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Electronic Medical Records: Nebraska envisions statewide network
(Omaha World-Herald (NE) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Mar. 22--The Nebraska Health Information Initiative plans to seek federal stimulus funds to establish a statewide network for electronic medical records.
Participating parties will explain the system, called the Nebraska Statewide Health Information Exchange, at a ceremony with Gov. Dave Heineman in Lincoln on April 2.
The Internet-based exchange would allow health care professionals, hospitals and other medical organizations to get access to a central database of patient medical records.
President Barack Obama has said computerization of Americans' medical information is a priority of his administration, in order to save money and improve medical care.
His $787 billion economic stimulus legislation included about $20 billion to modernize health care technology systems, with a goal of computerizing all records by 2014.
Dr. Harris Frankel, an Omaha neurologist and president of the Nebraska Health Information Initiative, said statewide implementation of the system would begin this spring or summer.
Receiving stimulus funds would provide a "huge shot in the arm," Frankel said, accelerating the process that eventually will bring information technology and connectivity to rural areas of the state, where Frankel said it is most needed.
Deb Bass, interim executive director of the Nebraska Health Information Initiative, said the group hasn't determined the exact amount of stimulus funds it will request. The federal government still is working out details of the stimulus program, she said.
The organization hopes to be designated the official recipient of federal funds to implement a health information exchange in Nebraska, which would come with funds attached. It also might seek additional funds from the general pool of money directed to the state.
The total requested will be several million dollars, Bass said. The pilot project, which has an implementation phase that begins Monday, will cost $3.5 million, Bass said.
Allana Cummings, vice president and chief information officer at Children's Hospital & Medical Center, said rural residents now must obtain and bring with them their medical records when visiting specialists outside their communities.
The information initiative group -- which is a public-private collaboration -- has been working on creating the system for more than three years and it's ready to go, Frankel said.
He said the new exchange would create an undetermined number of new positions for information technology employees as well as some in administration.
Steve Martin, chief executive of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska and treasurer of the Nebraska Health Information Initiative, said major hospitals and health systems invest significant amounts of money to build and maintain in-house electronic medical records systems. Yet those records can be accessed only by those hospitals or health system members, he said.
The goal of the Nebraska Health Information Initiative is to create one uniform, cost-effective system to store and share patient information, Martin said.
Consumers also would benefit, he said.
Providers would be able to access information more quickly, and a central information system would slow the rate of increase in health care costs by reducing redundant testing.
Consumers also would know where their medical records were housed, Martin said. Patients treated in multiple health systems may have records stored in several places.
Frankel said paper-based medical records are inefficient. Providers aren't always able to get access to complete patient records at the "point of care," which could hurt the quality of care that is provided, he said.
Lianne Stevens, vice president of information technology and chief information officer at the Nebraska Medical Center, said that issue is particularly important in emergencies.
Information about medications, chronic conditions, allergies and lab results could be crucial to determining a course of treatment, she said. But that information can be difficult to obtain now, Stevens said, because hospital systems aren't connected.
There also is no standard procedure or format to obtain medical records from other health systems, said Ken Lawonn, senior vice president and chief information officer at Alegent Health.
Lawonn said the new system would reduce costs by eliminating redundant paperwork as well as unnecessary tests.
The information exchange will provide a higher level of security and privacy for records, Frankel said, by authenticating and tracking users to a greater degree than is possible with paper records.
A patient who wanted to opt out of the information exchange could do so, Frankel said.
Full implementation of the system across the state will take several years, said Martin of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska. "It won't happen tomorrow."
But even reduced use of a central information network is expected to help control rising health care costs, he said.
Frankel said Nebraska is positioned to be one of the first states to implement a statewide health information exchange. Groups in Idaho and Utah are working on similar projects, he said.
Frankel said he already has received inquiries from neighboring states about Nebraska's system, which could result in the state becoming a hub for a regional health information exchange.
"It's really exciting for the state," he said. "It reflects the vision and innovation here."
--Contact the writer: 444-1085, stefanie.monge@owh.com
To see more of the Omaha World-Herald, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.omaha.com.
Copyright (c) 2009, Omaha World-Herald, Neb.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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