Partners in Nebraska’s health information system are taking next steps to improve health outcomes — and the state’s IT workforce — through data.
The Nebraska Health Information Initiative, or NEHII, has been working to link patient records collected by physicians, hospitals, pharmacies and other health care entities across the state for roughly a decade. An ER doctor in Kearney, for instance, now can check the medications and health history of a visiting Omahan who lands in her hospital.
But so far, that data has been put to limited use with questions involving larger groups of patients, known as population health. That may involve checking whether at-risk groups, such as diabetics, are getting recommended eye and foot screenings on time and reaching out to those who aren’t.
The new Nebraska Healthcare Collaborative will focus on bolstering both the expertise and tools needed to tap that data, said Jamie Bland, NEHII’s CEO.
“The promise of health information technology will be realized through this partnership,” she said.
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Tim Meyers, president of WellCare of Nebraska, said the firm will set aside $5 million for the establishment of the collaborative and an additional $5 million to set up endowed chairs at research universities, namely the University of Nebraska and Creighton University.
The funds come from reinvestment funds as part of WellCare’s contract with the state to manage health care provided through Medicaid. Meyers said the funds are a return of earnings in 2017.
Matthew Van Patton, director of Medicaid and long-term care with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, hailed the moves as key in helping to improve health and reduce costs for Nebraskans.
“There are moments in life when you just know what is happening around you is monumental,” he said. “I believe we’re here standing at one of those moments.”
Bland said NEHII now handles requests from researchers seeking data. The establishment of the collaborative solidifies that relationship and adds NEHII’s expertise to help tap and interpret the data.
Work study, internship and fellowship opportunities will be available for students through the collaborative. The new NEHII Foundation, also officially launched last week, will help provide ongoing funding for those programs through fundraising and grants.
The collaborative also will make available opportunities for population health research in nursing, Bland said.
In addition, it will help doctors and others across the state boost their data skills so they can track and improve the health of their own patients.
Said Dr. Ann Polich, vice president of quality and performance with Methodist Health System: “This health care collaborative will be instrumental in closing the gap between data science and clinical care.”
NEHII also continues to expand its network. Bland said the initiative now connects 70% of health care organizations in the state — including hospitals, clinics and labs — with the aim of building more complete, long-term health records for patients.
That’s in line with an initiative outlined by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Nebraska is on the “leading and bleeding edge” in a number of areas in health information technology, she said. NEHII has been asked to make presentations to CMS officials and lawmakers at an upcoming health IT event in Washington, D.C.
In 2018, Nebraska became the first state in the nation to require daily logging of all prescription drugs dispensed to Nebraskans through its prescription drug monitoring program. The state contracts with NEHII to maintain the database.
17 rare and unusual health stories out of Omaha
One rare disease left an Omaha doctor eating a shakelike formula to supplement her diet. A friend said it tasted like cat food. An Omaha man woke up after his family took him off life support. And a Lincoln teen is allergic to almost everything.
Check out the stories on their unusual ailments and sometimes equally unusual treatment plans.
Matthew Eledge and husband Elliot Dougherty plan to explain her out-of-the-ordinary birth to their daughter in terms she can understand: that her grandmother furnished the garden where she grew, and that her aunt, Lea Yribe, generously supplied the seeds.
One pothole did a passenger a favor when the ambulance he was in struck it, according to first responders. Gretna firefighters were taking a man suffering chest pain and a high heart rate to the hospital. While en route to Lakeside Hospital, the ambulance hit a pothole. The jolt returned the patient’s heart rate to normal.
Thought to be brain dead, doctors took former Creighton Bluejays play-by-play announcer T. Scott Marr off life support. Before his family settled on a funeral home, they decided to see their dad one more time. When they got there, he was awake and speaking.
Karla Perez was 22 weeks pregnant when she suffered a catastrophic brain bleed and was declared brain dead. Her unborn child was alive, but wouldn't survive delivery. So family and doctors kept her on life support. Angel was born eight weeks later.
Darnisha Ladd never imagined Snapchat would help save her life after she suffered a stroke. But needing a precise timeline of events, doctors and family relied on a post on the phone app and were able to give her a needed medication in time.
Lindsey and Derek Teten's triplets are one in a million. Literally. The Nebraska City couple's three daughters, born in late June 2017, are identical and were conceived without fertility treatments. The girls were the second set of spontaneous triplets born at Methodist Women's Hospital. The first set, also girls, was born in 2015.
What makes Jamey Dougall's health story unusual is his treatment plan. Dougall, who's legally blind, uses a special pair of glasses to see. He's seen his wife Kandice, his two daughters, and now, his favorite college football team — the Huskers.
Doctors diagnosed the paralysis that was creeping up Justin Chenier's legs as Guillain-Barre syndrome. It would become so serious that the Omaha man would nearly lose consciousness while screaming because of the pain. The syndrome was triggered by West Nile virus.
Kenze Messman's been diagnosed with several chronic illnesses. Sometimes her heart rate climbs, seizures send her to the floor and migraines leave her in the dark. And one of the ailments causes the 17-year-old to have allergic reactions to almost everything.
The skin on Sharan Bryson's leg was black from lack of circulation. She felt nothing but a sharp, stabbing pain. The leg was dead, and her best option was amputation. Bryson bounced back and put her hard work to the test by running a 5K.
Chase Tiemann has had numerous surgeries in his young life, including the amputation of his left arm. The Omaha boy has a condition that causes tumors — sometimes benign, sometimes cancerous — to form on his body. To boost his spirits after amputation, the Papillion Fire Department named Chase an honorary firefighter.
Wesley Woods battled heart disease for 20 years. He'd racked up nine heart attacks, multiple surgeries and one heart transplant. He was tired of hospitals. Tired of chest pain. Tired of feeling tired. Woods was lucky — he received a second transplant.
Urmi Basu was set to walk across the stage to receive her doctorate. But five days before the ceremony, the then-30-year-old suffered a major stroke. It left her paralyzed on her right side and struggling to speak. After three years of intense rehab, she returned the the University of Nebraska Medical Center for graduation.
Amber Kudrna wasn't sure she'd be able to have a child of her own. After two kidney transplants, doctors gave the Omaha woman a laundry list of potential pregnancy complications. Kudrna and husband Adam weighed their options and, in September 2018, welcomed a baby boy.
Sue Venteicher started what would be the largest single-hospital living-donor kidney transplant chain in Nebraska history. Nine living donors gave kidneys to nine recipients at the Nebraska Medical Center.
Joe Nolan couldn't take his son James' pain away. But he could find a way to share it. Nolan got a tattoo that arched across his head, just like his son's scar. James was born with a handful of ailments, including one that regularly requires his skull to be reshaped.
Dr. Jennifer Harney used to eat pizza sans meat or cheese. She couldn't add milk to her coffee. She had to choke down a shakelike formula to supplement her diet. She was diagnosed with a rare, genetic condition after birth. But thanks to a new therapy, she's been able to eat things she never thought possible.
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