Nebraska receives $2.7 million in funding for health information exchange
The Nebraska Information Technology Commission (NITC) received over $2.7 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology to support greater adoption of health information exchange and to help health care facilities integrate health information technology into their workflow.
The NITC is partnering with the Nebraska Health Information Initiative (NeHII) and the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) on the grant. NeHII is one of the largest health information exchanges (HIEs) in the country with data on over 3 million individuals and over 5,000 users. This two-year grant builds upon NeHII’s successful track record by adding additional Critical Access Hospitals, long-term care facilities, and other providers to NeHII; increasing utilization by providing additional value-added functionality and workflow integration training; and increasing interoperability and integration with a focus on public health and research.
UNMC will provide assistance in workflow integration to facilities participating in two communities selected as integrated communities. Lessons learned will be shared through use case-based training modules.
The grant project is employing a multi-faceted approach to increase adoption of health information exchange technologies and to increase utilization. Grant activities include:
· Implementing 13 Critical Access Hospitals, labs and other facilities for exchange with NeHII;
· Implementing ten ambulatory clinics and long-term care facilities for exchange with NeHII;
· Implementing Direct secure messaging for 50 long-term care and other facilities;
· Implementing a gateway with five HIEs to enable the exchange of exchange of data across HIEs;
· Implementing Admission Discharge and Transfer (ADT) alerting via mobile messaging for 40 providers;
· Connecting eight Critical Access Hospitals to the State’s syndromic surveillance system through NeHII;
· Implementing population health analytics for five facilities;
· Providing assistance in workflow analysis and integration to facilities participating in integrated communities;
· Developing six use-case based training modules; and