The Nebraska High Value Network (NHVN) has officially launched with 19 critical-access hospitals across the state, including Sidney Regional Medical Center, joining forces to improve healthcare in rural communities.
The network allows hospitals to collaborate on clinical and business strategies aimed at improving care, lowering costs, and advancing value-based care arrangements with insurers.
While working together, member hospitals will still make independent decisions tailored to the needs of their local patients and medical staff. NHVN leaders say this approach combines the benefits of shared resources with the flexibility to address community-specific healthcare challenges.
NHVN is currently in talks with other rural hospitals in Nebraska and expects to expand.
“By joining the Nebraska High Value Network, our hospitals can gain the power of scale while staying independent,” said Tyler Toline, Chair of the NHVN board and CEO of Franciscan Healthcare in West Point. “This collaboration allows us to invest in critical areas like population health management—investments that would be difficult for any one hospital to make alone.”
At the core of NHVN is a clinically integrated network (CIN) that serves nearly 300,000 patients. The network will form a Clinical Integration Committee, made up of one physician from each member hospital. This group will lead initiatives to improve care quality and coordination while easing administrative tasks for providers.
The committee will also create shared quality measures and oversee a clinical data-sharing platform. These tools are designed to help the network work more effectively with insurers and allow doctors to exchange ideas on improving patient care in rural settings.
“Through the CIN, we can show insurers the high-quality care we provide and expand value-based models that benefit everyone—patients, providers, hospitals, and insurers,” said Dr. Jared Kramer of Howard County Medical Center in St. Paul. “This platform helps doctors guide patients to the right care at the right time.”
NHVN members will also look for ways to cut costs by working together on equipment and service purchases. Hospitals can choose which partnerships to join. An additional committee of hospital leaders will focus on sharing best practices and solving common operational problems.
The Nebraska High Value Network is the fifth rural hospital network developed by Cibolo Health, which also supports similar networks in North Dakota, Minnesota, Ohio, and Montana.
Cibolo Health helps rural hospitals form clinically integrated networks to face the challenges of rural healthcare. NHVN will be managed daily by Cibolo Health leaders, including President Nathan H. White and Chief Medical Officer Dr. A. Clinton MacKinney.
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