Program areas at NEHI
Community focused research organization (cfro-1):nehi partnered with eli lilly, which provided the funding for this project, to test whether convening a group of organizations with varied stakes in clinical trials can be effective in developing strategies to improve the participation of underrepresented groups in clinical trials. Nehi and eli lilly have been supporting the board, collectively referred to as a "community-focused research organization," which draws from academic, health system, and community-based organizations in Indiana, including those representing persons of color. The program was launched in early 2022 and will conclude at the end of 2023. In the current phase, the project team is piloting an intervention identified by the board as one that might help increase diverse community members' knowledge and awareness of clinical trials. After it concludes this intervention, the project team and board will assess the impact of the intervention and discuss potential options for sustaining the board beyond the project period.
Leveraging patient and other stakeholder perspectives to advance research on medicaid access to tele-mental health care:the tel. Health project, funded by the patient-centered outcomes research institute (pcori), was designed to obtain multi-stakeholder perspectives on the research needed to enhance the beneficial impact of tele-mental health for medicaid enrollees, particularly given their experiences with tele-mental health services during the covid-19 pandemic. This work featured a series of focus groups and a day-long conference involving patients (medicaid enrollees with a lived experience of mental health or substance use disorder), providers (clinicians), and payers (medicaid state officials and representatives of medicaid managed care health plans). Participants exchanged perspectives on tele-mental health, reviewed our summary of existing research through the lens of their own experiences, and generated consensus-based recommendations for future patient-centered outcomes research (pcor) and comparative-effectiveness research (cer) on tele-mental health. Nehi hosted a webinar to disseminate the project recommendations in june 2022 and released a final paper in july 2022.
Automation of prior authorization:nehi was funded by the Massachusetts health policy commission (the state's commission overseeing overall health care spending in Massachusetts and recommending steps to limit spending to the rate of growth in the state economy) and four automation technology service providers (change healthcare, cohere health, hook md, and zeomega) to assemble a group of local payers and providers as well as automation technology service providers, electronic health record vendors, federal agency representatives, and state agency representatives, to produce actionable and pragmatic recommendations that would require Massachusetts payers and providers to automate the prior authorization process within the next two years. Nehi partnered with the Massachusetts health data consortium (which provided pro bono work) to complete this project. Nehi and mhdc created a standalone presentation that outlines, from a technical standpoint, what payers and providers must do to automate the prior authorization process, conducted a needs assessment to determine what stakeholders would require to automate prior authorization, and produced a final report that included Nehi and mhdc's recommendations ("advancing prior authorization automation across Massachusetts") in april 2023, followed by a webinar in may 2023 to disseminate the project work and recommendations.
Other program services during fiscal 2022 including the following:alzheimer's disease project:nehi was funded by eisai Inc., eli lilly & company, and genentech to 1) identify major emerging classes of tests and tools for screening and diagnosis of alzheimer's disease and related dementias, 2) identify major outstanding issues in public policy (e.g., medicare reimbursement of screening and diagnostic tests), clinical practice and industry practice relative to alzheimer's disease treatment and to overall dementia care, and 3) identify and raise awareness of recommendations to address outstanding issues in alzheimer's disease screening, diagnosis, and treatment. To do this, Nehi performed an environmental scan on the topic and conducted expert interviews to establish context surrounding the current landscape that is alzheimer's disease research and development. Nehi then hosted a hybrid (i.e., in-person and virtual) panel discussion in Washington d.c. In may 2023 where stakeholders discussed the coming impact of innovation in diagnostic tests and tools on alzheimer's disease diagnosis and treatment. Following several major announcements regarding approval of new alzheimer's disease treatments and revisions to national coverage determinations for imaging techniques used to monitor patients undergoing such novel treatments, Nehi released a report in october 2023, comprising the environmental scan, information gleaned from interviews and the panel event, and recommendations to improve alzheimer's care, considering the major gaps and advancements that remain.pilots in prior authorization:nehi was funded by the Massachusetts health policy commission (the state's commission overseeing overall health care spending in Massachusetts and recommending steps to limit spending to the rate of growth in the state economy) and the mass collaborative (a voluntary, open organization of more than 35 payers, providers, and trade associations dedicated to reducing complex and cumbersome health care administrative processes in Massachusetts) to assemble a group of Massachusetts payers, providers, employer, and patient representatives (the "steering committee"), to determine whether they could agree on a set of reforms that might feasibly be implemented to reduce tensions around prior authorization, considering a prioritized set of concerns. Nehi conducted an extensive literature scan, held three virtual steering committee meetings, and produced a white paper ("streamlining prior authorization") in september 2021, followed by a webinar in december 2021 to disseminate the project results.