eHealth Clearinghouse

Western Nebraska Health Information Exchange

Partners in Western Nebraska are well on their way to implementing a regional health information exchange (RHIO).   A planning grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) in 2004 enabled partners to begin the planning process.
Partners in the original Western Nebraska Health Information Exchange include:

  • The Rural Nebraska Healthcare Network
      • Box Butte General Hospital, Alliance
      • Chadron Community Hospital, Chadron
      • Garden County Health Services, Oshkosh
      • Gordon Memorial Hospital, Gordon
      • Kimball Health Services, Kimball
      • Memorial Health Center, Sidney
      • Morrill County Community Hospital, Bridgeport
      • Perkins County Health Services, Grant
      • Regional West Medical Center, Scottsbluff
  • Panhandle Public Health District
  • Region I Mental Health and Substance Abuse

In 2005, a three-year implementation grant from AHRQ was awarded.  A HRSA Rural Network Development Grant has provided the opportunity to expand this regional work to Panhandle Community Services Health Center, private physician’s clinics, long term care, and others. University of Nebraska Public Policy Center is the Principle Investigator for the AHRQ grant, providing research and consultation on the project design.
In September 2005, the partners completed a plan for implementing a health information exchange “that will enable providers, patients, and others to share information, communicate orders and results, support evidence-based decision-making, streamline public health disease surveillance and reporting, and enable data management for non-clinical purposes (e.g., billing, quality management).”
The plan includes short-term goals to establish

  • A health information exchange system that will provide current information, from all hospitals and rural health clinics, at the point of care; and 
  • An operational entity that will provide the sustainable infrastructure necessary to support regional health information exchange and common developments in the electronic health records, and
  • To enhance capacity to develop electronic medical records in the region’s critical access hospitals and rural health clinics

Training sessions with nationally recognized trainers for becoming a Certified Professional in Health Information Technology (CPHIT) and Certified Professional in Electronic Health Records (CPEHR) have been held in the Panhandle.   As a result, the Panhandle has the highest number of certified professionals in health information technology (HIT) and electronic health records (EHR) per capita in the United States.   
Training has also been offered in project management, vendor selection, process mapping, and skill training.    A training academy developed in partnership with Western Nebraska Community College now offers training for college credit at participating hospitals.   Over 45 user skill training sessions have been offered in the past six months.  
Partners are using their own resources to fund electronic health record systems.   Some partners already had systems in place.  Others are in the process of selecting or implementing systems. Regional West Medical Center operates a Web portal for physicians on staff to have full access to patient information and has recently allowed other physicians to view lab results and x-rays of patients.   The Western Nebraska Health Information Exchange is completing an intensive survey of partner systems and is developing an RFP for a regional sharing solution.
The Western Nebraska Health Information Exchange is working on a business plan to sustain the project.  Work has also been done with a legal firm to develop users’ agreements and protocols for compliance with privacy and security standards under the Health Information Privacy and Accountability Act (HIPAA). 
The Western Nebraska Health Information Exchange is addressing public health in a unique way.   The entity has developed a reporting matrix which includes the non-mandatory and mandatory reporting that hospitals and clinics do.   Partners have met with state agencies to discuss how the regional health information exchange being developed can interface with state systems.   

Links

Community Health Connections: Western Nebraska Health Information Exchange

Panhandle Regional Health Information Exchange Plan, Sept. 2005

Western Nebraska looks to health IT to improve patient safety and quality of care

eHealth Clearinghouse Home