EMT Partners With Birst for Substance Abuse Reporting for California Counties

SaaS BI Leader Birst Powers ISAC Dashboard and Reports for County-Level Reporting of Critical Substance Abuse Indicators, to Guide Effective Government Response


SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - September 14, 2010) - Birst, a leading provider of on-demand solutions for business intelligence (BI) and analytics, today announced that EMT Associates, a leader in consultative services to government agencies regarding behavioral health needs and the prevention of substance abuse, has partnered with Birst to provide critical health and substance abuse reporting for counties in the state of California.

"Now more than ever, county health services need high quality, actionable information in order to effectively deploy health and substance abuse prevention resources," said Joel Phillips, President, EMT Associates. "By partnering with Birst, EMT can inform those decisions with broader, deeper, and more recent information."

For over twenty years, EMT Associates has provided critical demographic, crime, and health information to county health agencies, through a product known as ISAC, the Indicators of Substance Abuse Causes. However, delivering ISAC has historically meant weeks of manual effort to create reports that were delivered as thick, bound, paper reports. There was no capability for further analyzing data, filtering by key information, or even easily replicating the report. Correlating information from various sources, such as seeing DUI information and hospitalization information together, was simply not possible. 

EMT began searching for a business intelligence solution to speed the delivery of reporting, as well as to provide the ability for counties to explore more deeply the information and the drivers of health trends. Traditional on-premise BI solutions proved to be too expensive and complicated to deploy. EMT selected Birst as its business intelligence solution, since it was powerful, affordable, and quickly deployed. 

"An on-demand solution for the next generation of ISAC made tremendous sense," said Phillips. "Birst had all of the power of on-premise solutions, with the added benefits of rapid deployment and a price point that fits tight government budgets. We're now giving unparalleled visibility into key health information, so that counties can make the best use of their limited resources. Birst is providing a view into this information that's impossible for them to see on their own."

"ISAC is a powerful demonstration of how on-demand business intelligence can create meaningful positive change in the world," said Brad Peters, CEO of Birst. "By analyzing information from various law enforcement and health organizations in one place, counties and states can finally get the visibility that they need to better address serious social and health problems."

About EMT Associates, Inc.
EMT meets the evaluation, management, and training needs of public and non-profit organizations nationwide. For over two decades, EMT has focused its evaluation, research, training and management support work on the prevention of substance abuse and other behavioral health needs; on policies and programs promoting the positive social-emotional and behavioral development of children and youth; on family service needs; and on related fields of health and human services. EMT works with federal and state agencies, local government agencies, community-based organizations, and direct service providers on a broad range of evaluation, technical assistance, policy analysis, and program development projects.

For more information, go to www.emt.org

About Birst
Birst™ is the leading provider of on-demand business intelligence solutions. Birst brings the benefits of fact based decision making to a much broader audience by making it affordable, fast, and easy to use. Birst is designed to support users of all sizes -- from individuals to groups and entire companies, so that everyone can benefit from greater insight into their business.

More information is available at www.birst.com

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Or contact:
Barbara Lewis
Birst

(415) 644-5400