board Chair. “The IT Project is an excellent resource for scaling operations,” she added. “They’ve been remarkably strategic partners and have the best interest of our agency at top of mind. They’re a phenomenal resource for us, andwe are very impressed and appreciative of them,” said Angela Calzone, Chief Operating Officer, Inroads to Opportunities. Despite being a small team of five, the IT Project also facilitates practice groups that meet on a regular basis. These groups are described below. The Billing Supervisors Practice Group improves the way NJAMHAA member agencies bill and collect for services rendered; addresses billing issues relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, Medicaid and other third-party billing entities; and provides analysis, support and advocacy. The HR Practice Group addresses HR- specific compliance and regularly hosts subject matter experts who present on a range of topics, such as best practices, regulatory compliance and avoidingHR pitfalls whenworkingwith employees. The IT Professional Advisory Committee (PAC) plays an integral role in advocacy efforts for state-of-the-art technology to improve behavioral healthcare delivery and includes DMHAS staff. The group also assists providers with the collection, processing, integration and interpretation of data through automation; shares technical expertise, future trends and the management of outcome, performance and financial data; and investigates the application of new technologies to increase efficiency, enhance revenue, reduce costs and improve quality of services. The Quality Assurance (QA)/Compliance Practice Group shares information about QA/performance improvement, licensing, regulations, standards, accreditation, corporate compliance andmore. “There are somany issuesmental health agencies are dealingwith froma quality assurance and compliance perspective. It’s great to have a forum to discuss them. We share information, including our audit experiences, interpretations of legislation and how laws may impact our agencies, andwe communicate betweenmeetings usingNJAMHAA’s private QA and Compliance web based collaborative site,” said Karen Acker, Co-chair of this group and Chief Administrative Officer/Chief Compliance Officer, West BergenMental Healthcare. In fact, West BergenMental Healthcare has been contracting with the IT Project for many years, in addition to participating on this group and the IT PAC. “Since we have the infrastructure to handle day-to-day IT issues, we use the IT Project for emergency situations, such as viruses and spamware—anything that’s beyond our capacity to address. It’s great to have the IT Project as a backup,” Acker said. “We have workedwith the IT Project for many years. They provide all of our IT support including on-site and remote technical assistance, server maintenance and overall system security. The IT Project staff also provide advice, vetting and setting up of new equipment. They coordinate the purchase and installation of everything IT related, including new phone systems,” said Kathy Walsh, President/CEO The Arc of Bergen and Passaic Counties. “The IT staff are patient and accessible and work on complex server issues while also helping staff at our locations with log-in problems and printer jams. We are happy to have the IT Project as our partner as wemanage the ever-expanding role that IT plays in the life of the agency.” For more information about the IT Project’s services and to join any of its practice groups, please contact Ron Gordon at rgordon@njamhaa.org .