A Nebraska Hospital Embarks on HIE

Obstacles and Solutions
FAMC’s initial challenges are familiar to those of many fledgling HIEs—the lack of proven models in the industry and the struggle to get physicians on board. “It’s been a challenge to get people to understand that this is a necessary step for the future of medicine in this country,” says Pitz. “Obviously, we can’t keep going the way we’re going; it’s just too expensive.”

Beran is realistic about FAMC’s ambitious endeavor, pointing out that information exchanges are only as good as their data. “Until we can get the hospital information system complete, where we have everything we need to share, allergies, problem lists, ect., an exchange doesn’t do much good,” says Beran. “And same on the ambulatory side, we need to have our physician practices adopt an EMR and use it, so that data can be brought into the exchange.”

Pitz sees the only way to succeed in the HIE business is to embark on talks with all major stakeholders early in the game. “If you bring someone in too late, it’s just going to cause problems and delays,” he says. “You need all that input because not one group or the other can drive this. It’s got to be a collaborative effort, and that takes time.”