Nebraska Med Center tracking program may be model for other states

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) _ Rural health care worries in Nebraska have sparked a unique program officials say can speed responses to a variety of needs, from the flu to a terrorist attack. <br/><br/>Other states

Monday, October 31st 2005, 10:38 am

By: News On 6

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) _ Rural health care worries in Nebraska have sparked a unique program officials say can speed responses to a variety of needs, from the flu to a terrorist attack.

Other states are looking closely at the University of Nebraska Medical Center initiative, as is the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They are drawn by the information compiled by the school's Health Professions Tracking Center.

``They clearly, I think, are in the forefront,'' said Edward Salsberg, director of the Center for Workforce Studies at the Association of American Medical Colleges in Washington. ``They are definitely a model for the other states.''

The comprehensiveness of the center's database sets it apart from others, Salsberg said.

The database tracks about 35,000 health care professionals in Nebraska and is updated almost constantly. Information includes where the medical professionals live, work and what they specialize in, where they went to school and even what languages they speak.

Kolene Kohll is the architect and director of the center.

She was working as a researcher at UNMC in 1995 when she was asked by university and state officials to set up a database tracking Nebraska's doctors. At the time, officials were examining the problem rural areas were having retaining health care workers. The officials wanted an accurate count of physicians.

A registered nurse, Kohll knew that it took more than physicians to provide quality health care. So she approached her boss about adding other medical workers to the database.

``He told me to go for it,'' Kohll said.

Physicians assistants and nurses made the list. So did dentists, mental health professionals, pharmacists and even veterinarians.

While the database is still used to examine work force issues, the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks changed some of the center's focus, Kohll said.

In the months following the attacks, information about medical workers' readiness to handle bioterrorism threats, such as anthrax, became particularly valuable, Kohll said. The database was also linked with a broadcast system operated by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services that can contact the state's medical workers quickly in an emergency.

Today, Kohll said, if anthrax were found in downtown Omaha, the database would generate a list of professionals capable of handling it. Then, through the HHS broadcast system, these medical workers would be contacted almost instantly.

The center has drawn praise from federal officials, including Dr. Ed Thompson, chief of public health practice at the Centers for Disease for Control and Prevention.

``They have near current, not just mailing addresses, but e-mail addresses and fax numbers ... and other means of quickly reaching their health care professionals,'' Thompson said.

Thompson saw the Nebraska center shine during the flu vaccine shortage of 2003.

The center, through the HHS broadcast system, was able to alert medical workers around the state about the shortage at a speed that impressed Thompson.

State health officials were able to see where in the state vaccine was lacking, where it was in higher supply, and then made arrangements to reallocate it.

Thompson said the CDC often recommends the Nebraska center to other states looking to track their health care professionals.

Wyoming was one such state.

The Health Professions Tracking Center was recently commissioned to set up a database that will help with work force planning there, said Anne Ladd, executive director of the Wyoming Health Care Commission in Casper.

Wyoming has relied on licensing reports. Those numbers, Ladd said, aren't accurate, because many who are licensed don't actually practice.

``It's very hard to do work force planning when you don't have an accurate count,'' Ladd said.

The database, which will track physicians, physicians assistants, dentists, pharmacists and advanced practice nurses, will cost Wyoming about $270,000 a year, Kohll said.

The University of Nebraska Medical Center initiative has grown to a 20-person operation in two buildings on UNMC's campus in Omaha. Employees send and receive surveys and compile the data.

Nebraska medical workers are surveyed annually and clinics are surveyed each quarter.

``People always ask, 'When was your data updated?''' Kohll said. ``And I say, 'This morning.'''

About 30 states have shown interest in having the Nebraska center establish databases, Kohll said, adding federal officials have expressed interest, too.

``There's a big, nationwide push toward getting accurate work force information,'' Kohll said. ``There's very much a need.''