Nebraska Medical Foundation

Initiative to facilitate the adoption of EMRs by Nebraska physicians to improve patient safety and enhance quality and efficiency within the healthcare system.

Executive Summary: Nebraska Medical Foundation developed a baseline to determine the readiness of clinical practices to adopt the utilization of EMRs and provided education and information about HIT opportunities to enhance systems of medical care in the state. A variety of activities were planned and implemented to accomplish the objective of providing education and information. These activities included multiple town hall meetings and audio conferences, a vendor symposium and a project website. Additionally, to evaluate the change management tools they developed for assessing adoption readiness and workflow analysis, they recruited pilot groups who received hands-on assistance as they were moving through the process of implementing an EHR system. Other activities included working with Creighton University to collect baseline information on current EHR adoption and status in Nebraska. The results of this study were released in a report in March 2008.