Dear Fellow Nebraskans:
Hospitals and other Nebraska health care providers were recently invited to an event demonstrating a pilot project developed by the members of the Nebraska Health Information Initiative (NeHII). [ Photo Gallery ]
The pilot involves several of the hospital networks in the Omaha area, where the electronic health records already used by hospitals have been connected allowing physicians and other professionals to securely access and exchange information.
Medical information is the next frontier for information technology. Banks and other financial institutions have developed a network that allows users to access their financial accounts from virtually anywhere in the world. But today if something happens while we’re away from home, in most cases the only medical history doctors and nurses can get is the information we are able to recall.
Having a way to package that information and share it electronically with another health care provider is the goal of a Health Information Exchange
For the Nebraska Health Information Initiative, the goal is to build a seamless electronic system for medical records, lab tests and prescriptions that will extend from one end of the state to the other. The group hopes to launch as a statewide network later this year.
Providing a way for hospitals and clinics, physicians, radiology centers, labs and pharmacies across Nebraska to securely exchange health information has the potential to help improve patient care, reduce duplication of diagnostic tests and provide added security for medical records.
The system connects the electronic medical records many health care providers already rely on and makes them more useful by allowing doctors, nurses and pharmacists to access patient data quickly.
Patient information will still be housed with the hospital or office that collects it. The privacy and security policies require those accessing an individual’s patient information to attest that they are viewing the record in order to provide treatment. The network was also built with safeguards that keep a record who accesses files and when, and patients have the option to not allow their records to be shared.
Nebraska is ahead of the curve in this area. While other projects are competing to be the first to launch as a statewide project, our goal is to be the state that gets it right the first time.
I appreciate vision and work of the many partners involved with the Nebraska Health Information Initiative and the other Health Information Exchanges in our state.
The pilot project launched earlier this year by NeHII has been several years in the making and I want to congratulate everyone involved for moving Nebraska ahead. As we look to the future, continued leadership from the private sector is essential to moving this project forward and creating a truly statewide network that can benefit individual Nebraskans and their families.
