Nebraska Health Information Initiative

The second NeHII Annual Meeting was held July 29th in Hastings, Nebraska at the Quality Inn Hotel and Convention Center.  The event was kicked off with a press conference by the Governor at Mary Lanning Memorial Hospital proclaiming the success of the statewide health information exchange.  Featured speakers for the meeting included Chris Muir with the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Keith Hepp from HealthBridge in Cincinnati, Ohio, one of the nation's largest health information exchanges.

Muir attributed NeHII's extremely successful year to its leadership, starting at the top with the Governor and Lt. Governor.  He also praised the dedication of Nebraska healthcare executives, as well as cohesive stakeholder relationships and involvement.  Muir specifically pointed to the extraordinary cooperation among competitors on behalf of patients.  Indicating that government stimulus funding was only "seed money", Muir impressed upon the audience the importance of the fact that NeHII was funded primarily by the private sector, with only a very small percentage of grant dollars, and urged other states to follow suit.

Physician adoption continues to increase.  After using the system for a short period of time, physicians are experiencing time efficiencies by utilizing NeHII's functionalities.  Dr. Stephen Thome, an oncologist in Omaha, finds it very helpful to access patient's results from the various geographic areas in Nebraska.  In addition, he stated "Providing consultations is now made much easier with the ability of NeHII to follow a patient across healthcare delivery systems.  The HIPAA compliance and security logging is exemplary and reassuring to patient and healthcare provider alike".

A recent InformationWeek article inaccuratley reported that information within NeHII is limited to lab and radiology reports and demographic information.  However, not only does NeHII have lab reports and radiology reports, but it also provides physicians with transcription records which include history and physicals, consults, discharge summaries and operative reports.  Additionally, NeHII provides eligibility information, medication history, information about medical problems and allergies.

Deb Bass, NeHII's Executive Director, and Chris Henkenius, NeHII's Program Director, maintain a busy schedule which includes serving as featured presenters in Nebraska and throughout the U.S. at conferences and events.  As they share their experiences regarding NeHII and future plans for the exchange, many states are seeking NeHII leaders for information and advisory consulting regarding the process of implementing HIE successfully.  NeHII is offering the advisory services to other states and RHIOs as a revenue generation strategy for the exchange's sustainability.  If you are contacted by interested parites, Deb Bass and Chris Henkenius are available for community presentations and may be contacted at 402.981.7664.